The Insert Credit Show

Editor and media critic Esper Quinn joins Ash and Brandon in answering more questions from the insert credit forum.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

For All Mankind

“Ryu ga gotoku the polls”

forums.insertcredit.com

Insert Credit Flavored Questions that are too stupid for the Dirtbag

1: marurun asks, who is the most pointlessly bland fighting game character? Moreso than “guy in a karate gi”. (03:17)

Divekick

Goiken Muyou: Anarchy in the Nippon

Fighting Vipers

Comix Zone

Streets of Rage series

Super Smash Bros. series

Fire Emblem series

2: ana asks, what’s the most common hidden gem? (05:55)

Rupee

Celeste

Cult of the Lamb

Deltarune

NiGHTS into Dreams…

Radiant Silvergun

Panzer Dragoon

Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

3: yeso asks, has anyone ever cried at one of the Leisure Suit Larry death scenes? (07:48)

Leisure Suit Larry series

Omegaverse

Ron Jeremy

Pamela Anderson

Carmen Elektra

Maxim

4: SteveWithaB asks, is it time to retire the term “gamer”? (11:06)

Call of Duty series

Halo series

5: Tradegood asks, if Xbox is Mountain Dew and Doritos, and Nintendo is Coca-Cola and Pringles, what is Sony? (13:40)

Xbox

Mountain Dew

Doritos

Nintendo

Coca-Cola

Pringles

Sony

Pepsi

Lay’s

Black & Mild

Blunt

Bong

Candy cigarette

Dr Pepper

Sega

Jaguar

RC Cola

Konami

Amiga

Dreamcast

Ramune

Hamburger

French fries

6: Death_Strandicoot asks, who should be the first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Video Games? (16:16)

The Hague

Geoff Keighley

David Cage

Shigeru Miyamoto

Mario

Pac-Man

Pong

7: Mnemogenic asks, how would you adapt a 10 yen game into a big budget AAA video game? (18:24)

10 yen coin

Call of Ponchy : Mahjong Warfare

Frogger

Dragon Quest

Web3

8: Taliesin_Merlin asks, design an Amy Rose video game based on one of the following novel premises. (20:41)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I, Robot

The Name of the Rose

I, Claudius

I, Tonya (2017)

The Name of the Rose (1986)

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic and the Black Knight

Lollipop Chainsaw

9: Tom asks, what are the seven basic game genres? (23:33)

The Seven Basic Plots

10: mtvcribs asks, what happened to thong-era final fantasy (26:19)

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy XIII

Tetsuya Nomura

Final Fantasy XV

Cindy Aurum

Final Fantasy XIV Online

Final Fantasy XVI

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Clive Rosfield

Jon Snow

Game of Thrones

11: mack41 asks, is Google Maps cop warning alert a strand game? (29:07)

Death Stranding

Dark Souls series

12: beets asks, if you were going to make a table from videogame hardware, what would you use? (30:53)

BattleTech pod

Xbox One

PlayStation 2

Logan Paul

13: rootfifthoctave asks, is sega the company that gets the most “[not-sega game] feels like a [sega] game” comments spoken about it? (32:24)

Soulslike

Treasure

Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed series

Stardew Valley

14: KingTubb asks, how often do the following characters change their bed sheets: (35:11)

Solid Snake

Naked Snake

Venom Snake

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Jack Bauer

Liquid Snake

Raiden

Princess Peach

Heavy Rain

Harvest Moon series

Deadly Premonition

15: PassionQuotient asks, what’s the video game equivalent of reading all of Shakespeare? What about James Joyce? (38:26)

William Shakespeare

James Joyce

WarioWare series

Dragon Quest series

Final Fantasy series

Geoffrey Chaucer

Kingdom Hearts series

Dune

Atari 2600

16: Kiki asks, what’s Jollibee? (41:07)

Jollibee

Jollibee x FINAL FANTASY XIV Collaboration Campaign

Watch_Dogs 2

17: YellerDog asks, what game is the most fun with the worst graphics? What game is the least fun with the best graphics? (42:58)

Dwarf Fortress

Rogue

MindsEye

Grand Theft Auto VI

r/GamingLeaksAndRumours

18: adashtra asks, What is the “telling your puppy to stop biting your feet, but he’s so dang cute you don’t wanna yell at him” of video games? (45:20)

Animal Crossing series

LIGHTNING ROUND: Arcade of Our Own (48:58)

Recommendations and Outro (01:05:42):

Brandon: some of The Magnificent Seven sequels but not others, Possession (1981), microchip your animals

Ash: Is God Is (2026)

Esper: Esper Quinn’s Top 10 Hottest Games of 2025, Witch Hat Atelier, Absolute Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, The Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic

Jaffe: Read Berserk at work

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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The finest minds in video games discuss flying in games, retaining players over the course of a series, and self-lubricating anuses.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Zencastr

Power Rangers

Sailor Scouts

“Attention street operators! If you’re not operating Mr. Do!‘s Castle you don’t want to make money!”

