Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Console Adventures!
109 Plays3 days ago
Ben and Jess dig in on console adventure games, from conversions (Maniac Mansion, KQ5) to originals (Phoenix Wright, et al).
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
Give us a review, they help people find this show! Unless you hated it, in which case, don't.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Banter
00:00:21
Speaker
time for quest quest, the adventure game podcast. I'm I'm Jess. I'm coming in hot. Yeah. Coming in hot, coming in hot. Uh, so this is quest quest say adventure game podcast, uh, where, uh, we talk all things large, small dad adventure games and occasionally family guy and occasionally, uh, whatever else is on the top of our heads.
00:00:47
Speaker
Uh, uh, Jess. Yes. What have you been playing lately? Wow. We're jumping right in. Well, I'm jumping right into it. Well, you know, we get constant emails and texts. We only have one email quest podcast at Gmail dot com. Uh, but as of now, I've only ain't been able to play this song once.
00:01:11
Speaker
Our email song. That's right. Well, we still have an email. So turn it off. Kill it. Kill the song.
00:01:19
Speaker
I mean, it's weird, like we're only getting faxes right now, which on I didn't know we had a number, but... But no, all the faxes are saying, you guys take like 25 minutes before you start talking about adventure
Sports Commentary and Boo Birds
00:01:34
Speaker
games. So what I've been playing is an adventure game, Ben. What? ah yeah so We usually talk about something else right here. Well, this is where I slide one in on you. wow This is me.
00:01:52
Speaker
Well, the Boo Birds are out. I'm still amazed by that phrase, but continue. Is that like a West Virginia thing? because No, that's like I picked on you about this already. Yes. That's like a Pat Summerall thing like the sportscasters. He was John Madden, you know your girlfriend, John Madden. ah I know him. He's video games.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, John Madden's broadcast partner for many years was the very serious Pat Summerall. He was serious, but he said Boo Birds. That sounds like serious. When there would be booing in the stadium, he would occasionally say, ladies and gentlemen, the Boo Birds are out.
Discussing 'Life is Strange'
00:02:32
Speaker
Is that like a pun on Bluebirds? Yes, I think it's a pun on Bluebirds. That's not really.
00:02:38
Speaker
um i'm very I first he' the poet laureate of the National Football League. what really I do want to note here ah that I'm not a ah was this sports ball guy because I do care very much for baseball.
00:02:52
Speaker
but I don't know anything at all about football. I bring all the jock energy to the podcast. I'd say that was actually the dynamic. We really wanted to play. Right. You know, it's like, well, you played football in high school. I did. I played football in high school pretty successfully. Yeah. You know, I mean, it was, uh, concussions.
00:03:14
Speaker
and First of all, I think it's like seven or eight, but I forget. And it's only, it's only two of them. Sadly. Um, the others are just from living on the planet, but what I've been playing Ben adventure game time, I'm talking adventure games before the 20 minute market first for us. Yeah. I've been playing life is strange, double exposure. And, uh, it's really good so far. I'm like an hour or so in.
00:03:38
Speaker
I love Life is Strange. We'll eventually talk a lot about Life is Strange. I would think that's an episode at some point. Probably. Yeah. i like yeah so So this is interesting. And I i didn't watch your stream because I think I'll probably pick up the game at some point because I do love that first Life is Strange game. Yeah, you probably want to play it yourself. It's going to spoil it. Yeah. And I remember, so the the first, the original Life is Strange, I remember buying it, uh, in a steam sale. And like, and I had no idea, like just had heard it's like, oh, there's this game and it's supposed to be good.
00:04:16
Speaker
Um, and, and I was like, Oh yeah, sure. Whatever. And it was, uh, like I was stuck to my computer. Like it was, yeah it was, uh, because it, each episode, and this is true of telltale games too, because life is strange. If you're unfamiliar is is episodic, like like telltale games.
00:04:36
Speaker
And so that that first one, and I'm sure this is true of all the life of strangers, ends like everyone ends with a big like melodramatic cliffhanger. Yes, Huge cliffhanger and you're like, Oh no, no. And, and so I had to keep playing because it really got me every single time. And so did you play the prequel to the first one or just played the prequel? I played life is strange, which is the storm. I suppose, uh, life is strange before the storm and now I'm playing life is strange after the storm or double exposure as they chose to call it.
Tech Repair Adventures
00:05:13
Speaker
i and So how do you feel because I was I was skeptical first off I was because they they made life is strange in anthology series after yes like the life is strange too is about completely different characters maybe but to my understanding and maybe there's a reference I think Yeah, I think there might be I think some I mean, like a very like fleeting reference, as I understand, I actually haven't played ah life is strange to or colors colors. Yeah, which is also a separate story. Well, at least one of them, I think references the characters from the original, but I don't think it's a, it's something they linger on. And there's nothing better right than things that are supposed to be anthologies. But the season pops off in such a way, or in this case, it's like they thought we're gonna go forth this anthology idea, but nobody
00:06:00
Speaker
is as excited about as they were Max and Chloe so we're going to go back to that well. I feel like I can expound on this and if we're going to do a full episode on licensed range I should probably bite my tongue.
00:06:11
Speaker
That's right. Let's both bite our tongues. And while I'm biting my tongue, Ben, could you unbite your tongue? And tell me what you've been playing? No, I'm by first. Okay. ah Well, what I've been playing is the exciting game of upgrading my steam deck. Yes, this is the ultimate stakes in the ultimate stakes. Now I want to so I'm aware, if you're listening to this, you're probably a nerd, and you're probably like,
00:06:41
Speaker
you know, swapping out a hard drive on a steam deck is like rolling out of bed. It's the easiest thing in the world. I could do it with no problem, not a problem. Nothing, nothing nothing to to see here except success. ah Well,
00:07:01
Speaker
That is not the case for me, a guy that is terrified of any of that. But there was a ah two terabyte steam deck hard drive on sale. And I was like, and I watched a couple of YouTube videos. And I was like, those YouTube guys make it look so easy. They're so confident.
00:07:23
Speaker
They're so confident and and and one of them was very handsome. Well, I mean, handsome people. Yeah. I i will listen to a handsome person. yeah Yeah. And, and, and I was like, that that handsome guy, he's like, Oh, it's so easy. And I was just like, well, if it's easy for him, it must be easy for me. Like you just pop it out and you push the button and then it's a hard drive.
00:07:48
Speaker
ah And then like just fast forward to the hard drive arrives and I take out like this dust covered toolbox ah that I have ah in the corner and I open it up and I like kind of eyeball the screws.
00:08:05
Speaker
first mistake and uh like immediately just start stripping the screws ah crank those things uh really crank them and and then like i realize it's like all right well this is already a terrible idea i don't have any of the like i uh i didn't have the i did have the correct screwdrivers but for whatever reason the uh like my toolbox had like swappable like bits for the screwdriver and none of them were labeled. ah So like you need a specific like a like a Torx screw screwdriver ah for the OLED steam deck and i I was like looking at them and squinting and I'm like well these all look like small little screwdriver heads.
00:08:56
Speaker
These all look right. And so I was just staring at them. And then I ended up just going to a hardware store and purchasing a labeled set of torques screwdrivers, which was actually turned out to be good because there were also the ones with the light ah ah magnetism. yeah absolutely Yes, yes. but So you can pull them out, which without that, it would have been impossible because those screws are like time.
