Episodes

Wednesday May 29, 2019
Remember The Game #48 - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Wednesday May 29, 2019
Wednesday May 29, 2019
They might seem silly now (they're not silly at all, by the way) but in the mid 90's, the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were in control of every kid on the planet. Who didn't love the "teenagers with attitude"??
TV show(s), movies, actions figures, comic books, the Rangers were everywhere. Video games were inevitable. I remember wanting to get my hands on every Mighty Morphin' thing I could during my phase a Ranger junkie. Especially the video games. But the only one I ever owned - and played for that matter - was the self titled game on the Super Nintendo. And when I was young I thought it was incredible, albeit a little easy. As a jaded, grumpy old man now, I can see it for what it is. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on the SNES was a half-assed, cookie cutter beat 'em up.
On a console that boasted incredible beat 'em ups like Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Maximum Carnage, Final Fight 3 and (insert your favourite game that I missed here), not to mention the undisputed king of beat 'em up - TMNT IV: Turtles In Time, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers came up short in every possible way. It snuck by on the back of the franchise itself, and while many of us played and loved it as kids, it's aged terribly.
I could beat this game as a kid without breaking a sweat. I'm not great at games now, but man did I suck back then. You just ran left to right, punching generic putties over and over again. Being able to pick from Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly and Billy before each level was cool, but they all pretty well controlled identically. And once they morphed from their teenage selves into their Power Ranger counterparts, they were simple palette swaps of one another. Some of the boss fights were kind of cool, but the two minutes it took to beat them didn't make up for the ten minute slog you went through to get there. The game ends with a couple Street Fighter style battles between Megazord and some villain, and they're only slightly more fun than the countless putty fights before them.
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers isn't a great game. But it's based on a great franchise, and it kicks my nostalgia sensors into overdrive. My buddy Andre is back this week, and we're talking about the video game and the Rangers themselves, and we had a hell of a time doing it.
Plus, I snuck the theme song into the beginning of the episode :)

Wednesday May 22, 2019
Remember The Game #47 - The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare
Wednesday May 22, 2019
Wednesday May 22, 2019
Everyone knows that most video games based on The Simpsons, sucked.

Wednesday May 15, 2019
Remember The Game #46 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Wednesday May 15, 2019
Wednesday May 15, 2019
There may not be another game in my "illustrious" gaming career that I have fonder memories of after a single play-through than The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I played through it one time, on my GameCube back in the day, and never turned it on again. Not because I didn't like it, but because I just ended the game feeling....satisfied.

Wednesday May 08, 2019
Remember The Game #45 - A Boy and His Blob
Wednesday May 08, 2019
Wednesday May 08, 2019
The whole concept behind this podcast was to talk about the games we played as kids and to stir up those feelings of nostalgia, and that's exactly what A Boy and His Blob does for me. My brother and I played the hell out of this game as kids.
We never owned it, but we rented it. Over and over and over. Everyone remembers doing that with a game or two back in the day, right? By the time you stopped renting it, you could have just bought the damned game with all the money you spent! We never came anywhere close to beating it, either. And honestly, without the internet, I doubt we ever would have. But we didn't care.
This game was built to be played alongside the internet. Tons of trial and error, and hard to solve puzzles. You play as "boy" - I don't remember them actually saying what his name was - and this blob thing follows you around. I didn't know it back in the day, but apparently the object of the game was to collect treasure (that was in caves under the ground) to buy vitamins to feed bad guys back on Blob's home planet. Oh yeah, and you had a ton of different jellybeans to feed blob, and when you did, he turned into different things like a ladder, a bubble, and a blowtorch.
Yeah...
It didn't tell you what each flavour of jellybean did to blob, either. You had to feed him different kinds of beans, and see what happened. We kept a handwritten list of what bean did what. And then once you knew you could make blob into, you had to figure out where to use him to stay alive. Because everything killed you. Falling, enemies, spikes, water, falling rocks, ugh.
This game had a ton of flaws, but I still have a soft spot for it. My buddy and fellow comedian Ty does too. He's my guest this week, and we look back at our adventures dying alongside Blob as kids. Grab a bag of ketchup jellybeans, put your feet up, and go for a ride back in time with us, won't you?

