A relentlessly on topic smorgasbord of hard hitting video game questions as addressed by a panel of experts. Featuring Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheff...
Composer, designer, and puzzler Chris Remo joins the panel to cover how specific instruments evoke moods in games, Mad Libs as branching path narrative, and VR’s Myst problem. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Chris Remo. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
Metroidvania
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
Scrooged (1988)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Die Hard (1988)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Vince Guaraldi
Sesame Street
A Christmas Story (1983)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Elf (2003)
The Elf on the Shelf
Will Ferrell
Thurl Ravenscroft
The Nutcracker
English National Ballet
San Francisco Ballet
1: What’s the right way to modulate crossword puzzle difficulty? (06:04)
The New York Times crossword puzzle
Will Shortz
2: What particular moods or vibes in video game soundtracks are most closely associated with specific instruments? (12:24)
Vibrato
Tubular bells
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Homer
Fez
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Sega Genesis
New jack swing
Roland Synthesizers
John Carpenter
Demonschool
Danganronpa
3: Did any of those Wordle clones have any merit? (16:41)
Wordle
Tetris
Simple and Clean
Mad Libs
Dungeons & Dragons
Twenty Questions
Spelling Bee
Connections
Wheel of Fortune
4: If I haven’t been convinced to get into VR by now, am I beyond reach? (22:53)
Batman: Arkham Shadow
Half-Life: Alyx
Beat Saber
Oculus
Myst
Half-Life
Insert Credit Quick Break: Charles Greenberg (33:27)
5: Death Strandicoot asks, what are some interesting company interactions or rivalries in gaming? (34:41)
Regular Show
Funko
Itch.io
itch.io says it was taken down by Funko
Pinkerton
Magic publishers sent Pinkerton agents to a YouTuber’s house to retrieve leaked cards
Rockstar Games
Red Dead Redemption II
The legal dispute between Take-Two, Rockstar, and Pinkerton has ended
Tengen
Mario “Super Powers Reach Exclusive Agreement” poster
Tetris
Atari
Tommy Tallarico
Intellivision
6: What is the TCM documentary about the making of The Day the Clown Cried of video games? (41:16)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Day the Clown Cried
From Darkness to Light (2024)
The Tetris Movie (2023)
Duke Nukem Forever
Gearbox Software
Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary
Peter Molyneux
Project Milo
Jay Benson
Firewatch
Jerry Lewis
Playing Columbine (2008)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
LIGHTNING ROUND: Burning Questions (47:51)
Recommendations and Outro (51:34):
Brandon: Play Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams…
Frank: Play Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit with curious kittens if you have the chance
Ash: Mouthwashing
Chris: youtube.com/chrisremo, The Brutalist (2024)
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57:39
Ep. 368 - Are You There, God? It's Me, The Witcher
Frank, Ash and Brandon design games based on historical events, explain the plot of Earth Defense Force, and discover why women have hollow bones. 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:
Madame Web (2024)
Morbius (2022)
Venom (2018)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
Eminem original Venom rap
Glyceo the Destroyer
Lucius Aurelius
Maximus Arelius
Caesar Minumus
Caesar Agustus
Hannibal
Scipio Africanus
The Pope
Assassin’s Creed series
Games where the final boss is the pope
Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIII
Nights of Azure series
Final Fantasy Tactics
Rodrigo Borgia
The Young Pope
Anti-Pope
Psycho-Pirate
Doctor Fate
Marv Wolfman
52 Pickup
1: What historical events would it be interesting to recreate in a video game? (06:03)
JFK Reloaded
John Brown
Castle Wolfenstein series
Sherman’s March
Titan submersible implosion
Downwell
Super Mario Bros. 2
Ridiculous Fishing
Amelia Erhart
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Bayonetta
Purdue
2: What video game do you like that you believe the greatest percentage of people who have played it do not like? (11:22)
Forspoken
Marvel Midnight Suns
Fatal Fury series
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Jekyll
Sonic R
Credit Report (14:58)
3: Has there ever been an unreleased video game that you were glad never came out? (15:16)
Confederate
Beavis and Butt-Head
Marble Madness
Sonic X-treme
Steven Seagal Is: The Final Option (Prototype) by Crak Atak in 21:44 - Awesome Games Done Quick 2023
Desert Bus for Hope
Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors
Drac’s Night Out
Hammerman
Hammer vs. Evil D. in Soulfire
Power Factory featuring C+C Music Factory
Make My Video: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
Max Payne (2008)
4: Explain the lore of Earth Defense Force in 6 minutes (19:51)
Elden Ring
Earth Defense Force series
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
Insert Credit Quick Break: Puppycam! (25:50)
5: Rin asks, how often do you use button remapping? (26:32)
Vampire Survivors
Xbox 360
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Sony Playstation
Neo Geo
Sega Saturn
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
Super Mario World
Infinity Nikki
6: What’s the best prison or prison sequence in a video game? (34:32)
Wolfenstein
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Final Fantasy IX
