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00:00:01
Flutter Jumping to The Death of Physical Games with JoeyFreefall
20 Plays15 days ago
This week in the Game Lounge Tony is joined by a guest who returns after 4 years. One of the Top Sonic Heroes Speedrunners, Yoshi's Island speedrunner, and twitch affiliate JoeyFreefall! The two talk about the current state of gaming after PlayStation announced it will end physical games for PlayStation in 2028, the prices of GTA 6 and the Steam Machine, the Capcom Spotlight, Splatoon Raiders Direct, Yoshi's Island Speedruns, a small look at the SGDQ 2026 Schedule, and the "Greatest Game of all time" according to Joey. They also recap all the other gaming news and headlines of the last 2 weeks, but its a lot of bad and sad news, and also cover all the game releases in the upcoming weeks!
Follow Tony: https://www.twitch.tv/tonysgamelounge
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonysGameLounge
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Follow Joey: https://www.twitch.tv/joeyfreefall
X: https://x.com/JoeyFreefall
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Join the Official Tony's Game Lounge Discord: https://discord.gg/xXyvjaCsXp
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Disclaimer, all views expressed on this podcast represent the host and his guest and not the companies or agencies they are associated with.
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to Tony's Game Lounge, a bi-weekly podcast that covers everything in the world of video games, TCG, tabletop and more. Here's your host, Tony 14.
Interview with Joey Freefall
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome back to another brand new episode of the Tony's Game Lounge podcast. i am your host as always, Tony14. And joining us this week is a guest we have not seen in about four years, ah which I didn't think it was that long, but it has been.
00:00:40
Speaker
Please give it up for one of the best Sonic speed sonic Heroes speed runners in the world, Joey Freefall. How's it going, everybody?
00:00:51
Speaker
to be back after all this time. a Welcome back. How are you? the'll return. How are you doing? I'm doing good. I'm excited to be on. i got some big things coming up. ah GDQ is going to be next week. so Is GDQ next week already?
00:01:12
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it is. i'm I'm leaving on Sunday. So I just worked my my last shift. I just finished that before being gone for the full week. So I'm looking forward to my little mini vacation.
00:01:24
Speaker
Nice. a didn't even realize GDQ was about to happen. i'm i am I have been grinding games and other things. that i just completely missed that. Oh, my God.
00:01:37
Speaker
mean, GDQ, they definitely ah could be better about their, like, announcing They've always kind of gone under the radar, especially the past like few years, I feel like. I mean, I usually at least see something about it, though. like Even if it's one of the other bigger speedrunners tweeting like, oh, hey, the games list dropped.
00:01:59
Speaker
i yeah I haven't even seen that yet. I'll have to take a look at that after... I feel like it's the kind of thing you like see that they're live on Twitch one day with like 10,000 viewers. You're like, oh, it must be happening. yeah okay No, exactly. And no. And and hey, i I am an avid supporter of GDQ. i I like the event because it gives me people to possibly bring on this podcast.
00:02:23
Speaker
Uh, we have seed in the past, uh, with especially last season, we brought on a dynamation and we talked about rollercoaster tycoon speed runs, ah which was a really cool conversation.
00:02:36
Speaker
Uh, well, Joey, we're glad to have you back. Uh, because we haven't had you on in a while, but we do get to start with, uh, the newer of our two intro segments, hot takes. So Joey, what is your hottest video game take?
00:02:51
Speaker
Oh, man, my hottest one? So think I've got smoke for two games in particular I can think of um that people really, really like. I think for the longest time it was Hollow Knight was like my big one. i tried it out and I just got like incredibly frustrated with it.
00:03:14
Speaker
You could say like skill issue or whatever, but I just... like got so annoyed of there not being a health bar on the bosses that because I'd be like grinding against one for hours on end.
00:03:27
Speaker
And I wouldn't know if I was one hit away from beating him or 2,500 You know? Yeah. Okay. Very fair. that was like, dude, this game, like I couldn't, was it, would it have killed them to put in a health bar for the bosses? in And that was like the main thing. i mean,
00:03:47
Speaker
To be honest, overall, it's a very polished game. I get why people like it a lot, but... No, no, I totally get that. Hey, and you know what? Not every game is going to be for everybody, regardless of how old or new a game is.
Opinions on Classic Games
00:04:05
Speaker
For sure, yeah. um I'd say more recently, though. So I i played through um the first Ace Attorney game on stream, and then like half of the second Ace Attorney game,
00:04:21
Speaker
And i I ended up having to stop because I just like got so tired of, a again, kind of a skill issue thing. just I feel like I fell into this gameplay loop of like presenting every piece of evidence that I had in every against like every single dialogue option possible.
00:04:41
Speaker
and not really figuring out the case myself, you know, the way you would think it would work, you know. Okay, okay. I kept finding myself thinking i had everything figured out. I'm like, oh, this makes perfect sense. I get it. And then I try it out.
00:04:57
Speaker
It's not what the game wants. And then suddenly I'm stuck just, like, cycling through every possible option for, like, a half hour. And that just, like, kept happening. And I'm like, I don't really...
00:05:08
Speaker
Like, I think the main appeal of the games are like the storyline and like the dialogue and like the quirkiness of it. Yeah, that definitely it's ah that is it's a visual novel. So that is the that is like at the core of the main thing that the game is going for. Yeah.
00:05:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Like, I understand. um and and I liked those aspects of a lot. I just think that the gameplay got a little frustrating. Once again, just like Hollow Knight, I just got frustrated playing it. And I was like, I could see why you guys love these games. But at this at the same time, i just wish that sometimes it'd be a little more straightforward.
00:05:50
Speaker
That's fair. Nope. That is very fair. And those are your hot takes. Some people may not agree with them, but they're yours. I suspect a lot of people won't. Oh, please. i Fuck. Every time I mention that I don't like the first Half-Life, people are up in arms about that shit around Like, fuck. Like, I posted a new... like I'll address it. I posted it i made it and one of the shorts about it because it's like...
00:06:17
Speaker
Our guest last episode made a good point. It's like sometimes like see these older games, you're not playing them because they are good or you you're going to enjoy them. You're playing it because it is a history lesson of video games in general.
00:06:31
Speaker
And I'm like, you know what? That is a great point to bring up. Like, look, I don't like the first Half-Life. And yes, it's like, well, people will say, well, you can't really compare old games to new games. You absolutely can. One, you absolutely can because guess what? There's old games that hold up to this day still.
00:06:49
Speaker
That's true. yeah Yeah. Like Half-Life 2 still holds up and that game is how old? like yeah you like Yeah. Like that argument is very boring and kind of dumb argument. Yeah.
00:07:03
Speaker
You just brought up or reminded me of another hot take. I'll keep this one brief. But um the first Super Smash Bros, I do not understand why that game gets glazed as much as it does. Like in in relation to like every other subsequent ah installment, it is just so archaic and janky and like not fun. Yeah. Like, i I get that it was like the first of its kind and there's a lot to admire there, but like... Exactly. It's a game it's a history lesson. Like, it's it's all right of a game, but because of the impact it had on the world, is look at what platform fighters are now.
00:07:42
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. And it had to start somewhere, right? I just, we can't be lying to ourselves and saying like, it was like a really good fighting game because I just don't think that's true. Exactly. And and some people will disagree saying it is a good fighting game. Some people will agree with that. It's,
00:07:59
Speaker
look At the end of the day, we all have our own opinions. Every video game opinion is entirely subjective. I think the only video game opinion people can agree on is like one of the worst games in video game history is the one that we destroyed in landfills.
Current Gaming News and Updates
00:08:15
Speaker
That's E.T.
00:08:17
Speaker
We'll be talking about one of the worst games history later. Oh, God. I can't wait for that. ah Hell yeah. All right. With that out of the way now, it's time for us to dive into our headline of the week, which is the Capcom spotlight. And honestly, with all the other news that happened this week, it was like...
00:08:38
Speaker
You know I could put literally anything else in this spot and it would be a better headline of the week than this because boy, not a lot happened at the Capcom spotlight.
00:08:49
Speaker
ah but So we're going to make it quick. First off, the only game that got like some real news was Monster Hunter Stories 3 Twisted Reflection. ah They're getting its next to DLC, first DLC, additional side story, Rudy, ah which takes like the Palico cat from the first Monster Hunter Stories game. And he's ah coming into this game as part of a storyline because your Palico companion is his descendant.
00:09:15
Speaker
ah and you get to deal with some story stuff. ah And you can play that right now if you have the deluxe edition or you can just buy it separately. And there's also a free content update that came out adding harder challenges, harder bosses, new game plus stuff, and more.
00:09:31
Speaker
ah So you can check all that out if you've been playing Twisted Reflection. Then they briefly talked about Monster Hunter World's Ascendants and they just said more news coming soon.
00:09:43
Speaker
They replayed ah half of the trailer for Resident Evil Veronica, and they said more news coming soon. But also, here's some Resident Evil Requiem stuff, and we're getting a Grace and Leon amiibo at the end of July on the 30th.
00:10:02
Speaker
So I guess amiibo collectors are going to be happy for that. ah Also, the Resident Evil Symphony is going on a world tour and tickets are on sale now. ah So you can go to the website to check out if they're coming to a city near you.
00:10:17
Speaker
We then got some more details as a dragon's dogma to dark arisen. While it was briefly shown at the Nintendo direct, we actually got a bit more details on what this is. ah It comes out October 9th. It is a new experience, basically more story, a new content and more story content and a new region. 12 dungeon challenges.
00:10:37
Speaker
And the character creator has been expanded. It's going to be arriving as an expansion for all the other versions of Dragon's Dogma 2. But the Switch 2, because it's not on the Switch 2 yet, will just get this version as like the one singular like complete edition of the game.
00:10:57
Speaker
We got a brief overview for Yasmeen for Street Fighter 6, who arrives August 3rd. They also showed us a brief new movie t ah trailer for a Street Fighter of the movie, which is in theaters October 16th.
00:11:10
Speaker
ah And then they ended off with more Onimusha Way of the Sword gameplay, a first look at a new Genma. And also, this wasn't part of the Capcom spotlight, but the release date was moved up. So the game is no longer coming out on September 25th, but now September 4th.
00:11:28
Speaker
so you could play onimusha a bit sooner than we thought so i guess some good out of that and that was it no megaman news no no no megaman no ace attorney no remake of a random gamecube game that they might that they might have made nothing that was all they had tough tough luck So yeah, that that was basically the Capcom spotlight.
00:11:55
Speaker
ah i Man, it's very lackluster, like they could have told us a bit more. They could have even put in Mega Man against saying like, oh yeah, we made ah like, because aren't like some of the robot, new robot masters for the new one going to be like, like a contest for that. They could have like, I don't know if like it's still going on or whatnot, but if we have results, yeah.
00:12:19
Speaker
Like you could have told us that I feel. Yeah, could have, could have gave us something. But based on the sounds of it, it sounds like a lot of the news is just moving release dates. Yeah. Which is very funny to me. Yeah. ah so that was the Capcom spotlight. That was your headline of the week. But really there's a lot of other bigger things that happened that should have gotten it. So let's talk about those now and dive into the week in review.
00:12:42
Speaker
Recapping the major stories of video games and the world of tabletop, looking over recent releases and reports from the Game Lounge crew, it's the week in review. and starting off, some of the major games that came out these last two weeks, Deltarune Chapter 5 released, the new Star Fox came out, Avatar Legends, the fighting game, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Deer and Boy, and Impulse also released dates.