00:09:18
Speaker
Ben, let me ask you a question because I know how we've approached this problem. When you went to the hardware store, did you take your steam deck along with you in case you had to physically show somebody the screw holes and say, what goes in this? Because that's what I would need to do. Well, fortunately, you can just look that up. Fortunately, that says Torx T5. But I would just show it to the person like the greeter at Home Depot and just say, what do I need for this?
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, I what what I ended up doing was like, so I met hit this point of absolute frustration. And I was like, you know what, I can just call up the micro center computer desk, just have them do this. They repair laptops. This is essentially a laptop. They can open it up and just swap it out. And we'll take like 20 minutes. I'll pay them whatever money they can just do this.
00:10:15
Speaker
So I get on the live chat and like wait for a guy and it's like, Hey, can I bring my steam deck here so you can swap the hard drive? And the guy goes, it's not that hard. You can use YouTube. too but ah oh no He's like, I know this great handsome guy who has videos on how to do this. Yeah. Have you heard of this handsome guy? He's great. You'll love him. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's heard the handsome guy. Look, ah I'm way past the handsome guy already. Yeah. And and so I was like and that was when I realized that was just like, well,
00:10:53
Speaker
And I've already like relied on my tech savvy friends to like fix certain things on my computers. I've already cashed in those chips. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I've already had my friends, like a friend of mine replaced the cooling system on, on my desktop. And so I can't cash like, and that was very finicky and difficult. And so I can't like that was already.
00:11:16
Speaker
Like, uh, you've, you've cashed that favor in my friend. And so like, I was just like, all right, well, either I just have this hard drive, like this tiny little steam deck hard drive that just sits on my my desk. And I look at it from time to time and go, yeah, you know, uh, you know, if, if only I had the skills or I can do this.
00:11:40
Speaker
And you chose not to, uh, I, I did it. I, I bought the, the, the correct screwdrivers. And then I like bought like a, like a, I fix it kit that had like appropriate stuff to open up, uh, open up the thing. It was essentially just a guitar pick that could have gone to guitar center and purchased one for like, you know, 50 cents. But.
00:12:05
Speaker
Uh, I did it and then like the, the next toughest part was pulling the the battery cable out because it was very, that's always the most terrifying. beat Have you ever done anything? Like in a computer, like where you have to like pull something and it's staying put. Yes. I apply any pressure. I'm breaking everything.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. I mean, I hate seeding cards into any kind of like PCI slot, because it's like, I know I need to push harder, but I'm gonna push and a piece of plastic is just gonna go flying in the wrong direction. And same thing with pulling cables. It's just like, this clearly does not want to be pulled out. And I'm absolutely going to break this if I attempt to.
00:12:43
Speaker
Well, there was like this little like fabric around like the the cables. And i as I was pulling harder and harder, I just saw like the fabric like writing up. So it's like I'm pulling and like the cables are are just remaining seated on the motherboard. And I'm like, if I pull this so hard, I might snap the little battery holder thing off of the motherboard. And then I'm just fucked. Yeah, so I'm just like staring at this and then like and i' I watch and I keep looking up on YouTube more and more like I watched like five or six different and I'm just typing in battery
00:13:20
Speaker
cable difficult. And they're like, use use a spudger, just use a spudger to ease it out. I'm like, I don't know what any I until business a spudger is nothing. Until I started it it is a thing. Until I had to do this. I had no idea what a spudger is. And now I have a spudger and I still don't know what it is.
00:13:39
Speaker
It's like a little plastic. It's a stylus. It's like a little right now. Who are you Ashton Kutcher? Because I think you're punking me with the existence of something called ah a ah niger Okay, spudger. I had the wrong vowel sound there for a second. That wouldn't have been as good. um But yeah, that that doesn't sound real. I'm sorry.
00:13:58
Speaker
But anyway, what ended up happening was I ended up finding a YouTube where the guy's like, this is gonna be really stuck in there. Just yeah that's all you need be here he was like don't be afraid to give it a good tug. And I was like, you know what?
00:14:13
Speaker
I'm gonna i'm I'm just like I was just so like I was yeah I didn't know what else to do so I just like yanked it it came out and I didn't snap anything I am NOT advising anyone to do this this was a bad decision I made on my own accord don't listen to me don't try this at home But that's what worked for me. And then like, and that was the hardest thing. Everything else was like, you just pop out the hard drive and then you just pop a new one in and then everything else. Like then you just do everything in reverse and it's a million times easier. Now the worst thing is, is that it's like, if I have to replace anything else in my steam deck, I'm like, I know how to do this now. And that's the worst part is that I hate it. And I.
00:14:53
Speaker
whined and complained about this to anyone that would listen. in Like I was just crying and like, you know, like just kind of making a big fuss about it. Maybe hoping that someone would be like, then I'll just do it. Uh, uh, but, but I complained and I complained and I complained. And then I was like, and then I sent out to the group chat. I did it. I replaced the hard drive.
00:15:16
Speaker
And now I feel invulnerable. You are a hero to me. I know you you complained about this ah in in our chat a little bit yeah um about the nerves and everything. And I was like feeling for you because I think I sent you a screenshot I had in my notes app on my phone, just like literally the last time I had to move my computer from one room to another.
00:15:38
Speaker
Yeah, I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to get all the USB stuff hooked up in the way that doesn't cause my computer to lag horribly again. So I had like literal narrative notes on how to just plug my USB ah cables into the right ports again, and photos of what it looked like before I disassembled it. So that's the level of like worry I'm working from the idea of taking my computer apart. I mean, I think i I mean, I bought that new video card a few months ago that was like the yeah Oh, yeah, for like the 4070 super whatever RTX that came out, bought it like I'm pre order had to work hard to get through that queue. See it into my computer and realize that my power supply didn't have the right number of cables running Friday and probably that's something that's easily fixed blood had enough power. It just didn't have the right power. huff huff hu huff huff Yes, but that was enough.
00:16:33
Speaker
For me, that was just like, I give up. This has gotten too scary. I didn't like it already because I had to push it harder than I was comfortable with through that sucker back in the box, dropped it off, shipped it right back, got my my hundreds and hundreds of dollars back. And now I'm shopping
Adapting Adventure Games for Consoles
00:16:48
Speaker
for a new computer. So I never have to open mine again. Yeah. Yeah. There was, there was a moment during 2020 where I was like, you know what?
00:16:57
Speaker
Maybe I'll make my, like I'll build my next computer. Like that seems like the the cool guy thing to do. And I'm a big nerd nerd. Cool nerds do not buy a computer. They build a computer. And then like ah at the at the time, like graphics cards cost a certain amount because everyone was trying to mine crypto and all that crap. And ah so like I realized that actually buying a pre-build was more reasonable.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yes. So I did that. And now this whole ordeal with my steam deck. ah I'm like, Oh, yeah, I would absolutely not in a million years. Anyway, don't get a computer don't get a steam. Here's your big mistake. Just get a GameCube, and you'll be fine. First of all, it's portable. It's got a handle, Ben. If you need to go somewhere with your GameCube, I mean, why does it take you to move your computer somewhere? It's got a handle. Bring it to a friend. You can't even take your steam deck places anymore because they're just cables hanging out of it everywhere. Yeah, you can't take your steam deck anywhere because it woke. Let's try it.
