March 2024 | BitCast - A Monthly Gaming Podcast

What's up, guys? And welcome to BitCast episode 118 for the month of March 2024. I'm your host, Jake Martin, and on the mics as always, we have Landry Smith. What's up, dude? Jake, what's going on, man? Good to see you. Another month. Yeah, it's, it's weird, like, again, we talked about this last time, maybe, but, we go, we go, actually, like, almost a month of not really talking about video games with each other, except for, I guess, in our small chat groups, which pop off every now and then, l

ike it did Yeah, well, we'll text we'll text about, like, certain things. Maybe not even stuff. That's happening in a month. It might be about a video game that came out in 2017, like a lot of today's discussion was about, so. yes. Poor Dragon Quest XI. Dude, there's nothing poor about it. I didn't mean anything, what I said. Okay. I didn't, I didn't mean those things. I just, you know, I was just, my, my criticisms came out and I'm sorry, Hey, but Yeah. Man, We're all allowed a bad take now and

again. okay. It's not a bad take. It's a, it's a fine take. Okay. , how dare you? It's a Uh, yeah, man. What you been, what you been up to? Uh, any, anything kind of fun or new and, uh, Yeah, man, so we had spring break a couple weeks ago. Um And you actually get to have a spring break. You get to do, yeah, uh, that's a real nice perk of being a teacher, but so my mother in law, uh, called us up and was like, hey, I've got this Bowflex in the garage, and I'm, uh, thinking about selling it or gi

ving it away, and I was like, well, I will, like, rent a U Haul and come and grab it from you, so, uh, I did, and Got in the garage, and we got a little, got a little gym down there now, so that's been fun. Dude, so, I, like, I love a good garage gym, or just like a good little gym, home gym setup, um, all I have are like some Olympic dumbbells, and they work for me, they work for what I need to do, uh, I'm gonna be a, I think a string bean pretty much my whole life, uh, so, just, you know, Ther

e are worse, there are worse things than that, I guess, yeah, muscle has avoided me this far, um, but, I had like a half rack at my old house, And I had the, I had the full intention of using that thing. And I, I was like good for the first like month or two. And then I just slowly died off and I just stopped using it. And I was like, I need to sell this. This is just taking up space. It's so hard to build a good routine and like to stay consistent, man. It I'm really, really good for like doing

three months of like just working out really hard, like losing like a really good chunk of weight and like feeling great, and then something happens, and it just falls apart. So this is my, My next, uh, crack at it. We'll see what happens. like it. I'm all for it. If you, I've never had a home gym before though so it's kind of cool. yeah, cause like, I mean, half the battle is the inconvenience of having to go to the gym, right? You're like, I'm not, I'm not waking up early and going to do this

, but if it's in your house, you're like, well, alright, that's a little bit easier. I don't have as much of an excuse now to not go do this, other than I'm tired. Other than, for us, like, it's like, oh, if the kid wakes up in the middle of the, you know, at five in the morning, I'm still there to go and help out with that, you know. right, exactly, and that is the benefit too, like, yeah, when you're a parent, and you're trying to like, get your kids to go back to sleep, you wake up early, bec

ause they woke up early, but maybe they'll go back to sleep for a little bit, it's like, well, I'm already up, what am I going to do now with this extra hour before I have to be somewhere, some weight. go push and pull on some things, man, hell yeah, some heavy stuff, um, I'm kind of in the same boat actually, it's kind of funny you mentioned that, I've started running a lot, Uh, again, so again, not helping me with building mass. Um, just, just, awesome, man. I, I only look it, but I used to, I

used to love. Run it, man. I was bad at every sport, Landry. I was bad at every sport. Um, I got better as I, uh, when I came to college, I had a friend, you know, you know, Jeff Allen, he, he, um, he's good at basketball and he was like, your height is wasted. He's like, I'm just going to teach you like the fundamentals of like playing basketball. And then like, you'll be pretty good. And he's right. He, like, taught me, like, the basics of, like, pivoting, and, like, boxing out down low, and