00:13:10
Speaker
ah As for video game news, Sonic's 35th anniversary stream happened! ah Unlike them doing a Sonic Central every year that they've kind of been doing this now, they actually did like a proper like charity livestream to celebrate Sonic's 35th. They had a whole bunch of creators host it. Specifically, you had Roger's Base and Games Cage as like your main hosts for the show.
00:13:35
Speaker
ah And there was some... street A bunch of other streamers that participated. We'll get into some of that in a bit. But some announcements that happened. Starting off, Frontiers Definitive Edition for Switch 2 is out now.
00:13:50
Speaker
So now you can play Sonic Frontiers on the Switch 2. which comes with all the DLCs and everything. Sonic Racing Cross Worlds announced a whole bunch of new characters. Classic Sonic is out right now.
00:14:04
Speaker
Axel from Crazy Taxi will be joining in August as a free character. That's awesome. And Amigo from Samba de Amigo will be released in September for free. continuing that so it looks like they're getting all ah ready for a like year two for the game as well more for year two in the game which is awesome wasn't Spongebob supposed to be in that game i saw in that game Minecraft Steve the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrive at the end of the month July 29th Avatar The Last Airbender comes out after that and then we're getting ready for our Godzilla and Evangelion
00:14:44
Speaker
Wait, in Sonic? Yeah. Oh my God, what is half-eye yet? I feel like Evangelion is just on a hot streak for like collaborations right now because Evangelion is going to be taking part in the new Final Fantasy XIV Alliance raid when the Evercold expansion releases. So Evangelion is just on a collaboration hot kick right now. who's Who's in it? Is it Shinji or Asuka? From what we know, I believe and Asuka are semi-confirmed as racers.
00:15:19
Speaker
yeah i don't know i I do not know if Shinji got confirmed or not. I wouldn't blame them for skipping on Shinji. He's just kind of a generic character.
00:15:31
Speaker
Also with Cross Worlds, the World Championships 2026 begin on June 30th for the online qualifiers. 12 a.m. UTC through Sunday, July 19th.
00:15:46
Speaker
uh 11 59 pm utc so you can start qualifying right now uh this will culminate in the world championship finals happening in new york city on friday october 9th the top 24 racers will have the chance to compete live in front a global viewing audience for first place so if good luck to everybody that's trying to qualify for that because boy is it gonna be intense That's cool. I had no idea that was happening in New York. That's crazy. We also got new characters revealed for Sonic Pico Park, a Shadow and Sonic Pico Cat. That is what the character is called. I believe it's just the Pico Cat wearing like a Sonic costume instead of it being this actual Sonic.
00:16:28
Speaker
uh the sonic live in concert added 30 more shows for 2027 between january and march uh so you can check dates for that and uh sonic's chaos hunt this was the last like big thing basically the promotional material says the chaos generals have scattered across the usa so if you go to sonicchaoshunt.com to join the hunt and find them before eggman does You'll help save the world. And I have no clue what this is going to do, but they kind of made like a big deal out of this.
00:17:00
Speaker
And then also, this wasn't part of the anniversary, but it was also just announced. Sega and pinball maker Jersey Jack Pinball revealed Sonic's official... Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball Table that launched on June 23rd.
00:17:15
Speaker
This is the first official pinball table for Sonic. Despite him, you know, having pinball games already, he now finally has a physical pinball table. on that you know it would have been cool if they made it if they modeled it after the Casinopolis levels in Sonic Adventure 1 that would be cool make it make the Knights one yeah and yeah yeah the live stream had a bunch of stuff I really only watched one part of the live stream because ah friends of the podcast Don S.R. and Emerald got to officially speedrun Sonic Adventure 2 yeah was gonna say friends of the show right Friends of the show. ah They got to showcase both Sonic and Shadow levels.
00:17:59
Speaker
ah And it was really cool that they got to got got to do that. And shout-outs to Don for winning that race, because Don don won. So let's go dawn that is why he is the goat. It's pretty good.
00:18:14
Speaker
But yeah, it was a good time. i don't remember the exact amount of money they raised for the charity and which charity they were raising the money for, but they did very well from what I remember. Actually, you know what? I'm going to actually double check this because that is kind of important.
00:18:28
Speaker
They raised $55,500 for St. Jude's children's research hospital. ice So they did that is what they were able to raise with the anniversary stream.
00:18:40
Speaker
All right. ah In other news, Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders, they went live, and the game is officially $80 USD for the base game and $100 for the deluxe edition.
00:18:53
Speaker
The physical edition of the game does not have a disc if you pre-order it now. All it will be is a box with a download code. However, potential leaks have found that a disc for the game will release after the initial release of the game. And that release is set for December.
00:19:12
Speaker
Also in the deluxe edition, Certain stores and safe houses will be locked behind the deluxe edition, i along with some cosmetics, special vehicles, and I believe a heist type quest as well. And also, if you're wondering what this costs in Canadian, $120 for the base edition of the game and but that is including tax Is there anything to be excited about? yeah is it all just bad news? It's all just bad. It's all just bad. the internet has been rightfully torn ah because you have the people that who who only buy like one game a year, and this being their game, that aren't complaining or saying anything because they don't buy that many video games or they play a lot of things secondhand.
Industry Changes and Controversies
00:20:04
Speaker
and whatnot, which I get it, but we also haven't seen any, like like, I was expecting a trailer to drop on the Thursday when, like, the pre-orders would have gone live.
00:20:16
Speaker
We didn't even get that. We didn't get that, which is what surprised me the most because you would think it's like, oh, they're about to go live. They're to drop a new trailer for this, and then it's like, ah the you know, the pre-orders open now thing at the end.
00:20:32
Speaker
No, they haven't. Yeah, they're just getting away with murder, it sounds like. it's There's a lot of doom behind this, ah and it's sparked a lot of other things. But also, people are possibly theorizing that the game might get delayed, again, because they didn't show anything. It's like, yeah, yeah well, pre-orders are open.
00:20:52
Speaker
ah The game could just get delayed again. You just have that pre-order sitting and waiting even longer. So the possible delayment of this game is still happening. Folks is still extremely possible. Apparently.
00:21:07
Speaker
What a perfect, just like microcosm of like modern gaming right there. I feel like they're really just hitting all the marks delayed release, like overpricing, no trailer, like ah no physical hair locked behind the deluxe edition. That isn't just like useless cosmetics.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, they're just playing all the hits. like I don't know. Props to them. I will not be. And also the pre or also comes with a month of GTA plus where the second it gets activated, I, which I believe it's like the second the game is downloaded and GTA plus is for the online subscription, which by the way, the GTA six online, whether that's even coming out or not right away, it's not going to be there on launch day.
00:21:55
Speaker
So you're just going to get charged for like a month of that. And if you don't cancel it, you're just going to continually get charged. So it's just, it's like, man.
00:22:08
Speaker
And like, take the, the, the people behind the GTA and all that stuff. Like they apparently lost stock when the game's price was announced because investors wanted them to charge more apparently, but they're like, which is ridiculous. And honestly, we should find these investors and burn them to the ground because know like obviously those investors are the people when we people say eat the rich those are the people that we're talking about obviously um so I mean I'm gonna be honest they could have they probably they absolutely could have charged a lot more for this game yeah but I think but I'm glad that they like had some sense to at least do what like Nintendo's kind of been doing which is still shitty but at at least it's like it's not the worst it could like look despite all of this this could have been a lot worse like this isn't the worst it could have been like this is still bad but it could have been so much worse
00:23:07
Speaker
It could have been so much worse. And then this doesn't even end the story. Like a couple of days later, Sony announced that they're officially ending disc production in January, 2028 for so games releasing on PlayStation consoles, physical media for PlayStation four, if they're still even making games by that time for the PS4, because honestly that console is slowly on its way out the door for like getting new games.
00:23:35
Speaker
But, and the PS5 is going to end. We are going to be entering a new era of, like, digital only, basically, in 2028, unless this gets changed and reverted.
00:23:46
Speaker
And there has been a lot of discourse ah going on ah about this, so much so that it's, like, almost too much.
00:23:57
Speaker
ah Now, and here's why here's what i will say about that. There's a lot of people that probably don't care that yeah physical be the physical media is ending.
00:24:09
Speaker
Because they're like myself, we've been doing a lot of digital stuff for like years already that... that' because like I don't buy physical games anymore I basically do everything digitally because it's it's ah it's a much more easier convenience for me because I can afford that convenience and all that stuff there are people out there that cannot and that is why the physical media exists because that way it's able you can help you can trade your games with your friends ah and all that stuff hand downs
00:24:42
Speaker
all that, there's various different things that like there are so like that have benefits with the physical having physical media. That taking that away exiles a whole portion of your consumer base because they won't adapt because and to the new to the new way.
00:25:02
Speaker
ah There might be some who do, but realistically, there's going to be a lot who don't. I think that, and people are already... voicing their outcries for this and I'm going to say this just keep on voicing physical media is what we physical media does need to stay ah and let's just hope that we can have them revert this before January 2028 just keep on fighting that's all I can say about this
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, i I sure hope that it sticks around. i mean, it's just it it sucks that they're so willing to like forfeit ah ownership of... but like the The consumer no longer owns the games that they buy. yeah be Oh, yeah. like It's become so much more than just, oh, well, it it can become so much more than just, oh, we don't have a physical disc board anymore.
00:25:58
Speaker
Because then it becomes into the ownership and licensure of all of that. And that's currently being dealt with with stuff the Stop Killing Games movements and the political like standing places. like it's all like Last episode, it was like, man, video games are in like such a great spot right now. And then all this shit happened. It's like, oh, the video game world is on fire. We need a crash. Yeah.
00:26:25
Speaker
We need the video game market to crash significantly right now. That's funny. Yeah, I just, I think ah eventually down the line, this is going to, like, games that are coming out are going to become lost media at some point. Like, someone's going to try to pull some, like, corporate scheme or something, take a game off the market or make you, like, pay extra for it or...
00:26:49
Speaker
like make you have to essentially um try really hard to play the games that they put out, make it really tricky. And then suddenly and nobody actually owns the game and years go by and it gets forgotten about. Right. Like but that's kind of the pipeline I'm like envisioning. And I don't, I don't like it. You know, you know, if you really like a game, you should be able to own it forever. I feel like that's pretty simple. That's that's what that's a steam's policy.
00:27:16
Speaker
Yeah, that that's what Steve's policy has. It's like you buy that game, you own that game. Pretty straightforward consoles. It's a whole nother fucking story unless you have a physical disc of it, which is kind of shit.
00:27:30
Speaker
Not going to lie. i agree. I'm going to lie. So we'll be following this because it's probably going to be talked about for weeks to come and stuff will break out more and more. So here on the Toys Get Ones podcast, we'll be following that story just as closely as we did with some of the other biggest stories across this show's six year runtime.
00:27:52
Speaker
ah On the other side of things, the Splatoon Raiders Direct happened, and we got more details about the new Squid Kid adventure. ah Story-wise, deep cut, they crash-landed in the Spiralite Islands, and you, the mechanic, are going treasure hunting.
00:28:11
Speaker
uh you're gonna defeat salmon and hordes and collect treasure uh salmon and eggs are used to progress deeper into a level so the more salmon as you kill to get the eggs the further in a level you can get uh they gave us a list of some of the enemies you'll encounter uh the lesser salmon is you got small fry chum tong chum spring chum and sparky ah You got boss salmonids like the scrapper, salty tongue, salivator and smoker. And then the seasoned salmonids, the minced scrapper, thick cut salty tongue, big stack stinger and more.