00:18:17
Speaker
Woke. Yeah, just constantly. You know, it wasn't for the GameCube, but I did play on my Wii broken sword remastered, which brings us to today's theme. i ah Not only did I play it on my Wii, I played it on my my Game Boy Advance. ah Wow. Today's theme, we're going to be talking about adventure games on consoles. We're going to be covering that is such a big and broad topic. And so we're just going to be going comprehensively. three Yeah, we're going to be covering it extremely comprehensively yeah and in a way that you'll be so amazed.
00:19:08
Speaker
Because we've done our homework. We've done our homework. ah But we were were just going to talk about the ones that ah we've played, ah both ports as well as ah console originals that we played. And ah we were also discussing before this, ah we'll probably we we will probably re revisit this ah and play some of the the the classics. But Jess, please take it away.
00:19:35
Speaker
yeah All right, actually, I am very glad that we're touching on this topic, finally, because I've been a little obsessed with adventure games on consoles lately. And Ben, I want to kick us off with a question. I'm not sure I know the answer to this. I'm curious to hear what you think. My question is, why don't adventure games work on consoles? Is it the hardware or is it the demographic? What do you think?
00:20:00
Speaker
I think it's neither. um Okay, well, there you go. I think adventure games do work on consoles. I think it's that ah point and click adventures are a good fit for consoles. I think a like console games that are explicitly devised and and thought of specifically As a ah a an adventure for the console is is good if you are trying to make a PC style or like just a desktop style
00:20:39
Speaker
adventure game on your console, you're going to run into problems. I think this is right. I think that, I mean, at a very, just like mechanical level, I think that to make an adventure game really work well on a console.
00:20:54
Speaker
it needs to be built from the ground up with controllers in mind at the bare minimum, right? I mean, that that's like step one, if you if you're having to navigate with like an analog stick, to find an icon, click it and then move your analog stick back somewhere else to like simulate the point and clicking of a mouse. That's already a mistake. You've already kind of blown it at that point. Absolutely. Uh, yeah, I think You know, you look at so let's let's go back to the ni Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES. Yeah. Okay. I only called it the Nintendo Entertainment System. mother I just called it Nintendo. It was just because we didn't know there'd be more at the time. No, no, I called it the Nintendo. That's the official title.
00:21:43
Speaker
Mother Mother, please. I did all of my chores and my homework. Can I please play on the Nintendo Entertainment System for 30 minutes? Yeah. If you want to guess which one of us is on Nintendo's payroll, I'm wanting to tell like it is back when we were kids. At the Sega Master System. We just called them Bing Bong machines. That's what everybody- That's what your dad called them. How dare you?
00:22:09
Speaker
That is what my dad called video games. All of them were bing bong machines. ah The games themselves were bing bongs. And to this day, like when I'm like, excuse myself from the room to go play a little video game or something, I tell my wife, I'm gonna go in the other room bing bong for a little while. Does your does your daughter say that now?
00:22:29
Speaker
She will not because she's at a stage where anything that I say is now the least cool thing she can imagine. So I couldn't convince her to say Bing Bong if if I paid her in V bucks. Wow. All right. Well, that's fair. i Tough but fair. Tough. ah Tough but fair. Now, so for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the there are let's let's let's talk about Two games that I know you've played, one of which you've streamed. I don't think you've streamed both of these, but that are ports. Okay. What do you like to talk about Kings Quest 5?
00:23:10
Speaker
Uh, King's quest five. Now this, I think, I mean, on the one hand, it makes the mistake. We've already said you're bringing a control scheme basically from yeah PC straight to the console. Right. You've, you've, you've made some concessions in the form of some pretty big concessions. Well, now, I mean, who's to say big concessions like to the controller, but I mean, here's the thing.
00:23:35
Speaker
I want to go on record. First of all, I'm a King's quest five fan. I know that's a, that's a controversial statement from the job. Uh, King's quest five isn't as bad as everyone says it is. We all loved it back when it came out. This is a, this is weird. You know, just retroactive, disliking of King's quest five, but beyond that King's quest five for the and n NES.
00:23:59
Speaker
ugliest Sam at times with his mouth based graphics. It looks like ah Jackson Pollock doing puke art. It kind of looks like that thing that would happen when Nintendo cartridge would like not load properly right before you like blow into it. And you've just got like some weird tiles that have shown up on screen. But let me let me say this. The n NES version of King's Quest 5, which I think a lot of people are either unaware of or maybe have never played, is a remarkable feat in the sense that it crams every last little bit of King's Quest 5.
00:24:35
Speaker
onto the n NES, which should not be possible in any way. Yeah. And that, that's kind of my point here is that it's very impressive. Yes. That's from Konami. Konami made this whole computer adventure game, which Kings Quets fives whole deal was that it was their to their first 256 color game using the whole crayon box has this beautiful hand run look also has this point and click like ah interface lush soundtrack
00:25:18
Speaker
And ah what if we put it on a machine where it can't display nearly as many colors, can't hit that type of music, and it's on a controller with a D pad and four buttons, two of which are primarily used for play. The other two are are mostly for menu.
00:25:44
Speaker
ah
00:25:46
Speaker
like it's
00:25:50
Speaker
It's an impressive feat. Yes, is like, is it fun to play? Is it fun to play? Can you imagine? Do you have if if if that was how you first played King's Quest five? What do you be like, I want to check out one through four. I mean, yeah, it's hard to imagine. I feel like I mean, we've talked before about how I think sometimes adventure games are a little imperishable to people who aren't already into the genre a little bit. You know, it's hard to sometimes jump in. And I think that Kings Quest five, if you had no point of reference for what a Sierra game or one adventure game was like playing on the n NES, like picking that up at blockbuster on a Friday and be like, I'm going home this weekend, having a sleepover and my friends are all going to come over and play Kings West five. and That's not a good sleepover. You're not a popular kid anymore.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, you you're not like that kid you went to school with who's like, you think? No, now no, no, not cool like DJ. oh But no, I mean, yeah, it's I don't think it's good, but it's unbelievable that it exists. I mean, Sierra allegedly- It is fascinating. Like was scared to death of the console market, right? They nearly lost their shirts back during, I mean, that's how you get that cover for soft porn was they had lost their shirts at the time. That's right. and what In the cupwet and the cartridge market.
00:27:24
Speaker
It would have just been them sitting in a hot tub with full clear. That's how I sit in hot tubs because you know, modest. I'm a modest guy. you' modest You're a modest man. That's what they say. That's what they say about me. But yeah, I mean, they lost their shirts nearly in the cartridge market before the big video game crash in the early eighties. And I think Ken Williams was gunshot of it. I would love to know I've never heard anyone at Sierra ever talk about this this this port because they didn't work on it. But what does this say? But do you know if it's it's brought up in the in Sean Mills, his book, the Sierra adventure? That's a good question. I know that it's fairly thorough. Yeah, I understand.
00:28:09
Speaker
I know it is not in Ken Williams' book, but I'd have to go back and check out Sean's again to see if it shows up in there. But I would love to know more about it. Because, yeah, I mean, Konami working on this is such a weird partner for Sierra. And I mean, again, they did what should have been impossible. Does it look good? No, not really. I mean, what it needs is... How does it control? How does it control? Not very well. No, not at all.
00:28:35
Speaker
If you're asking how it sounds or how it plays, I mean, here's the problem. You strip away all the aesthetics from King's Quest V, and you are left with the gameplay of King's Quest V, which is not its strong suit necessarily. I mean, you do have some nice concessions. Like, you know, the thing where you have to throw the boot at the cat, and if you miss it, just like King Graham's family dies, and he never sees them again. You get multiple shots of that on the NES version. So you can keep throwing that boot. It's because it's impossible.