just rebounding, and I was like, okay, yeah, I'm like, I'm helpful to the team now. Like, I'm good at this. Hey, yeah, you just gotta play a role, man, that's all. just got to play a gotta, you don't gotta, you don't gotta go out there and score 24 shoot. I will never shoot. I have, I am terrible, uh, but I can do a layup, and that's about it. So. Yeah, I like basketball, but yeah, I've been running a lot, um, picking it back up, and that's because that, that was all I was good at, was running,

and uh, I love it, man. It's just, sometimes being outside, just uh, being in the sun, and, and again, running in the morning sucks. Running in the morning is depressing, you're by yourself, and it's cold, no one's up, and awful, and like, well, in the early spring months, and like, in the winter, you know, that's when it really sucks. Like, I remember, In high school, I ran a very small amount of cross country for one year, and I remember some of those cross country practices at like, you know,

4. 30am, and it's like, you can just feel the cold in the back of your throat, it's like you can taste the blood, it's awful, dude. Taste the blood. All my capillaries are bursting right now. It's too cold. I shouldn't be out here. No, no amount of bundling is going to help too. It's just, it's a mess. You, you, you put too many, you put, you put too many layers on. And that's it for today's podcast. If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. I'll see you in the next one. Peace. Do t

hat for you. We have all these little news segments collected from the month of March. So we'll be walking through those. We also have our Game Watch segment where we'll be looking at months coming out in April. So you guys can kind of keep an eye on those and we'll tell you which ones we think might be worth checking out. We have our Game of the Month Club where Landry and I played Castlevania Symphony of the Night. All through the month of March. It was super cheap on PS5. I missed the sale, O

h man, it's I paid 20 bucks for it, which still is not that bad. Uh, and we'll talk about that. It was 2. 99, I mean, I don't want to rub salt in the wound, I know was 2. 99. I know that I had it on like one of my, um, one of my like emulators and I was just like, Oh, I'll play it on there. And then I just never got around to it. And I was like, well, I'll just play it on PS5 now. So. It's fine. I'm happy. I'm happy about it. I'm happy to support Konami. You and now, you know, if you ever get th

e itch, you've got Rondo of Blood as well. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. And then our favorite, fan favorite segment, name that game music with a twist today. Or a new update where Landry and I have both submitted two songs for each of each other to guess. So we're going to try and guess each other's songs we've submitted I'm stoked about that one, see how we do. I'm stoked about all of Eventually what I think would be cool is if we have listeners that can like submit the songs themselves and we'll just like

play them. That's a terrifying proposition, is terrifying because if we never listened to it, it's like, Oh snap, they just put some really profane or gross things in here that I cannot play on this podcast. But that that is scary and then also it's like I and you you're probably the same way like I have a lot of knowledge in Nintendo and I have a lot of, like, a little knowledge in PlayStation. Sega, Xbox, it's gonna be rough on those, those fronts. And then PC gaming, pretty much missed me my

whole life, Yeah. It's over. Unless it's like, uh, what's the galaxy pinball or whatever that pinball game was on the PC. There was no soundtrack. It was just like, Say like, I remember Minesweeper. I've got some of those sound effects Great soundtrack. Yeah, great soundtrack. Alright, well, housekeeping guys, if you are listening and you enjoy the show, please write into us, leave a review. We appreciate that, and we will read off some of those as they come in. So, please, go and do that on you

r preferred listening services out there. Alright, let's jump into our first segment, Landry. This month in gaming news, curated selections, so you don't get lost. Bog down. First up in the list of this first segment is industry, industry stuff. You should, yeah, industry, industry stuff you should know about. Thank you. has been kind of a dry month, Landry. There's not, there's not a lot going on this month in Dude, we have been blessed with some just like crazy months in January and February,

and yeah, you're right, this past month, kind of calm, which is what you expect for the beginning of the year, so this is kind of more of a normal, I feel like, pace for March than January and February. I mean, we probably are like, we're gonna be kicking ourselves after this. But you know, Nintendo, they, they launched the Switch in March and I was like really hoping for some Switch news this month. I was like, it's yeah, It's gonna happen. All the like, you know, I forgot at the beginning of t