00:28:46
Speaker
ah Basically, the video said the saltier the salmonid, the scarier it gets. And I'm like, damn, don't salt the salmon, I guess.
00:28:57
Speaker
ah You'll have over 100 weapons to choose from, and each and weapons have various levels. Some offer unique perks. Gadgets, too, can be equipped at any time, and they'll equip to your tanks. Depending on what tank you have will determine the gadget variety selection you can choose from.
00:29:16
Speaker
You have speed, power, and tactical tanks. um So speed focusing more on going fast ah and like like scout builds. Power meant for heavy hitting. And then tactical, a lot of like ah gadget based like tech tech like turrets and shit. That kind of stuff.
00:29:39
Speaker
And gadgets also have perks that you can equip on them too. Is this Splatoon 3? Is this like DLC? This is a whole separate game. Oh, yeah okay. i i I am not up to date on my Splatoon news. Yeah, this is a whole separate game. It's like $50. Okay.
00:29:59
Speaker
okay ah Stage types vary from standard treasure hunts to dealing with salmon and nests, gadget challenges, and more. All the EXP rewards that you get it from a failed raid is kept ah ah is kept at the if you fail.
00:30:14
Speaker
You upgrade your base to get different abilities, and you can get stronger and all that stuff. You got outfit customization. All the amiibos from the Splatoon series can unlock special outfits. The difficulty can be changed on the fly, and the difficulty only affects the salmon nid's strength.
00:30:31
Speaker
ah So if you want them to do lots of damage, put it on hard mode. If you want them to do little damage, put it on the easy Google baby mode, your choice. There is up to four player co-op through a local network network play or online play. There, uh,
00:30:49
Speaker
And there are Sam and Ikrela's that you can find that offer other abilities as well. The game comes out July 2026. And that's what we all the details that we got for the news.
00:31:02
Speaker
It looks interesting. and I don't know if I'll get it, but it's very, people are saying like it's very Borderlands coded a little bit. Yeah. With it being like kind of like a looter shooter in a sense. It sounds like they're trying to focus more on single player stuff. Yes, it is more primarily a single player game, but there are there is multiplayer that you can do.
00:31:25
Speaker
um But is is most it is mostly marketed as a single player game. Interesting. Yeah. I'll have to see how that does. Sounds interesting enough. I don't have a switch too, but I might watch it. Fair.
00:31:41
Speaker
Developers at Quantic Dream have gone on strike to oppose impending layoffs, stating that the narrative driven Star Wars eclipse cannot be finished if these layoffs proceed. We'll obviously have updates on that and on however that goes.
Game Development and Legal News
00:31:55
Speaker
ah Riot Games is working on a new version of League of Legends called League of Legends Classic. oh Oh, boy. So I don't know what that even means at this point, because I don't know how different old league was to league now. Yeah. Like, I don't feel like it's changed that much. Right. But maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. And also on the topic of league real quick, KBA are apparently coming back. The K-pop group that they made for Worlds, however many years ago now,
00:32:29
Speaker
ah They're making ah new music with that with the artists that they collabed on with that for that and bringing in a new batch of skins for ah those four characters. Thank God. I'm going to sleep better at night now.
00:32:42
Speaker
ah Pokemon Unite has turned five years old and the Pokemon company is celebrating by adding four new legendary Pokemon to the game. Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram, and Solgaleo will gradually be added throughout July and August. And a Regal-style Pikachu is the big ticket item from the next Battle Pass currently ongoing that you can get.
00:33:07
Speaker
In more bad news around Sony, Bungie is facing layoffs with around 200 people from the 800 person studio being laid off with Destiny 2 slowly getting sunset and, you know, day by day that day getting closer to that game getting closer to the end.
00:33:27
Speaker
Toby Fox says that he is aiming for a 2027 release for Deltarune Chapter 6, making people theorize that it might take a whole decade for the game to be release finished when which Chapter 7 might release in 2028. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I've said a long time ago, I was like, I'll play it when it's all done. Like, I don't want to play it like chapter by chapter, but I'm like realizing when it's done in 10 years. now I'm realizing I might never play this game, actually. Uh,
00:34:02
Speaker
And the big the worst thing Steam has ever fucking done. The Steam Machine's price. Or I guess I guess Valve technically, not Steam's.
00:34:13
Speaker
The Steam Machine's price has been revealed. And oh my god, holy shit, it's bad. It's awful. it's It's terrifying. $1,049 for the gigabyte version.
00:34:30
Speaker
the controller is sold separately. Or you could get it a bundle with a controller and that Steam Machine for $1,128. The two terabyte model goes for $1,349 without the controller and $1,428 with the controller. Oh man, wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall during that board meeting?
00:34:54
Speaker
Just how, how did they settle on that? Like, how do you even justify that? Well, this this has a lot of things to do with the fucking RAM shortage and said no AI taking all the parts. and there's the it's Blame AI for this because I think if that didn't happen, these prices would have been not as bad. But these prices are so bad that guess what? If you're able to secure parts for bad prices, you could build a PC better than that that will run Steam and you'll be fine.
00:35:30
Speaker
That's really funny. You've got to remember that they built this as like an entry point PC, even though it like kind of acts like a plug and play console, because that is what it it is at the end of the day. It is also like ah a computer as they have promoted it as well.
00:35:46
Speaker
ah You could build a PC for cheaper, especially if you're Canadian, because in Canadian dollars, Oh, without the controller. I'm just going to give you the without the controller prices because they're more expensive with the controller. If you want to in Canada want to buy this, it's $1,500.09 for the gigabyte version and night almost for the two terabyte version. Good God.
00:36:13
Speaker
ah So like, I guess what? I got my PC for less. Yeah. i was going to say, just buy a computer at that point. like I got my PC for less. Like granted, like obviously I got monitors and a couple of other things too. So like it came closer to like the two grand mark, I think for like when everything was said and done, maybe a little over, but like the PC itself was under that those prices.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah, this all like RAM and like hardware bubble, it's got to pop soon, right? I feel like it's getting so bad. It's getting so bad. It's getting so bad. Like, look, here's the thing. If gamers had the gamer rage that we had back in those old Call of Duty lobbies, I think we could pop it ourselves.
00:36:59
Speaker
But they, but you know, yeah you know, this is actually all being... This is actually all because of... We gotta take matters into our own hands. We gotta... It's all because of those leftist wokies.
00:37:11
Speaker
not i I've been saying. that Not letting us say the gamer words. Because if they could let us say the gamer words, then that AI bubble would have popped by. No. yeah That's exactly what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying!
00:37:25
Speaker
No, obviously that is a joke, folks. I am fucking, that is a joke. i Please recognize that that was a sat satirical joke. Thank you for your time. Halo experienced some backlash to everything's bad. Okay, here's what happened. The whole world's just on fire. Yeah. ah The Halo campaign Evolve. It faced backlash from revealing that in a Q&A that they did on Twitter that the only way to play local co-op split screen on the PlayStation 5 version was to have PlayStation Plus on multiple accounts and not just one.
00:38:01
Speaker
which made a lot of people angry. And so the halo, and but ah they had to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, sorry. They, they backed up immediately with that. They posted to clarify, this was a mistake. Players don't need to PlayStation plus descriptions to access local split screen co-op.
00:38:18
Speaker
You just need like, ah you still need like two separate PlayStation accounts, which is whatever. ah That's kind of like how you have to play anything split screen on PlayStation nowadays. Yeah.
00:38:30
Speaker
But you still need a Microsoft account to play the game on PlayStation 5. And each ah each of those accounts that you play Halo in local split screen need their own individual Microsoft account as well.
00:38:45
Speaker
Kind of dumb, but at least it's not as bad as having to pay like double your PS Plus sixscript subscription to play the local co-op. Claude Guillemot, one of the co-founders of Ubisoft, died in a plane crash on June 19th.
00:39:01
Speaker
Rest in peace to Claude. Rest in peace.
00:39:07
Speaker
Again, more bad news. Hasbro is reportedly trying to get child actors from Peppa Pig to sign away their voices to a i I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that headlock. I'm just going to move Uh, this is, that's for a combination of both an open letter from the agents of young performers association and a report from deadline linking the letter to Peppa Pig.
00:39:31
Speaker
Holy fuck has bro. Uh, in delayment news, or Lords of the fallen two has been delayed to 2027 on toast. The latest game from amnesia and Soma developer frictional games has been delayed to 2027.
00:39:45
Speaker
EA has laid off staff ahead of their $55 billion sale to Saudi arabia Arabia, which is likely to soothe the sting of its $20 billion dollars debt that they have.
00:39:57
Speaker
ah It's some not bad news, but like, so very it's kind of mixed because you know you never know where these early stages of these news are going to go Sea of Thieves is getting a movie this was reported by Entertainment Weekly it's in early stages and a director has not been signed yet but the film will be reduced by Destin Daniel Cretton the director of films including Shang-Chi The Legend of Ten Rings the upcoming Spider-Man Brand New Day ah it's all through his Saco Films production company
00:40:30
Speaker
So take that as you will. We'll see where that goes, if that goes anywhere. Mario Kart World receives a free update, adding two new Knockout Tour rallies, the Drill and Boomerang Rally.
00:40:44
Speaker
So new content and a free update from Mario Kart World, only like a little more than... A year than it came out since it came out. A 36 year old man from Wilmington, North Carolina was sentenced this week to more than 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to a $21,000 Pokemon card heist from January.
00:41:05
Speaker
that's crazy Surveillance footage from Video Game Time. A local video game shop revealed that a man named Joseph Trevor Wilson pepper sprayed and tied up a store employee before fleeing the scene. Wilson was allegedly carrying a gun which he used to make off with both the cards and cash from the store. Wilson was arrested five days later during a traffic stop where authorities also discovered a BB pistol and drugs.
00:41:32
Speaker
World's most mentally stable Pokemon card player. ah I allies online fantasy RPG, which was named project fantasy has been canceled after its third party that was going to fund and publish it pulled out. Turns out that third party was Xbox.
00:41:54
Speaker
Oops. Oops. IO Interactive stated that it will have to make staffing decisions in response to this deal falling through, which certainly its layoffs are a possibility for the company.
00:42:05
Speaker
Fuck you, Xbox, my god! Also in a fuck you to Xbox, Microsoft is reportedly considering shutting down Arcade Studios, best known for the Sonar series Deathloop and Prey, which would also be canceling Arcade's upcoming game based on Blade.
00:42:22
Speaker
Microsoft is reportedly set to announce ah widespread layoffs at its Xbox studios next week. So we'll have more details for you on whether or not that happened ah in the next episode.
00:42:34
Speaker
oh man, i look, reading all this now, it's just the so much bad. There's just so much bad. Sounds like it. Yeah, nothing good.
00:42:45
Speaker
The Oblivion remaster is coming to the Switch 2 on August eleventh All right, there you go. but but That's good. Supermassive Games CEO Robert Henderson has announced he will be stepping down from the company. That might be good. I don't know. I mean, Supermassive is ah that that's ah Hades, right?
00:43:07
Speaker
i Yeah, I believe so. Oh, sorry. No, that's Until Dawn and the Quarry. I'm thinking of super giant. super giant giant yeah Yeah. Yeah. No. So the horror horror games. So that's all right. According to a new report from Variety, Persona is possibly getting a live action Netflix adaptation.