00:29:03
Speaker
it's It's because it's literally impossible. You'll never move the cursor over there on your first try. So forget about it. So let me tell you one interesting thing about King's Quest for the Nintendo Entertainment System, which is yes that. Because.
00:29:18
Speaker
It was released on the n NES. That meant that there was a walkthrough for it, or at least for parts of it, including a maze of the desert that was in, I believe, but it might've been in something else, a Nintendo Power.
00:29:36
Speaker
which we had. I believe this is correct. I believe this was a Nintendo power. And so when my brother and I were playing King's Quest five back in, I don't know, 1991 or whatever, uh, we would refer to the Nintendo power walkthrough and here's the thing is that no I believe that the the desert maze is slightly different.
00:30:07
Speaker
yeah And so we had like, it was like, wait a minute. No, wait, no, if there's supposed to be an oasis now, but I mean, that's kind of the kind of thing that you can figure out if you just sit there with a pen and paper, which we've established this, this is something we've discussed. There's a settled law on quest, quest. I do not do any of this with pen and paper. No, I will never. I have principles that I live by.
00:30:32
Speaker
And one of them is I'm never going to map anything. they i ah I'm a principled man. You can't put that pen in my hand. I will throw it back. Absolutely. I will jab it into your arm before I'm going to sit down and map out an adventure game. but I'm a grown adult. I shouldn't have to map things. No, absolutely not. I don't have to solve a puzzle by writing anything down. It has to be, if I don't solve it in two seconds by mashing every inventory item yeah with each other, then it's a bad game. It's a bad game and I'm mad at the designer and I'm going to harass them on social media if they're still around. Okay.
00:31:15
Speaker
So Jim waltz is non social media or harassed him straight off of it. Oh, if Jim waltz was on social media, I would send him praise every day. That's true. We love. ja here the podcast yeah though I'm with Ben. Let me let me mess up your plan um here because I think a lot of the things that Kings quest five does wrong and making the leap to console ah strangely enough.
00:31:41
Speaker
Kings Quest I, when they bring it to the Sega Master System. This is fascinating to me. I think they do it right. I think there. They do. They turn it into a console game. Like, it's not weird tile graphics where it's like, we're going to figure out how to make this look like a 256-color high-res game using the limited palette of the NES. For Sega Master System, it's just going to be like, we're going to make this look like a Sega Master System game. Right. Only it's going to be Kings Quest.
00:32:08
Speaker
Well, the Sega Master System, like that had better graphic capability than the NES. So already like the the the master system port of King's Quest one has two good things going for it. One is is that it looks good. Yes. And part of that is because it's also not porting a game that is this gorgeous hand drawn 256 color thing. It's porting a game that was 16 colors so they can actually
00:32:44
Speaker
Like I think the master was the master system. I don't know how many colors it could display, but I mean, it looks good. It's a good does. or Absolutely. And it plays a little better. It has a nice little like context sensitive verb menu that whatever you're standing here, it works well. Like whatever you're staying near, it gives you a list of applicable verbs for it that you just scroll up and down on a menu and hit your button. You move the character around just the D pad.
00:33:13
Speaker
So it actually makes a lot of concessions to the platform it's on. And as a result, I think it is against almost a one-to-one conversion. like yeah The map is the same. The puzzles are the same. It has less description dialogue. like The dialogue is very sparse in it. But otherwise, it's King's Quest 1, basically. And yeah, by trying to keep it you know, g like it felt at home on the console rather than something that you dragged onto the console kicking and screaming, which is maybe the feeling of King's Quest
Exploring Scooby-Doo and Other Adaptations
00:33:48
Speaker
five. I think it's a much more successful project. Yeah. Yeah. Well fun to play. Yeah, I well, and I think that's a big thing about it is that because if you look at King's Quest five, i it it kind of imitates like the the interface.
00:34:09
Speaker
of, uh, uh, of the, the original, whereas the master sister system version kind of kind of does that a little bit. Like, I mean, it does because you're doing like this word mashup thing, but it's not having you like type up stuff. Right. It's not how you type up stuff. It's not having you drag your cursor all over the screen constantly or anything terrible like that.
00:34:38
Speaker
No, it's the cursor is, is I think maybe the worst part. Cursors where things fall apart with these ports yeah or or games that originally on consoles too. It's when you try to do the cursor, I mean, cursors are just made for the mouse. And once you lose the mouse, a cursor is the worst thing you could possibly have. A cursor is the worst error.
00:35:03
Speaker
cursed by cursor, but a horrible not to have a cursor. There it is. Okay. And then let's go to straight to that one on the, uh, on the actual broadcast. Yeah. Are we doing this live? Um, what do you think? I didn't play very much of it. Did you play very much of the, the n NES maniac mansion? Yeah, I've actually played this one, uh, start to finish Ben. I think this is the only version of maniac mansion I've ever played.
00:35:32
Speaker
What? Yeah, I think so. I streamed it like maybe first two or three months that I was streaming on Twitch. And before that, I have vivid memories of renting it to take over to my friend JP's house one weekend. I didn't have an NES. He did. And I read Maniac Mansion. And once again, I was stressed. I got nowhere in it. Maniac Mansion is a game that confuses and frightens me.
00:36:01
Speaker
but it's a pretty tough game. It is, it is. And it was too tough for me at like age eight or nine or whenever I played. Were you excited as a little like as an adventure game fan at that age? No, I don't even know. did like Was it like, Oh wow, this is like a game that I play on my Tandy.
00:36:20
Speaker
You know, I don't even know at the time. that Little little nerd jazz. Oh, wow. Oh, it's like one of my candy games. This is just like a game on my IBM PC compatible. Yes, that I play in my bedroom. um When I go ping pong. Yeah. So what did yeah I don't even know if I realized at the time, like most rentals, I probably just thought the box look cool. Like I had no context whatsoever who for like who Lucasfilm games was at the time.
00:36:50
Speaker
yeah You watched the maniac mansion, uh, uh, uh, you know, comedy show. Well, Ben, you know that I played the young boy on that. And it's weird that you bring it up like that. It's yeah. I watched it from the set. Um, yeah our listeners know about that. We had an all episode where I was talking about, you know, I did commentary on a bunch of the episodes, but yeah, as one of the stars of maniac mansion. Yeah. Of course I was aware of it, but you know, I don't think I connected it to the video game because nothing about that show has anything to do with the video game.
00:37:20
Speaker
Um, well, that'd be it's kind of, well, it's kind of, I, I've watched a full episode of, uh, I've watched a full episode of the maniac mansion Canadian show bafflingly done. ah ri Co co-created by Eugene Levy, and which is.
00:37:42
Speaker
ah Very strange. um In a lot of ways, Schitt's Creek is like a spiritual successor to the Maniac Mansion show. Oh, for sure. um ah And you want to know what?
00:37:56
Speaker
It's better than you think it would be, but that's all I got to say back back to the NES game. No, this is the version I played and what I like about it. um I mean, I got nowhere with it as a kid. It's not a good rental game. You're going to figure that thing out in a weekend, especially if you have a short attention span. But when I came back to it years and years later, what I do like about it is um the soundtrack, it has rockin music for every single character, which is crazy. Right. As opposed to the, you know, the PC Commodore or whatever sort of computer versions, which are all very silent games. ah
00:38:37
Speaker
like lawsza early bucaar team And like a little bit of music, but really not that much. Yeah, you may get some green tentacle music at some point and some bits like that. But yeah, I mean, I like that NES version. There is a I don't know which emulator it is. But there's a way that can actually, is that the one that plays with a mouse? ah you I usually say nest. I was just saying nesticle. Okay.