Fable series
Peter Molyneux
7: What is the Christopher Nolan’s TENET of video games? (40:27)
Tenet (2020)
Hideo Kojima
Metal Gear series
Christopher Nolan
LawBreakers
Cliffy B
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Superhot
Braid
Sonic CD
LIGHTNING ROUND: Famicom Feud - Past Game Awards Winners (44:26)
Recommendations and Outro (54:01):
Brandon: Subway (1985), Miho Nakayama’s albums Mind Game, Catch the Night, Angel Hearts and Hide ‘N’ Seek
Ash: The Verge’s premium subscription
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1:01:23
Ep. 367 - Rings Aren't Coins
our Insert Credit Panel covers how a video game might be political, new games for dead consoles, and the Jaffe Cut of Rocky Horror Picture Show. 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:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
“Penis breath” clip
Tetris
Spelling Bee
Sub Hunt
PalmPilot
Katamari Damacy
Guitar Hero series
Circus
Madden series
Call of Duty series
Mortal Kombat series
Ms. Pac-Man
Sonic the Hedgehog series
The Lion King
Wordle
Words With Friends
Myst
Military Madness AKA Nectaris
Advance Wars
Mega Man
Bayou Billy
1: Are all video games inherently political? (04:58)
Circus
Game & Watch Wide Screen: Fire
Animal Well
Metal Gear Solid series
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Galactic Saga
G.I. Joe
Roadblock
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
2: How do video game trailers lose you? (10:38)
Demonschool
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
HowLongToBeat.com
3: Which game console has the best library of games released by third parties after its discontinuation? (15:37)
Atari 7800
Sega Dreamcast
Sega Genesis
Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
XenoCrisis
Tanglewood
Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force
Asuka 120% series
Game Boy
itch.io
Shantae
Game Boy Advance
Yuzo Koshiro
Streets of Rage 2
Earthion
Atari 2600
H.E.R.O.
Halo 2600
4: Design a new boot-up screen for the PlayStation 6 (21:00)
PlayStation 1 boot up
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 remake
PlayStation 5 boot up
PlayStation 2 boot up
PlayStation 3 boot up
PlayStation 4 boot up
PlayStation Studios tag
Sony’s Universe of Spider-Man Characers
Switch boot up
Xbox Series boot up
5: Captain asks, what makes a video game coin enjoyable to pick up? (27:17)
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Generations
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would’ve been better as a movie
Banjo-Kazooie
Tomb Raider series
Uncharted series
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
Whiplash
Knuckles’ Chaotix
6: Frank, what can you tell us about the state of game preservation this year? (33:54)
Video Game History Foundation
PC-FX
Newgrounds
LIGHTNING ROUND: GameFAQ&As - No Man’s Sky (39:25)
Credit Scores (42:51)
Recommendations and Outro (42:55):
Brandon:
Do stretches before you go to bed and after you wake up
if you have a dog that won’t pee on dirt when it’s wet or cold try getting some mulch
Wicked (2024)
Jaffe:
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
Ash:
Only see Gladiator II (2024) for Denzel chewing scenery
The Verge’s premium subscription
Frank:
The return of The Video Game History Hour
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53:39
Ep. 366 - Xboxen
The full Insert Credit panel covers what Xboxes are, Fatal Fury movie casting, and dog football. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
Mr. Bones
Mr. Bones by Lizstar in 1:12:00 - Awesome Games Done Quick
Mr. Bones shirt
Cyber Monday
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Yuji Naka
Naoto Ohshima
Sonic
Knuckles
Tails
Dr. Robotnik
Yasushi Yamaguchi
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Shadow
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Jaleel White
Steve Urkel
Credit Report (04:06)
1: Is this podcast an Xbox? (04:48)
Xbox
Xbox continues its push beyond consoles with new ad campaign
Microsoft’s next Xbox, coming 2028, envisions hybrid computing
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Game spending is up — and you can thank Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
The Penguin
Magic: the Gathering
2: What is the most fortunate accident in video game history? (10:22)
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Mario 64
Sega Saturn
Sony Playstation
Space Invaders
Alanis Morrisette
3: Which video game genre on the whole compares best to its correspondent film genre on the whole? (15:29)
Uncharted (2022)
Visual Novel
Robert Ludlum
Dune
Jack Ryan
John Krasinski
VeggieTales
The Fast and the Furious series
Mario Kart series
The Northman (2022)
The Green Knight (2021)
4: What class should be added in the next Dragon Quest 3 remake? (21:09)
Dragon Quest III (Super Famicom remake)
Thief
Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake
Beastmaster
Pictomancer
Arithmetician
Adeline
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Dragon Quest series
Cartographer
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest Monsters
EarthBound
Ness
Dracky
Final Fantasy XV
Ignis
Gladiolus
Prompto
Quina
Final Fantasy IX
Insert Credit Quick Break: The Storied Sword, available digitally and physically (26:57)
5: Pro Skater 4 asks, how would you cast a Fatal Fury movie? (28:36)
Silent Hill 2
Cube (1997)
Ezri Dax
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
One Piece
Avery Brooks
Fatal Fury series
Terry Bogard
Chris Evans
Mai Shiranui
Scarlett Johansson
Andy Bogard