00:43:29
Speaker
I can't wait to see Bryan Cranston play Dr. Maruki from Persona 5 Royal. and Okay. And probably what was the best news for like anything gaming related? Cyberpunk Edgelunters 2 is coming out this fall.
00:43:43
Speaker
ah We got the main cast revealed and the voice actors along with new trailers. ah And to make this even better, one of those voice actors is Clancy Brown, a.k.a. the voice of Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants. He is letting his voice into this project. And honestly, if you listen to like any of his other voice acting work that he has done, he is fantastic.
00:44:04
Speaker
And this is... Honestly, this is going to be really great. So can't wait to become emotionally unstable after watching this one. Just like we all did with the first one, which I still need to watch. I haven't watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners yet.
00:44:21
Speaker
i know what happens. Just haven't watched it. Pre-orders just went up for the first four figure for first four figures, which is what they're called. Their official Nintendo licensed Super Mario Brothers Wonder Elephant Mario statue.
00:44:36
Speaker
The standard version of the statue costs $544.99 and features Elephant Mario in his dramatic lunging pose. There is an exclusive addition, which will cost $619.99, which adds the Elephant Fruit, the power-up that transforms the plumber into the Elephant. Both versions are up for pre-order with a $20 discount right now and are expected to ship in Q3, 2027.
00:45:02
Speaker
yes I've got a first four statue here, actually. They make good stuff. I got the the Amy Rose one. Looking at it right now. Nice. ah And lastly, and probably what is the best news of the week?
00:45:17
Speaker
The Subnautica 2 legal battle between developer Unknown Worlds and leadership and publisher k Crafton is officially over. Bloomberg reported that the two sides had come to a settlement in which Crafton will pay the bonuses to the entire staff of Unknown Worlds, which potentially equals around $250 million. dollars Additionally, the recently reinstated
MMORPG and Fighting Game Highlights
00:45:43
Speaker
Unknown World CEO after Krafton fired him, but then the court rehired him because what they did was unlawful and all that stuff.
00:45:52
Speaker
Ted Gill, he is ah like just stepping down now saying new leadership is the best way for the studio to move forward. And that's it for regular video game news. In the world of ongoing game news, in MMORPG news with FFXIV, the Dragon Quest collaboration has returned. You can do that that quest until July 13th.
00:46:15
Speaker
In Fortnite Epic Game News, Neopets are now in Fortnite. Yo. That's actually awesome. ah And in gacha game news, Genshin Impact revealed that the big bad of the game ah is finally coming to the forefront in its 7.0 trailer. The Saritza is her name, and the new update releases August 12th.
00:46:40
Speaker
So does that mean Genshin Impact is coming to an end soon? We can only hope. We can only hope ah Esports news. EVO 2020 6 happened over the weekend. ah Well, not this past weekend that you're listening to this, but like two weekends ago. EVO happened. Woo, EVO. Yay. Let's go, EVO. Usually happens in the fall, but they moved this one up because it swabs and dates with like another fighting tournament. I don't remember which one. Anyway, going over all the announcements first.
00:47:12
Speaker
because a lot of shit was announced for fighting games. A new character for Dead or Alive 6, Minato, was teased. Rivals of Aether 2 dropped its roadmap for the next few years. Later this year, we can expect two new characters, two more events, and workshop support for items and characters. In 2027, Rivals of Aether 2 will hold four events, add two more new fighters, two echo-like remixed rivals, implement eight-player matches, and give players the ability to spend currency to create custom color mixes for their outfits they are also going to be adding mina the holower to the game as a collaboration guest character oh i didn't know that i heard about uh the other gooey the character that they revealed at evo i saw that i did not hear about mina the holower though that's really cool
00:48:05
Speaker
Tekken is getting a cartoon, like a proper like animated cartoon series. ah And in Tekken stuff, ah they showed off ah Bob will be arriving into the game on August 24th. And Roger Jr. details will be coming at Evo France in October. And the trailer that they made for Roger Jr. was... Oh, God, I can't remember the character's name. But Roger Jr. has his dog in like the chokehold. If you know that one video of the kangaroo how holding that one man's dog in chokehold, if a man runs up to the kangaroo, he drops the dog, and then he punches the kangaroo in the face, of the kangaroo just kind of looks like, what the fuck just happened?
00:48:46
Speaker
They recreated that. It is absolutely hilarious that they did that. And then Hirata tweeted that it's like, hey, before I left Bandai Namco, I had talked to the team ah who are a bunch of younger folks who had never seen that before.
00:49:01
Speaker
And so it's like, yo, if we could create this for Roger Jr., that would be really great. And so they did that, which was awesome that ah one last bit of Hirata's influence ah showed up at Evo again, which is awesome.
00:49:15
Speaker
Uh, Avatar Legends revealed four of the five year one DLC fighters, uh, with the pre-order trailer. Uh, Uncle Iroh, Ty Lee, Lin Beifong, and Bolin are four of the five. The fifth one will be voted on by those who pre-ordered a game.
00:49:33
Speaker
ah Pre-orders are also now live for PlayStation's FlexStrike fighting game controller, but honestly, you can just boycott that one now at this rate. Granblue Fantasy vs. Rising is getting a new fighter ah ID.
00:49:46
Speaker
I'm guessing it's just ID. On September 17th, the version 2.6 update will drop on the same day, adding a new stage, system mechanic, costumes, and more to the game. And also the Switch 2 version drops that day as well.
00:50:02
Speaker
Undernight Inberth 2 showed us a first look at Zohar, their next DLC fighter. Robo-Kai will be coming to Guilty Gear Strive. ah They're actually out in Guilty Gear Strive right now as they joined the game on July 2nd. BlazBlue Central Fiction is getting a new character. This game hasn't been updated since 2017.
00:50:23
Speaker
Oh my gosh, really? ah The character's name is Trinity Glassphile? Glassphile? classfilet Anyway, Trinity will be joining the game, and I guess Central Fiction is getting new updates.
00:50:37
Speaker
ah 2XKOs, new characters will be Lux and Samira. Kenshiro is out now in Fatal Fury to the City of the Wolves. Marvel Choke on Fighting Souls revealed the last of its base roster, being Blade, Loki, and Deadpool.
00:50:52
Speaker
ah And Virtual Fighter Crossroads revealed Bakunawa Killer as a fighter for the game as well. As for who won your main stage games, ah Street Fighter 6 went to Meta RD or Menard, I believe is what he's called. Arslan Ash won Tekken 8. Red Ditto won Guilty Gear Strive.
00:51:15
Speaker
Plup was the winner of Rivals of Aether 2. uh other night in birth 2 went to big black invisible versus went to ockery 2x ko went to hikari grand blue fantasy versus rising went to koji coco fatal fury city of the wolves went to zhao hi vampire savior went to kaji blaze blue central fiction went to fuku and virtual of fighter 5 revo went to gentleman thief there are also a lot of other smaller tournaments but if we were there if i listed all those we'd be here forever You know, Plup has not lost a single set in Rivals of Aether 2.
00:51:50
Speaker
Wow. he has one he has gone three for three in every tournament he's entered. Wow. Without dropping is set. He is just actually the goat at that game. i do not understand.
00:52:02
Speaker
Unranked player, too. like He wasn't even ranked on like the power rankings for the game because he just hasn't entered enough tournaments. But the three he has entered, he's won convincingly. Wow. Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
00:52:18
Speaker
ah And that was it for Evo announcements. Moving on to the world of TCG. ah The 30th anniversary set for Pokemon releases September 16th, and Mega Evolution Delta Reigns comes out November 8th.
00:52:32
Speaker
In Yu-Gi-Oh! Chaos Origins is out now. The Legendary Arc 5 Dex Collector set comes out August 7th. Limited Pack World Championship 2026 on August 8th, and Magnificent Monsters on September fourth In Magic the Gathering, the Marvel Super Heroes set is out now. The Hobbit drops on August 14th. Reality Fracture October 2nd and Star Trek November 20th. Lorcanna sees Attack of the Vines dropping July 24th. Digimon TCG, the Digital World Chipmola set is out now. And in tabletop news, yes, we have literally everything going on this episode.
00:53:09
Speaker
Publisher Mantic Games announced that partnering with Halo Studios on Halo Campaign Evolved, the board game, a new experience inspired by the upcoming video game remake. The board game is currently scheduled to launch in quarter four this year.
00:53:22
Speaker
The Halo board game. ah Yeah. All right. Interesting. A proper vampire class is coming to Dungeons and Dragons via a Vampire the Masquerade tie-in.
Speedrunning Highlights
00:53:33
Speaker
Bound by Blood, the upcoming supplement by Ghostfire Gaming in cooperation with White Wolf will include rules for a vampire class in D&D 5.5 that has blood points to spend, bloodline powers called disciplines to spend them on, and an inner beast to contend with just like they do in the game.
00:53:52
Speaker
ah It's set to release later this month. And that is everything in the week in review. A lot of bad, some good. Joey, what are your final thoughts on all of that?
00:54:05
Speaker
Oh man, it sounds like gaming's at a pretty interesting spot lately. ah It's funny just hearing it as what I would consider myself to be an outsider at this point. I mean, i don't I don't buy a ton of new games, but I try to keep up with most stuff, right? And I think all this stuff about GTA 6 and the Steam machine, all I can do is just like laugh. It's just so funny the way things are headed.
00:54:33
Speaker
But... i You know, Evo, I i thoroughly enjoyed watching ah Rivals Mather and Evo. high I was locked in on that because my boy Mango was playing. It was like the first tournament. you Oh, yeah. Mango's back on the scene. He's sober.
00:54:49
Speaker
yeah You're sober now. I forgot that he posted a video about that. He is like, you're sober now. Yeah, very pretty happy for him to get help to get help because obviously it's not easy to admit you have a problem. It's not easier to go get the help when you need it. it's good for him to actually get the help.
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, to keep it brief, like I watch the guy like literally every day. like I have like a million channel points, and it's just strange. But it's just been really cool seeing the progress he's made, both in and out of video gaming. like He's definitely come a long way, and i was like super proud to watch him. He got ninth at Rivals of Aether, so pretty pretty good. Not bad, top ten. Yeah, yeah. Not bad, good for him.
00:55:38
Speaker
Good for him. All right. With that, it's now time for us to look ahead at all the games that will come out, some with physical additions, some that are just on Steam. ah Here's what should be on your radar for July 6th to 17th.
00:55:51
Speaker
From AAA titles, indie hits, hidden gems, and hot pieces of garbage, here are the games coming out that should be on your radar. And starting it off, no game releases on the sixth, but on the seventh, Moonlight Peaks comes out on Switch, Switch 2, PC, and Android.
00:56:07
Speaker
No releases on the eighth, but on the ninth, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resync comes out on Core Systems. Backyard Baseball, the remake of the classic baseball game, comes out on the Core Systems.
00:56:18
Speaker
EA Sports College Football 27 comes to the PS5 and Series X. Granblue Fantasy Relink Endless Ragnarok comes to the PlayStation 4 and 5 Switch 2 and PC. Veritas Tale, Witch of the Dark Castle also comes out on the PC.
00:56:32
Speaker
On the 10th, Digimon Story Times Ranger gets its Switch 2 release, which if you have a Switch 2 or just any other console that can play the game, play Digimon Story Times Ranger. It is fantastic.
