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...
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.
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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
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1:15:53
Ep. 364 - Way More Chooms, with Kieron Gillen
Author and journalist Kieron Gillen joins the panel to cover the golden age of games journalism, Squaresoft’s 1996 SNES licensed X-Men JRPG, and the mysterious Hat Man. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Kieron Gillen. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
Riders on the Storm
Ghost Riders in the Sky
The Doors
Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Mutant
Amiga Power
Eisner Awards
Hugo Award
Amiga
Mister Sinister
1: What’s the difference between game culture and comics culture? (04:44)
Jack Kirby
Twine
Al Ewing
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Gamergate (harassment campaign)
Sad Puppies
Jim Rossignol
2: In tabletop game design, how do you make a game that allows players to do anything, while maintaining a unique identity? (10:03)
Mörk Borg
OSR
Dungeons & Dragons
Baldurs Gate III
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a masterpiece built on a bad tabletop game
3: What’s the closest a video game has come to ruining your life? (17:19)
World of Warcraft
World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade
Clash of Clans
Princess Pajama
Infinity Nikki
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
Sonic Advance 3
Nintendo Official Magazine UK
Circuit City
World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King
MUSH
Space Invaders
The Sims Online
Grand Theft Auto IV
4: The year is 1996. Squaresoft wants you to design their final game for the SNES, a licensed X-Men RPG. What have you got? (27:22)
Squaresoft
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
X-Men
Image Comics
Jim Lee
X-Men 2: Clone Wars
X-Men: The Animated Series
Storm
Rise of the Robots
Wolverine
Princess Maker
Charles Xavier
Final Fantasy
Sentinel
Spider-Man
The Punisher: The Ultimate Payback!
Days of Future Past
Chrono Trigger
Callisto
Marrow
Giant-Size X-Men
Cyclops
Colossus
Thunderbird
Jean Grey
5: PersonalMatthew asks, how important is it that someone writing about videogames be “good” at videogames? (34:33)
Madden
DLSS
Digital Trends
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster
Demonschool
Final Fantasy Tactics
Persona
Shin Megami Tensei
6: What was the golden age of video game journalism? (40:53)
Spider-Man 3
Mad Men
PC Gamer
Tomb Raider
Rock Paper Shotgun
LIGHTNING ROUND: High Scoring (47:22)
Recommendations and Outro (57:22):
Kieron: The Power Fantasy, We Called Them Giants
Frank: Go read Kieron’s comics
Brandon: If you’re feeling cold tuck your shirt into your pants, Manga documentary 1982, The Great Cleric if you want some extremely mid anime, follow Brandon on Bluesky
Ash: Game Changers on HBO Max
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1:08:20
Ep. 363 - Love in the Time of Dragons
Your new Insert Credit panel, now including Ash Parrish of The Verge, discusses Dragon Age fanfiction, the best video game music of the last ten years, and a Spice Girls nude code. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and Ash Parrish. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
The beginning of this episode features some words from Brandon Sheffield on personal loss, the election, and what we can do going forward. The usual intro begins at (09:01). Thank you.