Chris Pratt
Joe Higashi
Tony Jaa
Raul Julia
Geese Howard
Pedro Pascal
Nicholas Cage
John Leguizamo
The Menu (2022)
Duck King
Marco Rodrigues AKA Khushnood Butt
Namor
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Tenoch Huerta Mejía
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Billy Kane
Scott Atkins
Bob Wilson
John Boyega
Surf Dracula
King of Fighters series
Street Fighter series
Virtua Fighter series
6: If you could instantly put any game on every iPhone, what would it be? (35:34)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
U2
Fantasian
Astro Bot
Astro Boy
Quincy Jones
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Spider Solitaire
Snake
Nokia N-Gage
Balatro
Pokémon GO
Niantic
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Fi
Mr. Resetti
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Dr. Kawashima
7: What’s the Air Bud (1997) of video games? (41:02)
Army Men series
Air Buddies (2006)
Baba Is You
Scribblenauts
Jerry Rice & Nitus’ Dog Football
Marshawn Lynch
Snoop Dogg
David Beckham
Shaq
Space Jam (1996)
Michael Vick
Brett Farve
Shohei Ohtani
Jose Canseco
Stephen Curry
Simone Biles
Xavier Woods
Babe Ruth
Pete Rose
LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Bart Vs. The Simpsons (46:23)
Recommendations and Outro (54:09):
Frank: Please donate to the Video Game History Foundation this Giving Tuesday
Brandon: more of a review than a recommendation, but The Beekeeper (2024) is like John Wick but not very good and doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t have stakes, “dune scene” from untitled louise weard castration movie, Shangri-La Frontier if you like anime with leveling up
Ash: Stream Not Like Us as much as possible
Jaffe: One Piece
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1:07:29
Ep. 365 - Post-Crisis Sonic 2
The finest panel in video games covers Sony buying Kadokawa, relitigates what counts as games versus DLC, and brings you the exclusive reveal of the Nintendo Listo. 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:
Viewtiful Joe
Bob & George
SMS Power Forums
FanFiction.Net
Warlock - World of Warcraft Forums
World of WarCraft
Neo Geo Pocket
1: Brandon, two years ago when Microsoft bought Blizzard Activision, you proposed something that would be really funny that Sony could do to retaliate. Do you remember what it was? (05:35)
Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition
FromSoftware parent company confirms Sony’s acquisition interest
Spike Chunsoft
Acquire
Octopath Traveler
Tenchu series
Shinobi series
Stray
Demon’s Souls
Morbius (2022)
George R. R. Martin
PaRappa the Rapper
Kingdom Hearts series
Playstation All Stars Battle Royale
Danganronpa
Bloodborne
2: At what point is a game’s DLC worth judging as its own entity? (12:08)
Geoff Keighley
The Game Awards 2024 Nominees
Elden Ring
Hidetaki Miyazaki
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
D.I.C.E. Awards
Emmy Awards
Fortnite
Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Among Us
Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker
Hideo Kojima
International Game Developers Association
3: What’s the biggest gulf in difference between a game’s singleplayer and multiplayer modes, and what’s the biggest golf in video games? (21:17)
Golden Tee Golf series
Desert Golfing
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
What the Golf?
Golf with Your Friends
PangYa
Mario Party series
4: What is the Nintendo Listo? (24:58)
The first mention of the Listo in ep. 363
Nintendo Alarmo
Wii Fit
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
PalmPilot
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo Switch
Picross
Chocobo
GameFAQs
Playdate
Listicle
Resetera
Apology Corner: None of the Hansons from Hanson are dead (32:54)
Hanson
The Hanson Brothers
5: Feral asks, what are your favorite completely missable areas in video games?
Metal Slug 3
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Hidden Palace Zone
Hidden Palace
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Christian Whitehead
Sonic Mania
Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Doomsday Zone
Star Wars: Outlaws
Super Mario Bros.
6: What is the Morbius of video games? (42:50)
Morbius (2022)
Deadly Premonition
The Callisto Protocol
Dead Space
Playstation All Stars Battle Royale
Fat Princess
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
The Sinister Six
Dead2y Premonition: A Blessing in Disguise
Corecell Technology Co., Ltd.
Wicked Monsters: BLAST!
Hidetaka Suehiro
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Bubsy series
Dragon Age: Origins
Jared Leto
Thirty Seconds to Mars
LIGHTNING ROUND: Arcade of Our Own (48:37)
Recommendations and Outro (01:03:37):
Frank: Maybe play Dragon Quest XI, but more specifically, just lean into being comfortable right now
Brandon: Dark Crystal - Minako Yoshida, The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, know that the Hakkaider blu-ray is a bad quality transfer
Ash: (For Geoff Keighley specifically) Get the Flute Guy and ReFantazio Chanting Monk on the same stage to heal the world
This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.
Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!
A relentlessly on topic smorgasbord of hard hitting video game questions as addressed by a panel of experts. Featuring Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and a rotating group of special guests. Hosted by Alex Jaffe. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original music by Kurt Feldman.