00:39:01
Speaker
I think I think scum VM doesn't scum VM support. Oh, does it add now support to it? I think it does. Yeah, I could be wrong. Which I feel like that's the best of both worlds. I think the n NES version of that looks fantastic. Again, it's a game that is well within the palette of the NES. I mean, it's doable there. ah But yeah, I mean, the the controls there are a little difficult because you're back to cursor town, right? Am I correct that?
00:39:26
Speaker
i You're the one that played it. I never have. yeah played this scmbm version of has I think it it is a cursor controlled by yeah the ah n NES controller. wait This is interesting. So it's i as i as I spoke about on another podcast, ah I've been playing a lot of UFO 50 and that has a throwback like eight bit style console ah adventure game in a night manner. Have you seen any of that? I've heard talk of nightmare, but I've not seen it played. It's great. ah It is a very good version of an original and it does. And you want to know what? It does have a cursor, but OK. It isn't. Like it kind of moves fast enough and like it's OK. It's OK.
00:40:23
Speaker
Like the the it's also I think maybe a bit of the cursor problem with something like a maniac mansion or something is is that you have to cursor down to the verb and then all the way back up again. Yeah, that's what always gets you.
00:40:37
Speaker
Um, yeah, so Knight Manor on a UFO 50 is in that style. And that is like, it's a very good implementation and it has the fake cursor that you do have to control with your game pad. Uh, so that's, that's kind of fun. Maybe my thesis is incorrect. mean that's Well, I mean, that's also a game released and made in 2024.
Visual Novels on Consoles
00:41:01
Speaker
Right.
00:41:03
Speaker
What? All right. So neither of us have played. And, and so we could talk about this perhaps in the future. Neither of us have ever played deja vu or shadow gate, which I know, uh, have their, their fans. Um, and, uh, if you've played them and you enjoyed them, shoot us an email at quest, quest podcast, the gmail dot.com. Uh, but there is.
00:41:27
Speaker
a original adventure game that you've played that I'm fascinated by. Okay. nice Which is ah for the for the Genesis. Oh, wow. We're hopping to the 16 bit. Yeah. era Unless there's something else for the NES that you wanted to know. I think we are heading in the right direction right now. Yeah. Because I'm pretty sure you want to talk about Scooby-Doo mysteries. Yes. And this is a bonkers game. So weird. Love dearly. It is so strange. It's so strange. I mean, let me set this up for all y'all who may not know this. First of all, it has blast processing and that's what makes it so good. I when I watched it, I was I was being blast processed. Yeah. I mean, it was also flavor blasted, which it was also a flavor blasted. Yeah. i
00:42:21
Speaker
It was blast cord. Yeah. Think of any other blast things. No, it's a second. Just this game. It is a point and click adventure starring Scooby Doo and the gang. And what is fascinating about is a person that's two adventures in one. It's a it has two like full adventure stories at one of them is was it Blake's hotel? It's like a sp hunted hotel.
00:42:47
Speaker
and a Like a ski resort like a ski lodge kind of hotel thing with with the mystery of photos being haunted by a monster and the second is haha carnival which is exactly what it sounds like it is ah a haunted carnival and.
00:43:04
Speaker
What's fascinating to me about this game and I think what captures everybody's Yeah, imagination when they see this. Yeah, please go ahead. No, it is it obviously is a ping day of the tentacle the people that made it saw a day of the tentacle and said I want to make a day of the tentacle. I want to be a day of the tentacle maker. I want to day of the tentacle. I'm up with this game. And Unfortunately, they were working at a company that made Genesis games. And somehow, somebody was like, well, wait, we have the Scooby Doo license, we can make a ah day of the tentacle. It was Scooby Doo. And then they're like, but but this is a Genesis. It's a Genesis. we don't You can't make David tentacle on the Genesis. that You have to make a sonic. That's all we do. And they said, but what if they did?
00:43:57
Speaker
And the thing is, if you put it on Genesis, you can have blood. You can have like a really bloody like Scooby-Doo if you need it on Genesis. It is it is truly mind-boggling. I just do not understand.
00:44:10
Speaker
Now I don't understand this. It mostly works. and and but I mean, the thing is, it looks fantastic. Because, yeah, I mean, day of the technical looks great. And if you're going to like, completely, to put politely borrow its interface, and borrow its unique art design and have all like the funky angles and everything else. It's like, yeah, your games will look pretty great if you pull that off because how does it how does it feel? How does because this has the cursor to how does that feel? It's a little clunky. I mean, the cursor gets its way it takes a game that you should probably be able to finish in an hour.
00:44:49
Speaker
and makes it take closer to two to finish. Is that per episode? is that That's like total. You can probably play through this whole thing. Both episodes. If you have a walk through in two hours, if you didn't have a walk through, there's no telling or how long you might take. Yeah, probably four or five without a walk. How are the puzzles? What did you think of the puzzle?
00:45:07
Speaker
The puzzles are kind of like middling adventure game puzzles. Like there's nothing that particularly leaps out, but there's also no moon logic. Like most of it is solvable if you're paying attention. There are a few points where I had to make some leaps, but I mean, it's not bad, um but it looks great. It sounds great. I mean, there's one scene, but I think this is the one that sold me on immediately as the day of the tentacle inspiration.
Closing Thoughts on Console Design
00:45:32
Speaker
There's a hallway in the hotel.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yes, yeah it just looks like the upstairs in Day of the Tentacle. I mean, it it almost looks like you've just taken that and repainted it in the Genesis palette. And now it's for Scooby-Doo and Shaggy. um But I mean, where it really falls flat is you're playing like the gang splits up, if you can imagine the ah the Mystery Incorporated gang. And You're playing as Gooby and Shaggy, but really, you're only playing with Shaggy. You go around and you just gooby do anything like is he like a ah Max? Can you know? him um Yeah, the Genesis Scooby don't in this case. It just, yeah, he just follows you around. He doesn't even max really, because he's not like quipping, or, you know, doing any of his signature Scooby do bits like where Shaggy's in the middle of trying to solve the mystery and Scooby do is just like pooping on the floor and stuff like in the cartoon that you see all the time. Yeah, yeah that is something that he does. Yeah, the signature Scooby bits. Now that's happening. ah No, he just kind of stands there and walks around they occasionally go investigate stuff, but not in like, a here's a hint way. It's more just he'll walk somewhere and start like sniffing around, which is I wonder if that was the intent. Like if he was supposed to be like a little hint system that then became too difficult. That must have been it. That must have been it. It's I mean,
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah, like I wonder how much that they wanted to do and then couldn't because it's on the Genesis. That's right, because it's already a miracle that this thing functions at all. Yeah, I mean, but it works pretty well. I mean, you know, even the second game, um the haha carnival, like the first one very much visually looks like Maniac Mansion. The second game, I think, has a little bit of Sam and Max vibes to it. Like, I mean, the carnival setting already feels a little bit more like hit the road.