00:56:44
Speaker
uh echoes of aincrad releases on core systems this is that new sword out online and mmo game but it's a single player game but it's an mmo and it's it's kind of weird it's interesting how they're doing that uh pal world 1.0 comes out on its core on the core consoles uh core systems and xbox one and weathering waves gets its series x release On the 13th, Ascend to Zero comes out on the Series X and PC. On the 14th, An Extremely Hard Game comes out on PC. D-Topia comes out on the Core Systems and Switch and Switch 2. And The Incident at the Galley House comes to PC.
00:57:22
Speaker
On the 15th, Densh Attack comes out on Core Systems and Switch 2. The Mound, Omen of Cthulhu, comes to the Core ah core Systems. And What Surrounds Us comes out on PC.
00:57:34
Speaker
On the 16th, Cold Step Begins comes out on Switch, two and piece Switch 2 and PC. Fitness Boxing 3, Your Personal Trainer, comes out on Switch 2. GoGoTown comes out on Switch, Switch 2 and PC. Happy's Hungry, Burgatory comes to the PC. GeveHo 2 comes the Switch, Switch 2 and PC.
00:57:52
Speaker
Moss, The Forgotten Relic, comes out on Core Systems, Switch 1 and 2 and Xbox One. Puppergeist comes to the Series X, Switch and PC. ah And the mermaid mask comes to the PS5 switch one and two and PC as for the games that you should keep an eye out for starting off Assassin's Creed Black Flag resync. The game completely rebuilt with additional content.
00:58:18
Speaker
ah Looks great. Looks solid. Looks like Ubisoft will have a good video game again, even though it's just a remake of an already good video game.
00:58:30
Speaker
for those who love chaos, backyard baseball, uh, fully 3d now, instead of the old, uh, 2d that, what that it once was, uh, ready to bring the chaos.
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, if you're a fan of the monster hunter games, I would really recommend checking out brand, brand blue fantasy relink and this dragon rock, uh, it's just gonna, it's just updating, uh, brand blue fantasy relink, adding a bit more content to the game and just modernizing it for, ah modern hardware. Um,
00:59:00
Speaker
Uh, definitely check that out. Uh, and extremely hard game is the game where you're two gooses and you're both holding the nest with an egg in it. And you get to the end of each level to not break your egg. So there's a new rage game for you and your friend. Uh, the incident at the galley house. I'm pointing out this one because this is coming from the same developers as who gave us, uh, the root trees are dead, which is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time.
00:59:27
Speaker
This is a remake of a game with the same name. It's just like being brought to ah being modernized and all of that stuff. Densh Attack.
00:59:38
Speaker
This is that high speed train game ah where you're going fast doing Tony Hawk tricks with your train. This is the only one I recognize on this other than backyard baseball, but I saw a trailer for Dench Attack. I'm like, this looks absolutely absurd. It's going to be awesome. i i am very excited for Dench Attack. Yeah.
01:00:00
Speaker
um And Moss, the Forgotten Relic. ah if youve If you might have heard of Moss as Moss 1 and 2, or Moss Book 1 and Book 2 were VR games on PlayStation VR. And now they're actually being adapted into the non-VR versions with both games being put into this one game.
01:00:21
Speaker
And you'll be able to play it on everything now, which is super cool because now it's not just limited to VR. Very nice. ah And that is everything coming out within the next two weeks.
01:00:35
Speaker
um With that, it it's time for us to now dive into our main focus. Here is what we are talking about this week in the Game Lounge. Conversations of past and future games, the state of the gaming industry, how big decisions affect gamers, and anything else that's important to us. Here's what's going down this week in the Game Lounge.
01:00:57
Speaker
And starting it off, our first topic of the day. Joey is more than just a Sonic speedrunner now.
01:01:06
Speaker
He's more. He now speedruns Yoshi. Yeah, I love Yoshi's Island. Have you ever played it? yeah i have not played Yoshi's Island. No, I have not. Oh,
01:01:20
Speaker
It is i need to such a classic. I definitely need to. It's on the long list of like classic games I need to go play, ah which is a very, very long list.
01:01:31
Speaker
ah So I guess we'll start with this, Joey. What got you into Yoshi Speedruns? Um, I first played the game in 2020, so this was not a game that I grew up with. Uh, I never actually owned a Super Nintendo. It was one of the few Nintendo consoles I never had, but, um, I did play it on the Switch 1 back 2020, and I...
01:01:58
Speaker
and i immediately picked up on just how like fluid it felt and responsive and everything yoshi moves very like quickly in and the game and i had i had already known like um people like trihex speed ran this game um the four worlds record holder saku which was a japanese runner that i used to watch from time to time i'd watch him play it so i knew that The speedrun was great. I loved the the game casually. i hundred percent of it. And I was like, okay, i I have to at least dip my toes into the speedrun, right? Like, i i wasn't necessarily fully committing to it yet, but I was like, I have to give it a try.
01:02:41
Speaker
And um i first started learning stuff in 2020. And i did a couple runs back then. And i really enjoyed it. i I loved just like learning how to navigate the game and um just how it felt to go fast in it.
01:03:04
Speaker
But at that time, i was focusing a lot more on um like Sonic Heroes. That's like my main speedrun for people who don't know.
01:03:15
Speaker
And so I didn't have... like I didn't like fully give it my all in Yoshi. I kind of like gave it a try and then sort of went back to my usual thing.
01:03:27
Speaker
um But yeah, I guess I'm kind of answering the second question already a little bit. Yeah, it hasn't been that long, especially because of the... Because you now hold...
01:03:39
Speaker
you You have a couple of world records now with Sonic Heroes, if I'm correct. ah Yeah, i I currently so I still have the Rose record. I've held that one for a couple of years now. um And at the end of 2025, I actually got the Chaotix world record by one second as well. So I i have. Yeah, I've got those two, which um is pretty cool. Yeah. And thought that was a good top five for both Hero and Dark.
01:04:07
Speaker
um yeah yeah sonic and dark yeah i've got top five for the lts categories with like the glitchless categories and those as well yeah so been grinding to become the superstar at that and now i guess you've started doing the yoshi speed runs because you've hit your like ah primary goals within heroes so it's time for ah a break with heroes now or is um what's what's the what's what's that looking like I guess the timeline, I guess. So there was a um there's a Sonic Heroes tournament um later last year in 2025.
01:04:45
Speaker
And once that concluded, i felt you know like, all right, I'm a little burnt out on this game. um i would love to go back to an older game, one that i really enjoyed but never really had the time to put my all into, right? Because up until this point, like, Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure 2 were the only two games, I'd say, where I've actually given it everything I've got, you know? Like, I wasn't just a tourist. I was like... Practicing every day, getting the lowest time I can, learning all the tricks and stuff.
01:05:20
Speaker
And I was like, you know what? I think it's time to buy a Super Nintendo, buy a practice ah cartridge and like really give it my all. And for 2026, that's pretty much all I've been doing.
01:05:37
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's been, it's been so much fun. Like you would think at this point I'd be kind of over it, but I'm not, I'm, I'm, I'm really motivated to keep going. It's, it's been a really fun time.
01:05:53
Speaker
Nice. So what do Yoshi's Island speedruns look like? what How long are these runs? but lets Let's start with how long the runs are on average and what the main categories of this game are. Yeah, um well, we'll start with the length, right? This is very different from a lot of the speedruns I've done in that it's much, much longer. So it's it's got 42 levels total in any percent, and it comes out to just under two hours long. And that's very different from um the Sonic games, right? Because those typically end up being around a half hour, a little over under a half hour. Usually. So these are like four times that length. And that's been a pretty tough adjustment for me, you know, especially somebody who works full time as well. It's like i whenever I have the opportunity to play the game, i only get so many chances at a PB, right? Because I can't just start.
01:06:58
Speaker
a run at midnight and then have to get up for work the next day, you know? So it's like, gotta, you gotta, yada um use the precious time you have as efficiently as possible.
01:07:12
Speaker
Um, As far as like what the speedruns look like, so it's a 2D platformer. If you've never played Yoshi, you move from left to right. and um One of the core mechanics of the game is that Yoshi's able to eat enemies and create eggs that he can throw using like a reticle that shows up on screen.
01:07:33
Speaker
And the eggs can interact with objects. They can um hit enemies for you, hit ah bosses and stuff. And so it's basically just experimenting a lot with that mechanic. Just being able to throw an egg and have it interact with something that somewhere else on the screen where you aren't, right? And if you can imagine, it if you are able to master it, so a lot of it's like aiming the eggs properly because the reticle like moves around as you hold the button, you let go of it, Yoshi throws, right? So there's like an element of like aiming them properly while moving and um timing all of your jumps properly and all of that. So it's a very precise...
01:08:19
Speaker
game and um I think one thing I will say about it is it is very punishing in that you are pretty much incentivized to not take checkpoints in this game because they slow you down and that means that If you miss time, even just a single jump somewhere or um get hit in the wrong way and fall, well, you haven't taken any checkpoints because you're speedrunning it and you end up losing a lot of time, right? So you're kind of it's kind of an endurance test, I would almost say. It's like, how long can you you know keep up precision platforming and not make a huge mistake, right? Yeah.
01:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, so it's been tough in that regard. But, um you know, it's been so cool seeing myself improve and just make less and less mistakes and play with like more and more confidence as time goes on.
01:09:19
Speaker
hmm. So what are the what are some of the cool skips that you get to do in this? like What are some of like the major skips that this game has to obviously make it from like a 10-hour game to this two-hour speed run?
01:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, that's the big thing. A lot of it is it's not really skips in the sense that a Zelda game has a sequence break that takes you from one. It's more just a lot of optimization. Yeah, it's just playing as fast as you can from point A to point B. There's a lot of different ways to do that.
01:09:56
Speaker
One thing I will say, though, which is something that I just implemented not too long ago, um there's an auto-scroller section 5-4, so World Stage There's a screen where you ride this um platform.
01:10:14
Speaker
so they have all these like cute background characters, right? Because it's Yoshi. And one of them is this platform guy. You stand on his head. His head is a platform. And then he slowly makes his way right to the end of the screen. And while he while you're riding on top of him, there's stuff happening.
01:10:32
Speaker
flying at you and you have to like duck underneath spikes and it takes a while. It's like a two minute auto scroller or something. Well, If you are incredibly precise with your flutters, because Yoshi can kick his legs and flutter in the air, and um if you're able to do that approximately 30 consecutive times without losing height, and also using enemies to your advantage to like bounce off of, you can barely skip the entire autoscroller and save almost two minutes.
01:11:10
Speaker
Wow. And so... To give you an idea of how difficult this is, um out of the, I want to say, two hundred and fifty ish total runners on speedrun.com for Yoshi's Island, theyre only the top 18 runs have this skip implemented into it.
01:11:30
Speaker
So it's definitely like like a high-level trick that you usually ignore until you get to the point where it's like, those two minutes are looking pretty juicy. You know, I need to lower my time somehow. and Those two minutes looking pretty good right now. i'm about to risk my entire speed run. And keep in mind, this is over an hour into the run.
01:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, this is an hour and 10 minutes in. And if you miss it, it's just, I mean, So the nice thing about it is it saves so much that you can afford to take the checkpoint before it and maybe like still save time with a second or third try. But in order to get that really juicy time save, you want to get it first try. Right. And a lot of what my stream has been lately has been just trying to hit it for the first time on a first try and save like the full amount of time.