Mr. Do!

Muenster

Swiss

Mozzarella

Goat

Cheddar

Parmesan

Macaroni and

Chipotle Mexican Grill

La Tur

Humboldt Fog

Tillamook

Cottage

Chocolate syrup

1: How do you make flight feel good? (05:48)

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Earth Defense Force series

Panzer Dragoon

Wing Cap

Steel Battalion

Diamond Vince

SkyGunner

Superman 64

2: What makes a good shop theme? (10:22)

Muzak

QVC

Earthbound - Buy Something Will Ya!

Wii Shop Theme

Kmart

Persona 5 - Weapons Shop

Demonschool - Shopping

Jeopardy!

Yoshi

Super Mario World

iMUSE

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 2

3: What are good ways games can reward you for playing the previous entry in a series? (16:48)

BioWare

Suikoden series

Yakuza series

Bob Utsunomiya

Mass Effect series

Sonic & Knuckles

Metal Gear Solid series

Resident Evil series

Final Fantasy VII Remake series

Silent Hill series

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Nier series

4: How could you “walk the room” giving a talk at a video game conference? (21:29)

GDC

Omegaverse

Alpha and beta male

Mpreg

Supernatural

Dark Angel

Pon Farr

5: Yeso asks, what is the soda vs. pop of video games? (30:41)

Soft drink

Sega

Ryu

The Legend of Kage

Ninja Gaiden

Nintendo Entertainment System

Final Fantasy VI

Tidus

Chocobo

Mortal Kombat series

Midway Games

Toasty!

Cow Clicker

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Drew Carey

Hydrocity Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog series

The Boss Baby (2017)

City Escape

GDQ

6: What’s the difference between a director and a lead designer in video games? (37:33)

7: What stats would you add to fighting game character bios? (40:14)

Street Fighter II

Maiden and married names

Quentin Tarantino

Guile

Blanka

Myspace

Uptown Girl

Star Search

Mega Man series

Pokemon series

LIGHTNING ROUND: 21 Questions (45:51)

Recommendations and Outro (01:06:31):

Brandon: You can make watermelon gazpacho out of unripe or unflavorful watermelons, Alyzea, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979), Convoy Busters (1978), Mona Kimura

Frank: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) if you want to just delete 2 hours of your life

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield cover GameStop making an offer for eBay, the hotness of the new StarFox designs, and dead rabbids.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Nail Bat

Final Fantasy VII

Die Hard (1988)

Gotham City

Jean-Paul Valley

“Shilly-shally.”

Oreo

Hydrox

TurboGrafx-16

1: GameStop isn’t gonna buy eBay, right? (08:56)

GameStop

eBay

GameStop makes unsolicited bid to acquire online auction giant eBay for $56B

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen banned from eBay after takeover bid stunt

Game Informer

Sumo Fighter

Mega Man 7

Video Game History Foundation

Vintage Video Game Magazine Monthly Subscription

FuncoLand

Funko

Relooted

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Indiana Jones

2: What are the level 1 magic spells you want to make available to a player in a game? (14:00)

Hang on. Is Indiana Jones’s hat a fedora?

Indiana Jones: His Hats Explained

Okay back to Question 2.

Metroidvania

3: Are the Star Fox characters hotter now or not? (18:41)

Nintendo announces new Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

Falco Lombardi

Garrus Vakarian

Mass Effect series

Vince Lombardi

Doug Lombardi

Nintendo confirms destruction of original Star Fox puppets

The Amazing Digital Circus

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Kermit the Frog

Krystal

Waluigi

Star Fox 64

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Sonic Adventure

Rouge the Bat

4: Write five clues for a Jeopardy! video game category (24:18)

Jeopardy!

Pac-Man

Donkey Kong

Mega Man

Mario Mario

Luigi Mario

Minecraft Steve

PewDiePie

Ninja

Bonk

J.J. & Jeff

Hideo Kojima

5: LeFish asks, what is the best French thing in video games, and what is the best fish? (28:57)

David Cage

Freddi Fish series

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Ubisoft

BioWare Montreal

Dragon Age series

Another World

Rabbids

Captain Ahab

Super Mario World

Seaman

Leviathan

Putt-Putt series

James Pond series

6: What is a more useful aggregation tool: Metacritic, which averages scores, or Rotten Tomatoes, which averages positive vs. negative reviews? (33:53)

Metacritic

Rotten Tomatoes

Star Wars series

IMDb

7: What is the Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) of video games? (37:10)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The Groundlings

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Diddy Kong Racing

Pee-wee’s Playhouse

Pee-wee Herman

Bayonetta

Tim Burton

The Pee-wee Herman Show

PlatinumGames

Donkey Kong Country

Tiptup

Drumstick

Wario

WarioWare series

Tingle

Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip

The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls

LIGHTNING ROUND: User Reviews (43:14)

Credit Corner (56:54)

Recommendations and Outro (57:19):

Brandon: The Sting (1973), Get Carter (1971)

Frank: Rollick N’ Roll

Ash: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Love and Deepspace

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Our heroes share thoughts on twenty years of achievements, developers responding to player feedback, and whether nail bats count as blunt weapons.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman, episode art by Gilbert Smith.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Busby Berkeley

Bubsy

Fatty Arbuckle

“You’re like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you. And she wants to consume you.”