00:47:21
Speaker
And there I think they're doing a little bit of that sort of riff, but it's a good game. It's one that I can't believe exists and is what I would actually say is worth checking out. Now, Ben, I don't know if you know about this. I can't remember if we've talked about this. Did you know there is also a Scooby-Doo point and click adventure game for the Game Boy Color?
00:47:42
Speaker
I did know this. I have not played it. Have you played it? I've only played a few minutes of it. It's Scooby-Doo classic creep capers. But here's what's really going to blow your mind about this one. If Scooby-Doo mysteries is inspired by Day of the Tentacle.
00:48:01
Speaker
I would bet my bottom dollar. I would eat my hat. But that's all the way at the, all the way at the bottom. Here's what you don't know. I've got a lot of dollars on top of that. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it'll be, I'll be fine. I'll just like only the bottom one will be gone. It'll just be a lot of work to get down to it. Um, but I'll eat my hat if this isn't the case. But that hat's disgusting. It's made out of felt and it's covered with sweat.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah, i mean that's the that's a really good point. you know i mean I guess maybe I will just say I would be surprised. Metaphor free. if this I wish I had a third metaphor. Usually, yeah, usually the comedy rule of threes isn't bowing out after two, but maybe that subversion of the comedy rule of threes. Yeah, it's actually funnier. Yeah, I mean, you're you're a professional. Yeah, I am jokester. I just came from a ah show where no one showed up. So that's jokes on you. Yeah.
00:48:57
Speaker
But anyway, go ahead. What's fascinating to me is I think it's inspired by maniac mansion. Like what a little bit of I've played. Here's the thing. You're in a creepy mansion. Okay. And you switch between kids, each of which has a different ability to solve puzzles. So you have to be knowma for a little while. All right. So there's a mansion. Sure. But how many maniacs?
00:49:17
Speaker
Well, I mean, there's at least one. There's the bad guy who has to be unmasked at the end. But I mean, it is. All right. That does sound like maniac mansion. There is a mansion. There is. I mean, I class my hands together.
00:49:33
Speaker
Yeah. This one is, I think a maniac, match them up, which I don't think they have the same developer. But then when you think about it, like I think I've got my, do they really not have the same? I don't think they do. So, so let me check this. Now I have to look this up now. Everybody listen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So who here has heard of a ski free, huh? Ski free.
00:49:59
Speaker
Yeah, well, um, uh, you know, I wish it, I was free of it in my life. Not fun. Not fun. Terrible ski game. Then people love a game. Don't say that. Well, uh, uh, Um, uh, I haven't found it yet. Okay. Who here has heard of, uh, uh, the game commander keen.
00:50:24
Speaker
I'd be keen to delete that off my hard drive. That game. Stone cold classic. oh no Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. All right. All right. All right. All right. That is literally one of the most beloved adventure games of all time. I think we even said it may be like a strong contender for the best of all time. I said it was it was the funniest. Yeah, I mean, you're going to turn off a lot of a lot. Okay, I've got the answer. All right. Are you ready? Y'all ready for this? But yeah. Okay. Not the same developer.
00:51:17
Speaker
Not the illusion gaming company illusions gaming company made Scooby Doo mystery published by claim Scooby Doo classic creep capers. That's the Game Boy Color one digital eclipse software and published by THQ.
00:51:33
Speaker
So clips are good yeah friends that that did ah they've done all this wonderful ah ah gold master ah games. That upcoming Tetris one looks really cool. Yes, I don't know. So wait, wait, wait. So the Genesis one not done by any of those people. Is there any like personnel overlap? Oh, that's a great question. Yeah, Moby game. That's a great question. Let's see credits.
00:51:58
Speaker
um and Okay. Well, programming on the Genesis version was done by Matt Gilbert, parentheses, rocker boy. Okay. Boy, it was a relation to ah Ron Gilbert.
00:52:16
Speaker
No, no, no, no. that Which is even funnier too, right? That the lead programmer is a Gilbert on this. Yeah, it doesn't look like anybody here crosses over. I think these are completely independent. But what I think what I realized after I started talking about this is I think that I've probably put the cart in front of the horse, but you can't do that.
00:52:38
Speaker
No, that's actually, that's the incorrect place to place the cart. It goes behind the horse, but I think I've done exactly the opposite at this. Do you think that happened a lot? Do you think that happened a lot like back like to to enter the vernacular? Do you think that people were constantly putting the cart before the horse and trying to get the horse to push it like like if we're saying this in 2024 when ah people aren't really much in the business of horses and carts ah other than for like aesthetic reasons.
00:53:11
Speaker
Do you think that happened a lot? Like I bet probably it must have like every time like in a small town in America, eight, nine times a day. That's nuts. Yeah. I mean, don't get me into counting your chickens before they hatch. But here's the thing. Yeah.
00:53:30
Speaker
putting the cart before the horse. I guess you could make the argument that maniac mansion and by extension day of the tentacle is very much inspired by scooby doo like maniac mansion is basically a scooby doo story a bunch of teenagers go into a creepy mansion to solve a mystery kinda. I mean, it's basically a Scooby Doo I'm up already. So the idea that like a Scooby Doo game inspired by a Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle, it's like, yeah, those were probably inspired in part by Scooby Doo.
00:54:01
Speaker
They've said maniac mansion was inspired by like the cheesy horror 50s hormones. Yeah, the main DNA. Yeah, like, yeah, the the bad. ah Yeah, 1950s bad sci fi horror kind of stuff makes makes more sense. But I'm just riffing here, man. I'm just riffing.
00:54:19
Speaker
You know me. um But these are great games. These are ones worth checking out, especially the Genesis version. Now, Grant, this is also this wonderful time in human history, where there was also a game called Scooby-Doo Mystery that came out for the Super NES. And you're like, I love that. The NES is that one a adventure game?
00:54:37
Speaker
Why would it be, Ben? Just because it was released the same year by the same publisher with the same title and the same cover art? What would make you think the Super NES version was an adventure game? What about adventure gaming and video gaming in general would make you suspect that they would release the same game across two platforms?
00:54:55
Speaker
Well, I guess that was foolish of me. This is a whole line. Was it wine King? No, it's Aladdin. that Yeah. It's a completely different. and Yeah. It's like how NBA jam was a first person shooter on, uh, on the super NES. It's just sometimes you just have to, uh, it was weird. Cause you're just like running around and you're Dan Marley of the Phoenix sons. And you're just hitch and pitching, pitching basketballs at, uh, at other players in the NBA.
00:55:23
Speaker
Thunder Dan, you're Thunder Dan of the Phoenix Suns. And yeah, Thunder Dan Marley. So see talking that that that's, that's a good pull to the chalk energy. I'm not a, I'm not a, not a basketball man either.
00:55:41
Speaker
wow Well, ah there is there is one ah console adventure game I would like to talk about. ah Well, I will talk very briefly about I mentioned this earlier, I did play broken sword on my GBA. And I was if you look up broken sword very famously, this is similar to the complaint about ah King's Quest five, like it has really beautiful art.
00:56:12
Speaker
Uh, and like, they just have that remaster, I think, or yeah or whatever that they and that looks also very good. Um, but even the original, like the DOS original looks incredible. And so it's like squeezing that down into the GBA screen.
00:56:28
Speaker
which at least can display a lot of colors, yeah i it but not like it. If you look at screenshots of the GBA version, it does look pretty funky. Like it looks like somebody took it and then like put it into like a saved save as JPEG on Photoshop and put the quality knob all the way down and like squeezed it.