01:12:28
Speaker
And if I do that, I'm going to land myself in the top 20 for the game. So I've been really motivated to get it, just have it work for me just one time. But it's it's hard, man. It's it's a driving me just a little bit crazy. Just a little bit. I bet. I bet. Are there any other, so there's no, there's no real skip real skips because of it's just optimized play, play great. What about like tech wise? Obviously with the example of the 30 flutter jumps to skip an auto segment, is there any other like tech like that throughout the game? Like, I guess the flutter jumps seem to be like a big key thing. Is there other stuff that those have deal with or just like other cool tech that the eggs have that's in the speed run? What's the tech look like?
01:13:17
Speaker
Um, so a lot of it is, um, like bouncing off of enemies. So one cool mechanic that's in the game is that if you bounce off of an enemy or an object and then hold out the flutter, Yoshi flutters like three times as high as normal.
01:13:39
Speaker
Right. So there are a lot of cool spots where it wants you to like figure out this whole puzzle section and like go through all this stuff. you know, all these shenanigans to like advance.
01:13:53
Speaker
But if you're able to like very meticulously place an enemy or something or bounce on an enemy as it flies by and get a super flutter, you can like get really high up and actually skip it.
01:14:06
Speaker
And so there's a lot of doing that. um trying to think there's shell jumps in the game i don't know how familiar are with like mario maker where a lot of the time they'll like throw a shell at a wall it bounces back and then you bounce off of the shell in midair you do some of that in the game um There are like one way gates in the game where you you're only allowed to go through it one way and then you're not supposed to be able to go through it the other way, but you could throw an egg at it in such a way that it opens. like Oh, so interesting.
01:14:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. there's There's some cool stuff like that. um I'd say though, again, it's like mostly just like precision platforming. Like how long can you go without making a huge mistake? Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:57
Speaker
And which which version is the best version to run this game on? ah Definitely the OG like Super Nintendo cart. You want to get a Japanese cart if you can because the text is just a little bit faster.
01:15:11
Speaker
um it only saves like a couple seconds, but if you want to get really technical all about it, then yeah. Japanese Super Famicom cart is the way to go. Okay. What would you say of the like entry level of this speed... like The level entry to the speedrun is? Like how...
01:15:29
Speaker
easy or difficult is it to like if somebody wanted to start speed running this game today uh like how how easy or hard is it to get into the speed run of it yeah i'd say it's like i mean it's not like the hardest game in the world like i think that so you you said you've never played it before i have never played it before So there's this thing. the you don't have a health bar in the game. What happens is you're carrying baby Mario around.
01:16:01
Speaker
And if you get hit, baby Mario flies off your back into this bubble. And then a countdown starts going down. And you have to go retrieve him while he's crying to get him back before the countdown is over. right And then it like slowly replenishes once you get him back. But if you get hit again while it's replenishing,
01:16:21
Speaker
the countdown starts going down again from where it was at. Um, and so a lot of the times what happens is, ah newer runners will just get hit a lot because, you know, when you're trying to go fast, you're being a bit reckless and you're just running into stuff and you're just listening to this crying noise from Mario just over and over and over. And like, I think people get a little annoyed of that.
01:16:50
Speaker
Um, But I always say it's like, it's kind of just a get good moment. It's like once once you get to the point where you know what you're doing, you don't and hear it very much anymore.
01:17:03
Speaker
But I think that the length of the run being as long as it is, i would say of makes it a little harder to get into because you have to know what you're in for. Like you have to like the game enough to be willing to sit down and play it for starting out what could be potentially like three hours straight, you know, like that's a lot of platforming for a lot of people. So I would understand why.
01:17:29
Speaker
you might not be into that but um i think like like i was saying it's not a very trick heavy game it's not like a zelda game where you're like oh i could never get into this speed run because look at all these impossible things i'd have to learn all these like setups for tricks and all this it's like no if you're just good at platforming if you're if you're a gamer like uh you'll pick up on it pretty quick and from there it's just improving improving you know so i think like on its surface it's a pretty accessible game it's just that you have to be in it for the long run that's good to know ah so what is aside from is so your end goal with the game is it to get the the top 20 time get that successful 30 flutter jump skip or what is there something beyond that that you're hoping to get with the game
01:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, my goal originally was to just see how far I could take it. ah Like when I had finished playing it a years ago, like I was saying, I had ended with a 156.
01:18:36
Speaker
And I just knew like all this time later, I'm like, I could totally beat that by probably a lot if I really locked in And um it's true. I've cut it down 10 minutes at this point. so I'm down to a one 46. And I think, yeah, that five, four skip is kind of my white whale at this point. I think I want to hit that.
01:18:59
Speaker
And if the rest of the run is solid, it's going to get me like a one 44, which would be like nearly top 10, definitely top 15. Um, And at that point, I think I'd be pretty okay with being like, okay, like I get what all this is about. I've, I've talked to the talk at this point. Like I could go back to heroes or something else at that point.
01:19:22
Speaker
Nice. And when if you do when you do when you do go back to Heroes, what's what's what's the goal there that that's pushing you right now? I think T-Bros LTS is what I would probably go back to um My time there can be improved lot. ah i've I've got third place there now, but I could definitely bop Deku at least, I think, with all the new stuff. Yeah. Katie, it's going to be a little hard. Oh, oh Katie get took the round. Okay, that's going to be, yeah, that is a tough. plus She is hard to beat in any game. katie Yeah. You see Katie 4 on that leaderboard at the top, you're just like, well, shit.
01:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, but you never know. I might i might ah get there. I'll have to see when it's all said and done. Nice. You did bring up earlier GDQ is coming up next week.
01:20:18
Speaker
um Who do you know? ah Who do you know? do you know? Who do you who who's going to be right there? Do you know what any runs happening? What's the what's what's going on? Because I missed all the GDQ announcements, apparently.
01:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah ah So Katie, funny funny enough, has a run in there. I think she's doing Sonic Schoolhouse, though. It's like a meme run. It's not like anything I'm super excited about, but I mean, I'm happy for her.
01:20:50
Speaker
Is there anyone else I know that has? I leg legit, it's like, you know what? I'm to pull up the schedule right now. Yeah. Because if I don't, I'm going to... forget forget yeah all right we got kirby air blue candy is gonna be there with some kirby air riders true all tracks and air ride that's gonna be fun have to admit i always uh i'm never really checking the schedule much until i'm there yeah ah tunic yo let's go there's gonna be a tunic run hell yeah 100 nmg okay i'll definitely be watching that one love there you go
01:21:29
Speaker
Uh, let's see here. A Bioshock infinite run. Okay. Okay. I see you. I see you. Draco, dad. Yo, Draco, dad. Oh yeah. dad Playing sparkster.
01:21:41
Speaker
That's right. Okay. That'll be a cool one. yeah He's playing a, Oh, sparkster. Right. I was thinking spark the electric jester. I don't know why. It's a different game. Sonic 3 & Knuckles happening. Super Sonic doing that run.
01:21:56
Speaker
Argic on the couch there. Oh, Argic will be there. Yo, shoutouts to Arg, another friend of the podcast. That be Yeah. I met Arg at a couple of GDQs ago, want to say. He's a nice guy.
01:22:09
Speaker
Looking forward to meeting him again. Oh, Peak Speed run. Hell yeah. We love to see Peak. Oh, there it is. Sonic Schoolhouse being done by KD4. that we'll see about that we'll see how that goes uh sonic dream team uh being done by huds and argic who with any adventure any percent i'll definitely need to check that one out Oh, SpongeBob SquarePants Titans of the Tide is getting speed run. That was the newest ah SpongeBob game.
01:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. you ever did you ever play that one? I did. I platinumed that one. oh let's go. I have platinumed all three modern SpongeBob games that have come out since Purple Lamp took over the SpongeBob development. I've platinumed all three of those ones. Let's go. ah follow That's being followed by Scooby-Doo Night of a Hundred Frights. Oh, nice. Oh, excuse me more with Showcase. It's all bosses.
01:23:09
Speaker
ah that's probably just a category that's the category yeah because there is like 100 speed run for that too okay oh followed by ed edit any the miss adventures oh nice that's followed by pizza tower that's a good block wow and then that's being followed by mouse pi for hire That'll be cool too. That's a, that's a great, uh, great straight of games right there. What day is that on? That is all on the 11th and starting at five. Oh, it's all of the morning hours.
01:23:46
Speaker
So you got 5. my goodness. I don't know. 541 AM is when times the tide is set to start. And, uh, There's your Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix making it in.
01:24:01
Speaker
Super Mario 64 is there for your Mario game this year. looks like Claire Obscure Expedition 33. will be the final game speed run at the event as well at 915 on the eleventh Okay.
01:24:18
Speaker
Okay. ah cause Definitely a couple things I'm definitely going try to check out. And who knows, maybe we'll try to get a speedrunner or two from the event on as I usually try to do.
01:24:29
Speaker
All right. With that, is there anything else you want to add about the Yoshi Island speedruns or... ah Sonic Hero speedruns are just the speedruns in general there. yeah um I just think, Tony, gotta play Yoshi's Island. I do. Yeah, it's so good. it's such Is it on the this the virtual console for the Switch? It is, yeah.
01:24:53
Speaker
Maybe I'll start playing that. well I do need a new game to play on my Switch, so maybe I'll start that. yeah It won't take you too long either. I don't think it'll take that long at pretty short game.
Inuyasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask Discussion
01:25:05
Speaker
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Speaker
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01:25:42
Speaker
The Meme Rehab Hotline is standing by, ready to rescue your friend's sense of humor. Remember, a meme saved is a laugh earned. With that, it's time for us to move on to our second topic of the day.
01:25:55
Speaker
And according to Joey, this is the greatest game ever made. Yeah, you know, you could go. I don't know if there was more to that intro. I don't want to eat her interrupt you. Yeah. So, you know, as I do, as people know, I always ask my guests for the topics that they want to talk about because that way, ah behind the scenes, look at this podcast. That way it's like they're more open to talking and we get those juicy bits of details and all of that stuff.
01:26:20
Speaker
I ask him, ask Joey, what do you want to talk about? He's like, Yoshi, I don't have the speedruns. I'm like, oh, great, that's perfect. a New speedrun. Joey, easy to talk about because speedruns are easy. And that is just the greatest game ever made, Inuyasha, Secret of the Cursed Masked.
01:26:36
Speaker
What is this game and why are you claiming this is the greatest game ever made? All right. So I just want to come clean here. Okay. Listen, I said earlier in the podcast, we were going to talk about the worst game ever made. I lied.
01:26:51
Speaker
We're going to talk about the greatest game ever made. Wow. The curse mask. Yeah. um So Tony, I have a confession. Okay.
01:27:02
Speaker
Okay. i am a bit of a weeaboo. Oh my God, no fucking way. I can't believe that. I know, I know. You invited me onto your podcast and here I have this horrible backstory. He's fucking weeb!
01:27:18
Speaker
no it's So, yeah, i I was watching through Inuyasha because I'm trying to watch like older stuff that I missed out on.
01:27:29
Speaker
um And, you know, I've watched it through it and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's like it's like 200 episodes long. And then like you have Yashihime, which is like the sequel. That's like another 50 episodes. So like i'm I'm like getting into it. Right. I'm watching everything.
01:27:47
Speaker
And I'm like getting attached to the world and like the characters and all this. And I'm like, you know what? I wonder if there is Inuyasha game I can play. You know, just i just try one of them. I don't need to play all of them. Just like look through them. See if there's anyone that catches my eye. And I've always been JRPG guy. Like I just enjoy playing through a JRPG.