Video Game History Foundation

1: When has the appeal of a popular game eluded you? (05:24)

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

Mad Libs

The Sims series

Hank Hill

Bocchi

Cards Against Humanity

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Crimson Desert

World of WarCraft

Final Fantasy XIV

Yakuza series

Shenmue series

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Credit Report (11:40)

Sega

Taito

The Ninja Kids

Raz Karcy

OverBlood

Discord

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

2: How have trophies and achievements impacted video games over the past 20 years? (13:39)

Xbox 360

SiegfriedX

Left 4 Dead

3: Let’s talk about that MindsEye DLC (20:21)

MindsEye

Polygon: I played the MindsEye DLC that was supposed to expose ‘sabotage’ and just got a painfully bad mission

Tommy Wiseau

The Room (2003)

Grand Theft Auto series

The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography (1998)

4: Give me your dream video game blunt rotation (which is to say, three items to cycle through as blunt weapons in a video game) (25:31)

Nail Bat

Mace

Ice cream sandwich

EarthBound

R.B.I. Baseball series

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Wedge of Destiny

Undercover Cops

The Boon of the Spoon

5: Issac asks, what makes a good sick game? (32:47)

The Violence Island Gacha Gauntlet #1

Titanium Court

Bejeweled

Puzzle Quest

The Talos Principle

Portal

Dragon Quest series

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

NieR

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Chutes and Ladders

Ys series

For the Frog the Bell Tolls

Cookie’s Bustle

6: To what extent should a studio consider the feedback of their playerbase, and when should they ignore it? (39:34)

BioWare

Elden Ring

Game Developer Magazine

Telltale Games

Sam & Max

Downwell

Overwatch

7: What is the realizing you’ve been to a restaurant too many times because the workers know who you are by sight of video games? (44:51)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Bonk’s Revenge

Paradise Killer

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

LIGHTNING ROUND: Circle K Corral (51:11)

Recommendations and Outro (59:34):

Brandon: Def By Temptation (1990), Ooh Rap I Ya

Ash: Actually don’t watch For All Mankind, Titanium Court, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty

Frank: Eat a ton of shredded cabbage

This week’s episode art was done by Gilbert Smith. Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Your Insert Credit Panel discusses the future of Xbox, the difference between dad games and mom games, and weird little guys. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

KEXP

Italian AOC

“This wild aura, man. Can’t let this go.”

Falsetto

1: When are you convinced to go back to a particular game after putting it down? (02:51)

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Cronos: The New Dawn

Red Dead Redemption II

Deadwood

Sega Genesis

Sony PlayStation

World of WarCraft

Quest 64

Quest 64 Official

The Ooze

barleybap

2: Through video game history, how has the job of level designer evolved? (07:44)

TUME

Disney’s Aladdin

Hirokazu Yasuhara

Sonic the Hedgehog series

Uncharted series

Titanfall 2

Iwata Asks

Legend of Zelda series

Shigeru Miyamoto

Takashi Tezuka

3: What are the differences between a dad game and a mom game? (12:59)

Pragmata

Cooking Mama

Bayonetta

Amnesia: Rebirth

Super Metroid

NieR

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

Stardew Valley

The Sims

Black & White

Peter Molyneux

You know it’s bad for AI when even Peter Molyneux, king of overpromising, is tepid on its use in game dev

Grateful Dead

Black Sabbath

4: Design a video game trilogy intended to grow up with the player base (19:39)

Pokemon series

Palworld

Mewgenics!

Final Fantasy XII

Master Chief

Game Freak

NFT

5: Death_Strandicoot asks, is Xbox a third party now? Is there still a Big 3? (28:01)

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on PS5

‘We Are Xbox’: read the memo defining Microsoft’s gaming future

Developers, developers, developers

Nintendo

Sony

Roblox

Epic

Fortnite

Circana

List of largest video game companies by revenue

6: What are some new ways to torture players in masocore games? (33:42)

Masocore

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

QWOP

Dark Souls

Minecraft

Marvel Rivals

Jackass

Virtual Boy

Speedrunning

7: What is the McDonald’s Sprite of video games? (38:42)

McDonalds

Sprite

Steam Deck

LIGHTNING ROUND: GameFAQ&As - Roblox Mobile (43:51)

Recommendations and Outro (49:51):

Frank: apply for Video Game History Foundation’s Charity Development Coordinator if you meet the qualifications

Ash: For All Mankind

Brandon: Boogiepop Phantom, Ikarie XB-1 (1963), Baby Steps Developers React to 7 Minute Speedrun

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!