00:56:56
Speaker
Which is too bad. Oh, go ahead, please. I was gonna say, I think the GBA has some of the best looking like retro graphics of any platform. Like if you let a GBA be a GBA, it's a fantastic looking platform. But yeah, again, we just squeeze something like broken sword onto it. That's not gonna happen. Here's the crazy thing is that I played it and that was broken sword to me. Yes.
00:57:21
Speaker
I played it and also, like I said earlier, I was like, when were you excited that you had a maniac mansion? Like that you were able to play a computer style ah adventure game on your NES. That was the thrill for me of playing broken sword because I hadn't, I had heard of, uh, it's an initial release here in the U S was circle of blood. I remember seeing ads for it being like, that looks so cool.
00:57:48
Speaker
And then it's like, wow, I could play this on my GBA. That means I could play anywhere. Yeah. I was like, wow, I could play adventure game anywhere. A different room. Yeah. And, uh, and so even though it was ugly and the music did not sound very good and, uh, the interface was fine because broken sword is like a ah two button adventure game. So it actually ported extremely well.
00:58:16
Speaker
in terms of control, they there it wasn't too complicated to do stuff. It was, ah the the big problem ended up being is that you can hard lock yourself in the game. There's a glitch where you can hard lock yourself in the game and I hard locked myself and so I never finished it on the GBA. But that was the version that I had and then later I i bought it again on the Wii, which was that not very good.
00:58:46
Speaker
like not the remaster, like the redo or whatever the one before the most recent remake. Yes. They're like 40 versions of this game already. Yeah. It's a game that they just keep porting and remaking, which, you know, I get good on them. I guess like I'm going to play it one of these days. You just wait and see. Yeah. One of these days. I'm going to play broken sword. The other one that I meant to bring up though is Phoenix, right?
00:59:13
Speaker
Oh, now here's the thing about Phoenix, right? Is that that's not, you know, how much does it count within the world of, of this discussion where it's like, well, you know, that is also very much like within the the tradition of a visual novel.
00:59:34
Speaker
And if we open the door to visual novels, they've long had a place on consoles, especially in in Japan. I mean, they're yeah i mean they're they've been around for a good while. And Phoenix Wright is maybe just the one that breaks through in a big way here in the West.
00:59:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, a ton of them have now like, and i' I'm sure plenty of them were, were here before I'm, you know, I'm just the dummy. The first one PC 98. Yeah. Uh, the first one I played, uh, I remember Uh, uh, hearing on forums that this Phoenix right game for the DS was really cool. It was this, uh, like this Japanese series and we're getting, I'm sorry. I'm finally getting it here in the United States. And I remember having to go to multiple EV games to find it, uh, and getting it. And it was again, the same thrill.
01:00:30
Speaker
where it's like, well, there's an adventure game, the genre that I love. So and I could play it and I could play it in my bed, in my dorm bed at ah Jefferson Hall at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.
01:00:48
Speaker
ah and And that's what I did. i i And here's the thing is that the DS is a great ah for that because ah you do have a cursor. You have a stylus. So it actually worked fine. And ah Phoenix Wright is a game that does have like a cursor parts, which are fine on a gamepad. And I've now played it ah on my PC using my gamepad.
01:01:19
Speaker
But I, you know, the DS is a perfectly solid platform for an adventure game. And Phoenix, right? Yeah, eight it is an incredible series. Yeah, was super charming. It's super duper charming. um Yeah, I mean, absolutely. There's a reason why it's so beloved. And yeah, I think in some ways, again,
01:01:43
Speaker
as a series that feels built for the platform that's coming out on. I mean, yeah, it fits in a way that a lot of these others feel shoehorned into. And yeah. And yeah, and that's my my point. Like the. I would I would also say you were talking about life is strange and that like the telltale style of ah and but like starting with Walking Dead.
01:02:11
Speaker
which we've covered in an earlier podcast. All good things. i
01:02:18
Speaker
i i I mean, they were like Sam and Max and was Sam and Max on consoles? Now I'm doubting myself. Oh, the WiiWare version. Yeah.
01:02:29
Speaker
yeah Season 3 had to be on on consoles. And then Tales of Monkey Island and some of the other ones. ah ah Strong Bad was definitely on the WiiWare. On WiiWare. It was on WiiWare. But ah anyway,
01:02:49
Speaker
ah like those games, it feels like because ah Walking Dead feels weird not to play in a game pad. Yes. And so it feels like it was like, it to my point earlier, yeah these are like the games that are made with a console in mind, the Life is Strange, Walking Dead, all the tell tales, all that, like that all like kind of feels like it makes sense.
01:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, when you're building the games multi-platform, like with multi-platform in mind from the beginning, yeah, there you're probably going to start with, we need a controller-friendly interface. We need, yeah, all these other sorts of things that that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, those were always meant to be multi-platforming. King's Quest 1 was never meant to leave the IBM PC jr. and compatibles, and it is in many ways tied to that hardware, tied to its capabilities, tied to show that sort of stuff from the beginning. Whereas, yeah, you sit down to make a game like Life is Strange or like the telltale games. Now, granted, those telltale games get absolutely butchered by the downloads as restrictions on the WiiWare. It's how you end up with like four character models on the
01:04:17
Speaker
do you uh hey hey hey jess this is terrible this is terrible people are gonna turn off the podcast when they hear this hey jess do you think that we're at ever tried to say we were i think it'd sound a little bit like stop stop
01:04:36
Speaker
um
01:04:42
Speaker
I this is me pitching in, uh, like for funny or die or college humor or whatever in, you know, like 20, like, uh, like 15 years ago. What if Borat tried to say we wear, please give me $30,000. Hey, Paul. Hey, Paul, we wear. Yeah. wear Yeah. Yeah. That's it. I mean, and obviously that's just doing norms. All right.
01:05:12
Speaker
we wear or Borat saying we wear dorm saying we were nor hear about this we wear yeah we wear where we all right we wear we wear um ah da This is content, baby. Listen, yeah it says right on my bio, content creator. And what do you think I'm doing right now, Ben? I'm creating content. I need you along for the right content creator. I got my little mix and bowl here and I'm just putting in all the ingredients for content right now. You know, Ben, I don't want to name call. OK, but I think you're a coward.
01:06:01
Speaker
Well, it seems like the Boo Birds are out tonight. I think you are a yellow-bellied coward. Oh, yeah? Why is that? Because before we started recording, it's not. After we said our usual prayer and, you know, we blessed our sure microphones. That's right. After we did that, and we we made ourselves an instrument for for for for Christ's humor.
01:06:35
Speaker
Sorry. ah Imagine our lord and savior saying we wear. This this is his bed. Yeah. but yeah from from From his lips to my lips. To lips to lips.
01:06:53
Speaker
christian
01:07:00
Speaker
Okay. Okay. What I was going to say bet is before we started this ding, ding, before we started this ding, ding podcast, you said we were going to talk about Pac-Man two and then you blew right past that generation. We didn't, we said, not only that, we said that that would be the first thing we talked about. We didn't talk about it at all. You're a coward. because Well, let's be fair because I didn't want to.
01:07:28
Speaker
Now, there's only one game in history that earned the number two from the Pac-Man franchise. they They made so many spin-offs, but only one was good enough and definitive enough to be... Not Pac and Pal? Not Pac and Pal? Not Ms. Pac-Man? Not Ms. Pac-Man? Pac-Man Junior? Pac-Mania?