Vincent Diamante
Game Developer Magazine
Demonschool
Video Game History Foundation
The Verge
Gojo Industries
Dandadan
Momo Ayase
Bundle for Ukraine
The Insert Credit Forums
1: Have video games completely realized the concept of importing your data from one game to the next? (20:59)
Assassin’s Creed series
Legend of Zelda series
Yakuza series
Golden Sun series
Mass Effect series
Pokémon series
Dragon Age series
2: What do people really mean when they talk about learning curves? (27:46)
Super Mario series
Metroid series
Crusader Kings III
Sid Meier’s Civilization series
Warhammer universe
3: What’s up with video games having “Dragon” in the title and then not having very many dragons? (33:41)
Dragon Age series
Dragon Quest universe
Yakuza series
Drakengard series
Halo series
Monster Hunter series
Dragon Slayer
Panzer Dragoon series
Dragon’s Dogma series
Spice Girls
Spice World
The Spice Girls nude in the game Spice World
Lara Croft
Double Dragon series
4: Which video game character is tattooed on the most human bodies? (38:47)
Mario
Sonic the Hedgehog
Pikachu
Ribbit King
1-Up Mushroom
Hylian Shield
Triforce
Space Invaders
Pac-Man
Squirtle
Bulbasaur
Snorlax
Magikarp
Mew
Gengar
Slime
Shanghai Dragons
Overwatch
Genji
Hanzo
The Insert Credit Quick Break: Puppy Cam! (44:34)
5: Esther Weinbach asks, what is the most important thing you’ve ever learned from a video game? (45:38)
BioShock
Bravoman
Dragon Age series
Cullen Rutherford
NieR
6: Can you think of a single piece of memorable video game music from the past ten years? (54:37)
Undertale
Sonic Mania
Yakuza series
Baka Mitai
Gunsport series
Crossniq
Border Down
Shoji Meguro
Persona series
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Masayoshi Soken
Final Fantasy XIV Online
NieR: Automata
Weight of the World
Street Fighter IV
Indestructible
LIGHTNING ROUND: Celebrity Gamers (01:00:09)
Recommendations and Outro (01:09:00):
Brandon: Give your coupons to people who seem like they need them, Monoxide Brothers, Megumi Hayashibara’s The Characters Taught Me Everything
Ash: Get a puppy, the What is White French Dressing? episode of Aw, Would You Look At The Time
Jaffe: 52 Pickup, the first three seasons of Slayers
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1:20:27
Ep. 362 - Official Mario Bong, with Mathew Kumar
Game designer and author Mathew Kumar joins a panel guest hosted by editor Esper Quinn to cover famous famiclones, the latest in Nintendo developments, and Tommy Tallarico’s unexpected ascent into backgammon legend. Hosted by Esper Quinn, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and Mathew Kumar. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
Snake Eater (Live at Symphony Hall)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania OST - Studiopolis Act 2
Snow Surfers OST - Ronnie’s Theme
Rippin’ Riders
alpha’s video game drum and bass music playlist
Bomberman Hero
Jun Chikuma
Saori Kobayashi
Sylvan Tale
Panzer Dragoon
Sylvan Tale シルヴァンテイル組曲/Compose&Arrange:小林早織
Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 by Mathew Kumar
Yakuza 4
Makoto Date
Yakuza 4 Theme “For Faith” (with lyrics)
1: merritt k asks, what are some of the more interesting bootleg or knockoff consoles? (06:50)
Pegasus
famiclone
Nintendo Entertainment System
EA FIFA series
Battletank
Circus Charlie
Phantom System
Dendy
Xiao Bawang
Handheld TV game
Frogger
Scramble
Commodore 64
ZDog
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Zdinarsik (Z-Dog)
Battle City
Bomberman
PC Engine
Ghostbusters II
Predator
2: What The Hell Is Going On At Nintendo? Part II Chapter 2 - Online Network Test (20:16)
Ash Parrish
Nintendo’s mysterious Playtest begins to leak
Minecraft
Roblox
Pokémon GO
Splatoon 3
Animal Crossing series
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Fortnite
3: What The Hell Is Going On At Nintendo? Part III - Nintendo Music (26:50)
Alarmo
Wii Shop Channel Main Theme
Animal Crossing - 5AM
Nintendo Museum
Rosalina
Astro Bot
Master Chief
4: At this point in your life, what would it take to get you to play more video games? (32:34)
Metaphor: ReFantazio
NieR
Metroid Prime
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Demonschool
Martin Scorsese
Stalker (1979)
5: Is Tommy Tallarico a backgammon champion now? (40:37)
Tommy Tallarico’s New Goal Is Becoming A Backgammon Legend
Tommy Tallarico
Backgammon
6: Alex Jaffe asks, what is the strongest emotion that video games can produce? (43:49)
Super Princess Peach
7: If you, somehow, wrote an essay for every game you’ve finished, what would you do with those? (51:04)
Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 by Mathew Kumar
Ko-fi
Kofi Annan
Ninja Gaiden
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