he year. That's what everybody was predicting. Like, Oh, by March, we're going to know about the new console. And now it seems like, you know, we might be waiting for quite a while. are dashed, and I am sad. But it is okay. I'm still holding out that we'll get some news this year. Who knows? I think we'll get news this year for sure. I hope so. Uh, but yeah, so, speaking of Nintendo, uh, first up on our list, Nintendo and Yuzu, which was an illegal, like, or an emulator that basically allowed pe

ople to run Switch games on random devices, um, basically, they reached an agreement that Nintendo took these folks to court, um, and Yuzu is paying them 2. 4 million dollars. For damages basically Yeah. to their brand. And you know, the, the base, the, the whole argument was that they knowingly created something that was going to allow people to like circumvent having to pay for Nintendo, um, cartridges or Nintendo software and be able to just play it on illegally on different devices. So, yeah

, I Yeah. I mean, emulators are. You know, everybody always calls them a gray area. I, you know, I just think like if you're emulating something that has, you can go out into the store and buy like right now, that to me is where it's just like, that's just a real shady practice. Like, I understand some people do it, you know, the right way, and they're buying a Switch game, they're buying Tears of the Kingdom, and then they emulate it on a PC so they can get a better frame rate, and you know, uh

, that's all well and good, but. I just feel like, you know, having that open and doing it the way they were doing it where they had like a discord server where they were literally charging people a certain level or tier level and then like giving them access to ROMs or telling them where to go seek them out like that is super shady. So I think this was just kind of that was going to happen. I mean, I'm no stranger to emulation. I've got this little guy. Packed full of games, thanks, thanks to y

ou. Uh, and you know, but that has like Super Nintendo and Genesis and Game Boy games on it, it's like, dude, these things have been out of commission for 30 years. So really this is just, you know, I'm the type of guy who likes to play stuff that I've heard about, um, that I, uh, there's no way I could go out to the store and pick it up, but I'm also that same guy who's got, you know, 200 old games and shut them in a closet. So I'm going to, you know, That kind of emulation to me, misses me. Ma

ybe it's hypocritical. It just, you know, I've justified it in my, in my mind somehow. So, but yeah, you can the analog thing coming for a long time. yeah, in the analog pocket, I mean, it's built to be able to play original cartridge hardware. So you can play Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color games on there. And it's amazing. Like that's, that's a great way to replay those old games. But yeah, if you were to want to go and play some of these older titles, like again, Mother 3 is a game

that exists that doesn't exist anywhere really outside of Japan. Yeah, you've got to get like an English And there is a way to actually play that, um, people have translated it for you, like, as and as, but only through an emulator, is the way you can play that, really, so it's just like, well, it's kind of a cool thing that I want to try out, so yeah, I'll check it out. Um, so yeah, yeah, well, I mean, not, not surprising, but this is, uh, I think the first big shutdown for Nintendo that's gon

na kind of set the precedent for other folks trying to emulate. And as soon as this happened, I think somebody else already came onto the market with their own version, you I'm sure they will. Yeah, I just think there's a, um, This got a little too big for its own good, you know? They were charging money, like that's their biggest thing. It's like, you're charging money for this, and like, that's just, Yeah. And you're making money off Nintendo's property, then you, you just, you know, that they

're coming after you. So, You're a fool. You're done. Mm shut down as well, that same day, that sucks because, you know, 3DS is just completely offline. There's no way to get a lot of those games. Um, and then, you know, a lot of the eShop games are just. You know, gone forever. And I, I, I personally believe that like, um, the whole game preservation concert, uh, conversation has been blown way out of proportion. Um, but I, I mean, I, I think it's important. Obviously I want to play games and s

tuff, but it's just, it's so silly the way people think it's like such a big deal. But, um, and it, it is to an extent. I'll, I'll give you that. But, um, yeah, the difference is that like the mediums have changed with each console generation Whereas film has remained kind of the same the entire time like we have True. lost film There has there have there have been movies that have just like disappeared gone out like gone out of existence but But I think, like, our, uh, cataloging and, like, abi