01:07:47
Speaker
No, that's super Pac-Man, not the sequel. ah The sequel is Pac-Man 2 and Pac-Man 2, the new adventure. Is that? Yeah, it is, I think, arguably it is an adventure game. It is an adventure game. Now, Ben, if you famously love this one, if Satan made it, if Satan was in the business of making adventure games,
01:08:12
Speaker
You might go like, oh, I don't know. What is it? Tales of the Druids or whatever that one that everybody makes fun of. Yeah. How about that? I have no mouth and I must scream like you. can imagine saying my That's That's that's supposed to be very. It looks really creepy. I think loves creepy things. But oh, that's true. But spooky. Yeah, that's true. Now. Now there's all of that.
01:08:39
Speaker
But what if, uh, Satan was like, well, I'm going to design a game that's just utterly not fun to play. And I'm going to make it very inexplicably a Pac-Man sequel. The official Pac-Man sequel. The only official Pac-Man sequel. The amount of hubris involved in calling it anyway. So it is an adventure game where, uh, you only have one verb.
01:09:07
Speaker
Maybe two, because you can I think you can give him a but ah power pellet. We have one verb in it, which is that you do not directly control Pac-Man. You fire a slingshot at him or other items on the screen. He's on rails.
01:09:25
Speaker
And also I'll note that the the screen scrolls as he's walking with him, but who you do not control all note again. And so it also becomes hard to aim because the screen is moving and you do not actually control how the screen is moving. and So it becomes a moving target.
01:09:48
Speaker
And also Pac-Man will do things based off of his mood. And so if he's in a bad mood, he doesn't do things and he just gets mad and he starts screaming. He's like a Tamagotchi. It is inexplicable. Everything about that game, it's inexplicable. It was made in the hell dimension.
01:10:10
Speaker
It is a complete absence of fun. It's a decent looking game. It looks like the Pac-Man Saturday morning cartoon. It does look good. It has a very sexy Ms. Pac-Man. Yeah, everybody everybody is very attracted to Ms. Pac-Man. Yeah, that's like a weird like like subtext throughout. What do you think that Borat would say if he saw Ms. Pac-Man?
01:10:32
Speaker
Hello, Miss Batman. I'm a big fan of your game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what you take. Anyway, he's very respectful. Here's the thing. I just look this up, Ben. Right. And just for the record, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of like designer 12.
01:10:47
Speaker
zeba but I think there were 12 games released between Pac-Man and Pac-Man 2, any of which could have been Pac-Man 2. But this is the one they saved it for. Like here's ah I mean, Ms. Pac-Man obvious choice. Best one of the bunch. Super Pac-Man. Bizarre mechanic. Not bad. Yeah. ah Baby Pac-Man. Pac-Man plus. though That's when it starts to get weird and not very. Pac-Mania. Pac-Man like.
01:11:15
Speaker
Packing time. Once again, we're talking about ah ah arcade games. I just want to know. We've done this. We've ah barked up this tree. Yeah. But I mean, it just doesn't make sense. And it's so bad. It is just unbelievably bad. Here's a question I have. Do you think it was called Pac-Man 2? Because I know that at least Ms. Pac-Man was initially just like a, like not a homegrown, but like the American distributor just started messing with the boards.
01:11:46
Speaker
like it wasn't official official. Yeah, I think that's probably and so this is them. This is this is the theory this is not researched. I'm never going to research this. I don't care if you tell me the answer and I'm wrong. I don't care. I don't want to know. Don't ever let me know. I'm going to live with this falsehood.
01:12:04
Speaker
in my head and in my heart, even if you tell me the opposite is true, it's going to be in my heart forever. Because in my heart is the great Ronald Reagan. I believe it to be true. As he said, when he was talking about was it arming the Contras?
01:12:23
Speaker
Yes, anyway, which was a good decision. I will go on record here right now saying great job, regular administration, Ollie North. ah but Big shout out. He's a listener. I was going to say, Hey, the Colonel Ollie North. All right. But anyway, ah do you have anything else to say about Pac-Man to the new adventure? Ben, I have two things to say. All right. First, each Pac-Man. Yes. It came out for the Wii U. Do you think that's why the Wii U is a failure?
01:12:49
Speaker
Yes. And two, have you ever looked at the cover art and noticed how Germany gets a way better version of Pac-Man than the US? No, I haven't looked at the German cover. I mean, yeah, if you really want to enjoy Pac-Man two, you are the German man to SNES. You are the SNES version. It has a cool Pac-Man. It has like a new adventures. Yeah. I've been with it. it away Wait a second. Is this accurate than all versions?
01:13:16
Speaker
Are you talking about the one where he's got the screamy face? No, that's like that. That's what I'm seeing is the American version. It's more like a more standard. Screamy face looks great. No, I don't like this German. Oh, the pal version. ah Yeah, yo he's got like a normal face and the American one he looks terrified, which is correct. He should look terrified because it's bad. I like in the German version. i was looking out for the Oh, there's like a little asterisk beside the new adventures as if to say it's like this isn't really. This is it. But but let's be real. This is not. Don't don't don't be fooled. This is nothing like Pac-Man at all. Do you think this has ever frustrated anyone? Many people.
01:13:57
Speaker
I mean, people who had to develop later Pac-Man games, like how many people who got the license for Pac-Man along the way? How many times does Namco come back to this and thought to themselves, we should make a big new Pac-Man game and make Pac-Man the icon that he used to be. And we will call it Pac-Man 2. That's how monumental our new game is going to be. And then someone's like, I'm on Moby Games right now. And there actually already is a Pac-Man 2. Oh, no.
01:14:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I feel like there are probably lots of games they would have loved to call Pac-Man 2. And that ship is sailed. You blew it on this one. own income poops. You know, what boobs even even though ah we ended with what ah we intended to start with, I think that it actually ended up being a a beautiful ending because you know what, it actually ah ties with all the themes I've been making, which is as the perfect it was designed, obviously with a console in mind, couldn't make that on the PC, no one would want to play it there either. ah And so therefore, it's a perfect game. And
01:15:02
Speaker
the perfect console adventure game. Correct. ah So, so yeah, just over any, any, anything else? Well, while we get to the wrap, then I just want to say, yeah, adventure games on consoles can be fun. There should be more of them.
01:15:20
Speaker
Yeah, we there's ah a three Kings quests. We haven't had boarded in between one and five. So let's get on it. Yeah. so i get that Someone make it for the Philip CDI Kings quest to a perfect marriage of story. I try Jaguar Kings quest three.
01:15:41
Speaker
um So, uh, this has been quest, quest, please, please wow please rate and review. Uh, this is, that's the only way anyone ever, ever, ever finds it because, uh, yeah, you can also watch us on Twitch, PS underscore, Garrick, and also decaf Jedi.
01:16:05
Speaker
Uh, and, uh, is there any, what what are the other things I've already said to rate and review? That's very important. We want to say thanks to our sponsor, Omaha Stakes. Uh, you wouldn't think Stakes by Mail would be a good idea, but Omaha Stakes is here to tell you maybe. Yeah. Why not? Omaha Stakes. Now botulism free. Um, so this has been
01:16:38
Speaker
This has been Quest Quest. i i We'll be back next week. We'll be back next Tuesday with a brand new quest quest where we discuss the rare prototype of a info-com game that has absolutely no text and no images in it. It's going to be very exciting. ah So we'll be talking about that next week. We'll see you then.