Wednesday May 01, 2019
Remember The Game #44 - Super Metroid
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Super Metroid turned 25 a couple weeks ago! A better podcast host would have caught that and ran with it, but what can you do? I don't think it cared that we missed it.
One of the greatest games - not only on the Super Nintendo, but of all-time - Super Metroid is an absolute gem. A perfect combination of action, exploration, challenge, and atmosphere (which in the 16-bit era is no small feat), it takes you on a ride. Super Metroid is so good, it served as a primary inspiration in the formation of an entire new genre of video game; the Metroid-Vania. When you look at any list of the "greatest SNES games of all-time", Samus's Super Nintendo adventure is a lock for a spot in the top 5. Considering the insane library of games those lists contain, that's a pretty incredible feather in it's cap.
I missed this one as a kid, but luckily, I caught up to it as an adult. I've probably played through it half a dozen times in the last 10 years, and it's one of those titles I keep going back to. When I think of video games, it's one of the titles that comes to mind. I love the graphical style of it so much, and when you add in the action, power-ups, and exploration that comes with it, it's everything a video game should be. I've tried playing Metroid on the NES in recent years, and while I respect the role it played in paving the way for Super Metroid, it just hasn't stood the test of time like it's 16-bit counterpart has. And while there are a lot of franchises that made massive improvements during their transition from the 8-bit generation to the 16-bit one, I don't think there's an IP that levelled up as hard as Samus and friends did.
Super Metroid is a hall of fame worthy video game. Two of my childhood friends, Daniel and Rob, joined me this week to explain why. This was a fun episode, I hope you like it.
And for the love of video games, if you haven't played Super Metroid, get your shit together.

Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Remember The Game #43 - Halo: Combat Evolved
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
The NES had Super Mario Bros. The Genesis had Sonic The Hedgehog. And Microsoft's Xbox? It had Halo. And Halo is awesome.
I was skeptical of the Xbox. I remember reading a great article in a gaming magazine (remember those?) about how there just wasn't room in the gaming industry for four home consoles. At least one of the Nintendo Gamecube, Playstation 2, Sega Dreamcast and Microsoft's Xbox wasn't going to survive. In hindsight, we all know the - unfortunate - victim of the crowd selves was the Dreamcast, but I would have bet money it would be the Xbox. But, I didn't know that Microsoft had Bungie and a little someone named Master Chief in their back pocket.
When you think of the Xbox, it's hard not to think of Halo: Combat Evolved. I guess you could think of Halo 2, but whatever. It's the system Master Chief built. I vividly remember playing Halo with my friend Chris and just being blown away by the graphics and the gameplay. Until then, all I knew of first person shooters was Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and DOOM. Halo was incredible. It was like playing a movie. It raised the bar. A lot.
Some of my best memories of Halo are playing the campaign on Legendary difficulty. Getting my ass handed to me over and over and not caring. The music got you so fired up. Ripping around in Warthogs. The multi-player!! Grunts are one of my favourite villains in a video game to this day. Halo: Combat Evolved is the best.
My buddy and fellow comedian Ty joined me this week, and we took a long look back at the debut of Master Chief, the arrival of the Xbox, and the gem that is Halo: Combat Evolved. Enjoy!

Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Remember The Game #42 - Donkey Kong Country
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019

Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Remember The Game #41 - Spider-Man
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Spider-Man is my favourite superhero. Even if you ignore all of the "he's a normal guy trying to do the right thing/with great power comes great responsibility" stuff and just focus on superpowers, the guy is sick. Climbing walls, super strength, agility, and of course, web-slinging. He seems like he'd be perfect for video games. And unfortunately, that wasn't really the case for a long time. Then came Spider-Man for the PlayStation.
(On a side note, Neversoft developed the Tony Hawk games along with Spider-Man. That's a pretty sick track record)
You (obviously) play the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. You fight bad guys, climb walls, and yep, web-sling around New York. Kind of. Doctor Octopus and Carnage release a fog across the city, and it blocks out the lower half of New York for the duration of the game. Obviously a way to work within the limitations of the PlayStation's hardware capabilities (I assume anyway), you web-sling along the skyline of the city without ever seeing the streets, traffic, and people. It actually works really well, and doesn't take away from the game.
Where this game truly shines, in my opinion, is it's story. It absolutely captures the feel of the modern Marvel movies, and the roster of characters that make appearances in Spider-Man is INSANE! Spider-Man, Venom (my other favourite. And they team up, which is the best!), Punisher, Captain America, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Carnage, Human Torch, Daredevil, Rhino; the list goes on and on. Stan Lee even shows up! I say it during the podcast this week, but nothing makes me happier than when I see a game developer truly cares, and it's obvious while playing this game that Neversoft set out to make something special. And they succeeded.
An original story, incredible gameplay and graphics, and a little TLC, Spider-Man has it all. My buddy Tyler and I had a great time talking about one of the stand out (and occasionally forgotten) gems on the PlayStation. It's all about Spider-Man this week on 'Remember The Game?'!

Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
Remember The Game #40 - WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019

Wednesday Mar 27, 2019
Remember The Game #39 - The Legend of Zelda
Wednesday Mar 27, 2019
Wednesday Mar 27, 2019
What can I possibly say about The Legend of Zelda that hasn't already been said?