lity to be able to store up film in, like, different movies over the decades has, like, kind of existed for a long time, and, like, there's not really, like, a way to do a lot of this right now for video games, it's just, like, if you want that, you can pay the publisher for it, and you also have to, like, subscribe to this weird Library to give you access to these old games, which you know, I'm fine. I'm fine to do if it's a good library But you know, we'll we'll get there. Eventually. We'll se

e. All right. Uh, next up we had the Xbox partner preview on March 6th Um, and there was some cool stuff shown in here Um, I think you and I were talking a little bit before this Tales of Kinsara Zao, Z A U looks cool. That's the only problem with this game Unfortunately is that we had Prince of Persia You And I'm excited to get back into the Zelda fan game community. The game was just released in January and people freaking loved it. And it's still the Metroidvania conversation, probably for th

e year, unless Silksong comes out, you know. right, maybe it's just the year of Metroidvania and they all just That'd be cool. It's kind of already been the year of Metroidvania for me, and like, my game playing this year. Castlevania, I'm playing Metroid Zero Mission, oh! That's a lot. it's pretty sweet. But yeah, we had a really cool, like, slide of hand game which is like a, uh, Card based combat. Um, I think they explained this a little bit better, but that, that game looked really neat. It

looked cool, it had an interesting art style and vibe. I'm, I'm more, I'm leaning always more and more towards that level of gameplay or like that style of art. Um, we get so many games that try to push like the envelope of realism and I still am just like, yeah, I just, I'm more attracted to games that are doing something more artistically interesting. Uh, even if it's less realistic. yeah, I'm, for the most part, I mean, if you just look at what I play, that's true. I do love some of the reali

sm stuff coming out of Sony, like, um, the Spider Man games, I was looking at some videos of some of Spider Man 2 earlier today, it just looks so incredible. And then The Last of Us and God of War, like, those games are incredible to look at. Um, but, for the most part, yeah. I really do like a good art style. Yeah. Just, uh, it's creative. You know, it's just a creative, fun time. I want to be having fun and this is, to me right now, what fun looks like. So, any other shoutouts or ones that you

, like, saw and they're like, oh, these look, these look pretty good? Not really, man. I mean, I remember seeing a couple of these and thinking like, Oh, that looks pretty cool, but I don't remember any of them now, like 20 days later or however long it was, but I do want to just say like, it's so cool that Xbox is doing like these partner directs, they've already had two this year, and I just think that like. Having them at a more frequent cadence gives your fan base more to look forward to. An

d even if, you know, they can latch on to one game or like a hardcore gamer can latch on to one game that they're excited about. That's awesome. Because like, to be honest, like as a Sony and Nintendo guy, there's not really anything I'm super excited about for either of those consoles because they've been doing this thing where they're playing. Their cards so close to their chest lately. It's like, dude, there's nothing to be hyped for. And, um, I don't necessarily like that strategy. I underst

and because video game release dates, I feel like publishers just have no idea when these things are actually going to come out these days with the way that things have ballooned with development costs and time, but at the same time, it's just not as fun for us, you know, who are hobbyists and trying To get our kicks regularly, you know? Do you, do you think that people are now just looking to Nintendo for like what they should be doing? Because you just saying that made me think of how Nintendo

has kind of made these decisions that at the time seemed like controversial and like different because they were going against the grain of like what other developers and publishers were doing. But like again, the Nintendo Directs were a, Uh, like, Nintendo really was, I feel like, one of the first publishers and developers to do this, on a broad scale, like, we're gonna just do this, we're gonna control our own message and make it happen this way. And then, talking about keeping your release d

ates and the games you're wanting to sort of, sort of like, lay out for the year, they, Nintendo was like the first company, I feel like, to do this in a year where like, hey, we're only gonna show you games that we know are coming out. In the next three months. And we're not going to give you dates for stuff that's like forever away. Or like, we just don't even know when it's going to launch or land next. Like, I feel like more and more companies now are like, Oh, people like it when you can ju