01:28:14
Speaker
Even if it's like... kind of mindless it's just fun to do like turn-based combat i think and like something to like chill out and play in my downtime and so i come across a ps2 title it's called inayasha secret of the cursed mask I'm like looking at screenshots.
01:28:35
Speaker
I'm like, okay, it it's a turn-based game. It looks a little scuffed. um But ah so I just saw screenshots. I was like, it doesn't look great. I was like, fuck it. I'll just play it.
01:28:49
Speaker
I'll download it. So I got my emulator. Sorry, I legally acquired it. You legally purchased a copy, put it into a CD disc that you attached onto your computer to create a ROM of it and then played it in an emulator.
01:29:02
Speaker
that's right yep I hit up my local game store and I was like do you guys have any Yasha secret of the cursed mask and they're like of course we do they had the last copy don't ask him for it again it cost him like five cents it was such a generous guy
01:29:18
Speaker
I'm still liking the game. And mean, oh my god, man. I don't want to like ramble, but when you asked me for topics, I was like, okay, what's like a game what's like a casual game I played recently? Because truth be told, i don't play a lot of things outside of speedrunning these days, but I'm like, I have played this game. I could ramble ah about this game for a while. um so First of all, um it's only like 35 bucks nowadays.
01:29:50
Speaker
Okay. It's actually not that badly priced. I'm just looking at it. Yeah. thirty five topics Apparently it was like one of the, like, I'm looking at it. Just looking at this. Hold on. Let me look. Let me keep talking. I'm going find out what the last sold was.
01:30:04
Speaker
Okay. Well, I mean, you start up the game, and it it begins with like this self-insert character, and like it's just like a normal high school student. You can play as either the boy or the girl. It doesn't really matter. I think it's the exact same storyline either way. But...
01:30:23
Speaker
Basically, um what Inuyasha the anime is about is Kagome, the main character. She gets Inuyasha is basically one of the first isekais. Yeah, it's like an isekai. Basically, have you seen Inuyasha? I know of it briefly. It's a cat boy meets human girl. She yeah comes into this his the that it' their world, which is like the spirit world. It's it's the feudal era. Yeah. ah Like feudal Japan. So like 1500s Japan or whatever. But he's a cat boy and she falls for him because cat boys are the hot rage.
01:30:58
Speaker
take Yeah, something like that. ah But yeah, like there's like a bunch of demons in the feudal era for no reason. But anyway, ah it starts off exactly the same way. like Your self-insert character ah falls into this like shed while they're like preparing for this festival.
01:31:17
Speaker
So it starts in modern-day Japan. She falls into this like shed or whatever, gets transported to Inuyasha's world. ah So the game is just ugly as sin. Let's get that out of the way. The character models look like like oversized dolls. Like their heads are, they're they're like a bobblehead, basically. Yeah, it's very very ah jarring looking at their fucking... Yeah, yeah. um The character models are crazy looking. And then, so I watched all of Inuyasha...
01:31:50
Speaker
ah subbed so in Japanese so I got so used to the Japanese voices and then this game of course um uses yeah the English voice actors and there's no option to switch to the Japanese No, I'd have to play the Japanese version of the game. And if I had done that, I wouldn't have been able to read. Yeah, I've been learning some Japanese. I'm not that good yet. I could not read ah nearly enough to understand what's going on. yeah So I had to play. This is so much different than actually understanding Japanese.
01:32:26
Speaker
So I had to play in English. I had to listen to the English voices. There's a character named Shippo in Inuyasha. They kept calling him Shippo. It was pissing me off so much. Like I can't even pronounce the names correctly. Instead of Kagome, it's Kagome.
01:32:44
Speaker
like It was just driving me and insane. um the The voices are just deadpan. don't know how else to describe it. like There's no emotion in anything that they're saying.
01:32:57
Speaker
um and The other thing about the game is that every single area looks exactly the same. every like you You can go into any of the areas. So there's like an overworld map, right? And it has like all the the different locations you can travel to. They're all just forest. It's just path in forest. And that's it.
01:33:20
Speaker
Like I could not tell you... If you showed me a picture of like one of the areas, I'd be like, that looks like every other area in the game. Straight up. It's just crazy. My God. Yeah.
01:33:32
Speaker
and um So yeah, I'm playing it. I'm kind of laughing at it. um And then like finally you like you run into a demon in the Feudal Era for the first time. right So you you get your first battle.
01:33:47
Speaker
And oh my God, man. All right, here's what happens, right? So you cut to a battle screen. Screen fades to black slowly.
01:33:58
Speaker
Screen then fades back in slowly. Enemy fades in slowly. Your character fades in slowly. Menu pops up slowly. pick You pick, you scroll down to abilities, closes, new menu opens slowly. Like the whole game plays at just a crawl.
01:34:20
Speaker
um And like, I realized this really early on. I'm like, oh my God, man, like the animations, the, the menuing, the attacks, everything just happens at a snail's pace.
01:34:36
Speaker
And it's it's one of those games, too, where you get random encounters. Like, you'll be walking the overworld. And the characters in the overworld, by the way, walk extremely slowly, too. And, like, you'll just get stopped by a random encounter all the fucking time.
01:34:53
Speaker
And so quickly what I had to do was map a speed up button on my legally owned console. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Map a speed run button. had to go buy one of those controllers with the turbo options on it. Yeah, exactly. um And so like I had to speed the game up. I mapped the speed up to one of my triggers because it was just that necessary. Like I just needed it at at the ready all the time.
01:35:23
Speaker
because and And it just got to the point where i'm like I'm speeding up every battle sequence. I'm speeding up every overworld sequence. I'm speeding up cutscenes because they're taking too long. And so like these characters, like I said, they're speaking so deadpan and they're speaking in like this funny just English that... I'm not used to these characters speaking. And also it's sped up. So I'm just like laughing at every single line after a certain point.
01:35:53
Speaker
Um, and, died yeah, it was just quite the experience, man. I, I also told myself, I was like, this is really bad But I saw the entire anime wit like all the way through to the end. I'm going to finish this game if it kills me. And so eventually I fucking did.
01:36:15
Speaker
um and yeah, I hate to say it. It doesn't get better at any point. It's just bad from start to finish. but um ah it has a 51 out of 100 on metacritic and that's the other thing yeah i go online after i finish it i look up reviews and they're positive people like actually like this game i don't understand like they're like oh i blame it's like it's definitely like uh it's like the the the player base is much different than the critics Yeah, I guess so. was just, I don't know. Because I'm looking at the the critic review scores. Famitsu gave it 24 of 40. Game Inforter gave 4.25. GameSpot gave 5.3. Even those are PlayStation Magazine gave it a out of There we go. That's better.
01:37:07
Speaker
I'm not even trying to be a critic. I was given a six out of 10. I went into it with an open mind. I wanted to like it. And I'm just like, dude, like, where is the redeeming qualities here? Like this game just, it just drags on and on.
01:37:22
Speaker
Um, What one other thing, too, I mentioned the the random encounters. So in the overworld, they're supposed to be there's like these faint purple clouds to like indicate where enemies are. Right. So if you like ah theoretically, if you avoid the clouds, you don't get random encounters.
01:37:42
Speaker
Well, sometimes I'd run right through one and I'd be totally fine. Other times I'd go completely around them and get an encounter anyway. So like, I'm just like, does anything in this game work? Like what happened here?
01:37:59
Speaker
So I looked up a couple other stats for you. So you can find this game physically. It goes between 20, sorry, in USD, um, It goes between like 15 to 25 bucks on average.
01:38:13
Speaker
That's so awesome. ah And it takes roughly 20 hours to beat the main story. 24 hours if you're a completionist. Oh man. ah Maybe 20 hours if you speed it up like i did. I don't think it takes that short of a time.
01:38:30
Speaker
youre You're spending 20 hours waiting for the menus to show up minimum. I don't believe that propaganda. Oh, man.
01:38:41
Speaker
ah Do you need to watch the anime to play this game? ah Like how, like, I would say, like, how much of, like, if, like, let's say me, who's never seen an episode of Inuyasha, aside from, like, just knowing base things of, like, I know who the cat boy is, and I know Kagome.
01:38:58
Speaker
Yeah. um Do I need to know anything else? So it's like, if you want to be technical about it, right? It it is a standalone story. Like there's no like context from the show you necessarily need.
01:39:14
Speaker
like Like they cover all of it in the game itself. But I would say like, So one of the aspects of the game I actually did like was that it includes at some point like every single character. So if there was like a really niche character that you enjoyed from the anime, they probably do show up in the game. And I think that was cool to just like see them all ah show up like that.
01:39:40
Speaker
um In the sense of like enjoying that aspect of it, I'd say you absolutely need to see the anime because like the portrayals of the characters ah do not do them justice at all. like My favorite character, Sango, she's like the most boring person in the entire game. like But she's like my favorite of this show, right? So it's like a little disappointing. I think it is not a good representation of the franchise as a whole. Absolutely not.
01:40:13
Speaker
Okay. Good know. Is there anything else you want to add on this game or ah before we head into the bonus level? I'm just... thankful that i got a chance to talk about it because it's like i thought it was just gonna live in this niche corner of my mind forever like just that remember when i played that really really bad inibiyasha game i can't do it but uh i i enjoy hey we bring all games no matter how big small bad or good they are into the game lounge front and center
01:40:45
Speaker
And this was definitely a game of all time. Yeah. I was like, you know what? Tony, Tony likes to talk about new games that are coming out. Modern game news. was like, what if I mix it up? What if I throw a wrench in the plans? And I'm like, Hey, let's talk about this. Absolutely. A Bhorrent RPG from 2003 for the PS2.
01:41:04
Speaker
Absolutely. what yeah I couldn't have expected anything
Game Clash: Sonic Remakes Debate
01:41:08
Speaker
more. This was a fed this was a fantastic experience. I guess so if you like Inuyasha and you like bad games, definitely try this one out.
01:41:18
Speaker
And maybe you might think you might be crazy and say this is one of the best games ever as well. Who knows? Who knows? Tony, listen, I had to clickbait somehow, okay? I had to clickbait.
01:41:34
Speaker
Hey, hey, hey, it might be somebody's greatest game ever out there. Who knows? Maybe, maybe somebody, not mine. I'll tell you that. No, it's definitely not, not here, but maybe somewhere out there.
01:41:47
Speaker
ah With that though, it's now time for us to start closing things out and head on into the bonus level. Crazy lists, great deals, and recapping gaming history. It's all here in the bonus level.
01:42:00
Speaker
And to kick it off, we got Game Clash. This is our little tournament bracket that we have. We get a theme every episode, and our guest decides the outcome. Joey, are you ready? Yeah, I didn't know we were doing this. Let's go. All right, so our theme for this episode, because you're a Sonic speedrunner, I'm like, you know what?
01:42:17
Speaker
We got do this. Which 3D Sonic games should get a remake, remaster? Which one is next? Starting off... We got Sonic in the Secret Rings versus Sonic Heroes. but they Not biased at all.
01:42:33
Speaker
These are randomly put in. By the way, i just I pick eight games. I put them into like the random tournament bracket generator, and these are the outcomes that happen. Okay, so just to be clear, this is games that deserve a remake, not games that I like Which one should be the next one that Sega Sonic Team remastered? Okay, okay. All right, well, Secret Rings versus Heroes. Listen, if Sega was smart...