Digital Extremes
Digital Eclipse
Warframe
Dark Sector
Internet Archive
The Tower of Druaga
Clive James
LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Magic: the Gathering Cards (58:24)
Chaos Orb
Wurmcoil Engine
Sublime Epiphany
Simian Spirit Guide
Mass Hysteria
Waste Not
Nemesis of Reason
Sunfall
Sword of Feast and Famine
Otterball Antics
Thraximundar
Recommendations and Outro (01:10:45):
Frank: UFO 50
Mathew: It’s very easy to replace your showerhead and shower cartridge, Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 by Mathew Kumar
Brandon: Mariko Tone - Purple Rose
Esper: The YouTube version of this very podcast
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1:19:10
Ep. 361 - Specdracular 2024, with merritt k
Writer and game designer merritt k joins the Insert Credit panel on the most haunted podcast of the year, delving into how one really evokes fear in games, Skibidi Toilet costumes, and vampire streaming services. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and merritt k. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
Watch this episode with full video on YouTube
Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums
SHOW NOTES:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter
Sonic the Hedgehog
Halloween (1978)
Warhammer 40,000
Fledgling Manor
Guys: Episode 27
The Mist (2007)
The Fog (1980)
The Exorcist III (1990)
The Exorcist (1973)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Jamie Lee Curtis
Ryu
1: What’s the most you were ever scared by a video game? (08:34)
Resident Evil 2
Silent Hill
Cloverfield (2008)
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Phantasy Star
Wizardry
Resident Evil 4
Amnesia series
Phantasy Star Online
Yuji Naka
Balan Wonderworld
World of Warcraft
Burning Man
EverQuest
Renaissance fair
Destiny 2
2: How do you scare someone in a text or turn-based game where you aren’t required to act immediately? (16:32)
Dark Souls series
Bloodborne
EarthBound
Dragon Quest
Undertale
3: What are the best ghosts in video games? (22:26)
The Addams Family
Fester’s Quest
Ocean Software
Boo
Super Mario Maker series
Hungry Ghosts
Pac-Man
Billy Mitchell
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic Mania
Mother 3
Bubble Ghost
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
4: What are some last-minute DIY video game costumes our listeners can make at home? (28:03)
Tetris
Harry Mason
James Sunderland
OZZY OSBOURNE - “Perry Mason” (Official Video)
Grand Theft Auto III
Claude
Ugly Sonic
Donkey Kong
Ryu
Taekwondo
The Atlantic
Ian Bogost
Skibidi Toilet
Garry’s Mod
Watch_Dogs series
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Helldivers II
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Astro Bot
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Miles “Tails” Prower
Miqo’te
Stray
UFO 50
5: Nineteenletterslong asks, what are the grossest looking hands in video games? (35:17)
Yakuza 0
30 Rock
Elden Ring
Wallmaster
Shenmue
Marvel Snap
Balatro
DC Heroes United
Vampire Survivors
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Why Batman Doesn’t Kill
Solomon Grundy
Splatterhouse
Ethan Winters
Resident Evil 7
Resident Evil: Village
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6
6: Without looking anything up, what do you think the “Tails Doll” creepypasta is about? (41:23)
Tails Doll
Tails Doll Creepypasta
Sonic Adventure
Sonic R
Traveller’s Tales
Metal Sonic
Christian Whitehead
Sonic Mania
Sonic CD
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Rad Mobile
7: What is the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) of video games? (45:41)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Lifeforce (1985)
Deadly Premonition
Cavia
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
Disco Elysium
The Cave
8: Merritt, have you worked on any video games with compelling narratives about awful people? (49:34)
Fledgling Manor
Visual novel
Big Brother
What We Do in the Shadows
In Secret Places
Friday Night Funkin’
Vertigo Comics
Shade, the Changing Man
Chakan
Demonschool
Baldur’s Gate III
FRIGHTENING ROUND: Dating Draculas (58:53)
Recommendations and Outro (01:09:22):
Merritt: Fledgling Manor on Steam and itch.io, Retro Game Zine Issue 001 - It Came From The Desert,
Frank: Vote, and not Republican.
Brandon: Vote for Harris regardless of whether or not you like her and her many problems, let’s get those fascists back in the ground where they belong, Hiruko the Goblin (1991), Desert Golfing
Jaffe: Consider phone banking for the Environmental Voter Project, send us your homemade Horrible Buzzers to possibly hear them in the show!
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.