01:42:59
Speaker
they would absolutely remake Sonic Heroes. That game needs a remake. I, like, I actually think it would do so well. Like, I think they try to avoid Heroes like the Plague because they, they think it just flopped and people don't like it, but it,
01:43:18
Speaker
that could not be less of the case people love sonic heroes it's just that it's a scuffed game right like it needs fixing and if they did fix it if they gave it like a modern sort of coat of paint it would do really well i think so obviously ah all biases aside heroes is going to take that around for me yeah match to Sonic Adventure versus Sonic Adventure 2 my gosh I'm like wow thank you random tournament generator for doing this this one's hard ah
01:43:53
Speaker
They would both be really cool, to be honest. um I'm going to give it to Sadix, I think, just because actually think, all things considered, SA2 is like the more polished game already as it is.
01:44:12
Speaker
i think Sadix could stand to have some improvements made to it or be modernized a little bit more. And I i also think... like that the potential to well I guess so when you say like re-release do you mean like it has to be one-to-one in terms of content or can they like add stuff they can they can add like that's why i said like a remake because the remake would add stuff the re-release would just HD and put it on yeah okay like they did with colors
01:44:44
Speaker
Definitely then. I think Saddux wins this one because like some of those stories are so short. Amy's is like three levels long. Gamma's is like four, I think. Four or five.
01:44:55
Speaker
like I would have loved to see those gameplay styles sort of more fleshed out and not so like short-lived. I think Essay 2, as it already stands, is a more complete game in my mind. Whereas Saddux left a little more to be desired and I think they could probably... like provide that in a remake.
01:45:16
Speaker
I'm hoping that whenever we get, because I feel like we're going to get, we're entering like the second trilogy now for the Sonic movies. Yeah. Because I think we're going to see a Sonic, we we're getting Sonic 4, but i think there's to be a Sonic 5 and 6.
01:45:28
Speaker
And I'm hoping that with 6, they end it with chaos. Ooh, that'd be sick. And because it's like, by, by then you'll have a hopefully introduced like all like much more characters. And then you can do stuff with like shadow and chaos interacting as well. Cause we have shadow there too. So it's like, that would be so much cooler. I think. And that would make definitely have people asking, yo, sad X remake.
01:45:54
Speaker
Right. That would be cool. Say it. ah Match three. Sonic in the black night versus Sonic. The fire. God. Um, All right, so I've never played Sonic the Fighters, actually. ah But I've seen a little bit of it. It looks very silly. um i mean, I'm going to be honest. like Is anyone clamoring for a Black Knight remake? like Let's be honest. i don't I don't know if that game needs to be revisited. i think Sonic the Fighters...
01:46:29
Speaker
I mean, if you just want to be more general about it, a Sonic fighting game and the modern era might be interesting. I don't know. I think it would be but much more interesting. Yes. yeah Yeah. And I know you got some cool characters in Sonic the Fighters that don't get a lot of love these days. So I'm going to Bean the Dynamite. Yeah. Bark the Polar Bear. Bark the Polar Bear. And Fang the Sniper. Yeah, so I'll give it to Sonic the Fighters there. All right. Lastly, Unleashed versus Sonic 06. Oh, this one's interesting. ah
01:47:03
Speaker
Both of these games have had, like, fan remakes recently, actually, that... I'd say do both of the games justice. Honestly, you have the Project 06 for Sonic 06. A lot of people really swear by that. um And then you have that Unleashed, what is it, the DCOP? Or what what is it called?
01:47:26
Speaker
You might know better than me. I i know it's what you're talking. I don't remember what it's called, but i know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. um From what I understand, i never played the new Unleashed thing that came up, but apparently it's really solid. ah like people were saying that it's like playing the game all over again for the first time so I guess Sonic 06 probably would need would benefit more from a remake um okay yeah all right we got the semi-final Sonic Heroes versus Sonic Adventure
01:48:02
Speaker
Oh, um, ah, do I be selfish here? hey it you're the deciding vote. It's yours. Call. Uh, yeah, I would love for both of these to be the case.
01:48:15
Speaker
You know, I didn't establish yet that remakes could mean additional content. Uh, when I did my first round here, heroes with new content would be so that would be so hype.
01:48:30
Speaker
So I have to go with heroes. All right. And Sonic the fighters versus Sonic. Oh, sex. Um, I'll give it the Sonic, the fighters.
01:48:40
Speaker
All right. Grand finals, Sonic heroes versus his Sonic fighters. What wins? Which one of these two deserves the remake? Joey, only one can get it. Oh, i just can't decide. I don't know. nah, we're going, we're going heroes. Give me the heroes remake, please. there's that guys The heroes. You heard it here. Sega. You got to give us that or else we will riot.
01:49:04
Speaker
That's right. I'm going to take matters into my own hands. yeah ah All right. That was our game clash
Historical Gaming Events and Anniversaries
01:49:12
Speaker
for the week. Moving on this week, giving history from July six to 19th. Here's what happened in the past. Starting with some major events, July 9th, 2008, Activision and the Vendy games complete their merger worth $18.8 billion forming Activision Blizzard.
01:49:27
Speaker
forming activision blizzard And July 13th, 1984, Universal Pictures released the film The Last Starfighter to Theaters in the USA. In this film, a young man plays the Starfighter arcade video game, and then, because they got the high score, travel into space to operate a real spaceship. That's the most 80s shit I've ever heard. It's interesting. very interesting movie I watched it when I was very young it's like basically the first half of the movie is just this kid like contemplating the video game and like trying to beat the high score he does it until like one random night he does then he goes to space makes a friend up there when he's selected that friend gets killed he's like no I gotta go in now and yeah yeah it gets wild it gets crazy I was gonna is this like a more like light-hearted like See, it aired on Disney Channel. And his friend dies? It was bit of Star Wars-y. They sent the first batch of Starfighters out. Oh, man.
01:50:27
Speaker
That's crazy. some game birthdays, July 8th, Civilization Revolution turns 18. July 9th, Tron turns 42. Ooh, unk status.
01:50:34
Speaker
and to you know man all of them come back that's a of game birthdays july eighth civilization revolution turns eighteen july ninth tron turns forty two unk status July 10th, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec turns 25.
01:50:53
Speaker
On the 13th, Tales of Symphonia turns 22. That's crazy. July 15th, Knights of the Old Republic turns 23. And on July 17th, Guitar Hero Encore Rock the 80s turns 19. I have not thought about that game in a while.
01:51:09
Speaker
Moving on Tony's game poll, our seasonal poll that changes every season. Joey, this season we are asking what sport should Mario play next ah that he hasn't played before? So you cannot use tennis, baseball, soccer, basketball, golf, volleyball, dodgeball, ice hockey, horse racing, dancing, or like track and field. just named every sport. What do you mean?
01:51:36
Speaker
ah There's some other sports in there. All right. I guess we we should get a Mario American football game. Why has that not happened yet? That would go crazy.
01:51:48
Speaker
It would. it's I'm surprised that he has. but Now, granted, it is Japan that's the ones behind it, but it's surprising that with the impact that he had on America, too, that they didn't go like, oh, why we make him play that American sport? Has there been a Mario ice hockey game? part of Mario's sports mix, yes. Oh, okay.
01:52:09
Speaker
I see. That would have been an easy layout for me. I'm like, have we had a Mario hockey game? Not to my knowledge, but apparently I don't know. all It was in sports mix. Shout Square Enix on that one as well. The Square Enix Mario sports games, genuinely like some of the best, apparently.
Game Recommendations and Conclusion
01:52:25
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard Mario hoops three on three is really good, apparently.
01:52:28
Speaker
yeah Moving up to your upcoming deals of the week, starting off on Epic, your free games until July 9th, you can grab i Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and River City Girls 2 for free. And from July 9th to 16th, you can get Nova Lands and Tattoo Tycoon for free.
01:52:45
Speaker
ah your For your Steam sales, the the Steam summer sale ends on July 9th, so grab what you can with those amazing deals because there's some great deals on there ah that you can take advantage of.
01:52:58
Speaker
ah Your PlayStation ah Plus games for July were revealed. If you have PS Plus, you can grab these games for free. And as long as you have PS Plus, you can play these games whenever. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, the new one, the modern one, CrossCode, and For the King 2. And also, we do know that Big Walk, the new game coming from a House House, will be free on PlayStation Plus for August.
01:53:23
Speaker
Uh... which is very hype news because I am excited for that game and I'm going to get it on that now. And that game will be cross play. So look forward to that. The achievement of the week is in deer and boy cozy ride, which is to carry the deer in the backpack. And your game of the week is going to be denture attack. Yeah. And lastly, Joey, if there's a game older, new that you would recommend to the audience, what game would that? Oh, uh, yeah.
01:53:50
Speaker
yeah recommend a game hmm well it's not a new yasha i'll tell you that Have you ever played Scooby-Doo Night of a Hundred Frights?
01:54:03
Speaker
I played a little bit of it. i know we talked about that. It's that GDQ. You should play through that game. I like that game a lot. It's a great game. as far as it's ah It's a Scooby-Doo Metroidvania. Yeah, as far as licensed games go, like they put a lot of the... so it was done but It was done by Heavy Iron, apparently, which is why it's so good.
01:54:22
Speaker
Yeah, Heavy Heavy Iron in that era just put out bangers, man. Yeah, i I don't know why that's the first one I thought of. I think just because you mentioned it briefly earlier, but i'm like, that's a good game. I don't know if many people played that one.
01:54:35
Speaker
Well, with that, that's going to do it for another episode here in the Game Lounge. Joey, thank you so much for returning and coming back. Of course, man. This was fun. I really enjoyed it. Where can we find you on the internet?
01:54:49
Speaker
Yeah, you can find me like five or six nights a week at twitch.tv slash Joey Freefall. um Like I kind of got into, it's a lot of Yoshi's Island currently, but I i speed run a lot of different things um and sometimes just play games casually. I play a lot of GeoGuessr late at night if if you're into that. ah And so, um yeah, that's where you can find me there. Yeah.
01:55:16
Speaker
And Joey Freefall Twitter as well, if you're into that. All right. And of course you can find me at Tony's game lounge everywhere. Twitter, blue sky, Instagram, Tik TOK, Twitch, and YouTube shorts of this podcast will be uploaded every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So be sure to check those out on the official Tik TOK and YouTube channels of Tony's game lounge.
01:55:39
Speaker
ah And we're playing through a final fantasy six currently in our big final fantasy marathon. And also the game lounge Olympics are going on as well. So you'll usually catch one of those at the end of every week. ah We, if you're listening to this on the Monday, we just did our Jackbox event, but you could go back to the Arvon channel to catch the trivia event and the Jackbox event and see how those went and look out for some future games in that series to see who will take home the game lounge summer Olympic round.
01:56:14
Speaker
With that, Joey, thank you once again for coming back on. Yeah, thanks for ah inviting me back on. it's It was good to catch up after all these years. yeah know yeah Cool you're still doing the podcast. I think that's awesome. I'm going to be doing this until I die. Oh, hell yeah. I didn't know. I was like, oh, that's right. All right.
01:56:35
Speaker
And thank you, the listener, for tuning in. Be sure to like, share, and follow the podcast on whatever platform you're listening to this on. We will be back in two weeks' time, hopefully with better, happier news in the gaming world.
01:56:50
Speaker
And until then, we will see you right back here next time in the Game Lounge. Bye! Bye, everybody! Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Tony's Game Lounge. New episodes release every two weeks. Make sure to follow, like, and share the podcast on your streaming service and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and X.