st tell them that the game is coming out as opposed to just sort of just showing it. And then like never talking about it for three years, like, Hmm. think that, like, there are suits looking at Nintendo, like, these guys are making money hand over fist, how can we do the same thing? But the difference is, and Xbox is kind of on Nintendo's level now with content output, or at least they can be, and I, I, Anticipate seeing them in the future. Sony's not on that level. So if Sony does the same thi

ng, it just feels like every six months you know about a new title that's coming out. And that to me is, um. It's not enough to like, I'm, I'm worried about Sony PlayStation six. Like, I think they've got a lot going for him right now, but I think this console generation has just been completely mucked up because there's just not enough to keep people going. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to talk about this in a second with, well, we can talk about it now, actually. So that kind of like jumps us over t

o, um, the PS5 Pro. Like we got some, some specs about the PS5 Pro. And I think initially when people were talking about the rumors of this existing, everyone kind of got a little bit like, whoa, we're already like bumping into the pro territory. And I just, I don't even feel like we've, we've done enough with the PS5 yet. Like there's nothing that's. Happened on the PS5 that I feel like warrants a new half mid cycle console upgrade. Um, there's so many, there's hardly any games for the PS5. You

know, so like PS5 exclusives, you know, they're taking full advantage of PS5 hardware. And, you know, one of the things that Eurogamer article said that it makes so much sense is that these console cycles take so much time to develop for. So they probably put PS5 Pro into production three, four years ago, and they couldn't have anticipated, you know, what's, what's Probably how the drip feed of content was going to happen for this system. But the thing that I want to ask you as a marketing guy,

like if you, if you remember the PS4 pro, it was quite a success because. There were new TVs in a widespread market at that point, right? We had hit the, the jump to 4K. It wasn't outlandish for like to go over to a friend's house and them have a 4K TV where, you know, four years ago, 4K was like the elite, like very, very, very expensive TVs and they had kind of hit that market where you could go and spend $500 and get a, a pretty solid 4K tv. So the PS four. Uh, Pro had 4K capabilities and th

at was the huge selling point, right? Like, get this, it's going to put out this beautiful image on your brand new TV. There's nothing for the PS5 Pro that is anything but like, Like it's kind of like PC gaming like if you're just gonna like crank the specs up a little bit like you may get Yeah, you may get a little bit better of like a ray tracing effect, which like Most people have no idea what ray tracing is, right? It's like Um, you know, I know what it is and I can explain it I guess to the

layman like as I understand it It's like each individual light Lighting effect in the game has its own property and it like actually bounce like the light rays bounce off of like objects So like the shadows become deeper and it kind of has like a more natural lighting look but like if you even just put like two images together of like, uh, like, uh, high fidelity mode ray tracing versus like a PS five, like a performance mode image right next to each other. Like, Oh, a very keen eye can, can sp

ot the difference between those things. Yeah. So it's like, what is their marketing? Gimmick going to be to even sell this thing. 'cause right now I'm looking at the specs and like I just don't see anything that's probably gonna be a hundred extra dollars, I would imagine 5 99 ish. I think, I mean, I appreciate you giving me some, some element of credit for being a marketing person to be able to talk more into this, but I mean, really they're going to have to go the route I feel like of the iPho

ne niche, like crowd, the folks who buy the standard iPhone and the folks who buy the iPhone Pro Max. Like, there's always going to be that crowd of enthusiasts and, you know, Sony knows that they have, they've built up a good, strong audience that's passionate about what they're providing, and so, you know, if, if what they continue to provide are these, like, triple A budget, blockbuster movies that just, or movies, uh, video games that look so good that you're going to want this newest piece

of hardware to get the best performance and to, you know, make these games look even better, uh, on your TV, then you're going to want to upgrade for this. That's the only thing I can say like would work for like what they're providing because yeah, really Most people aren't gonna need this. I'm not gonna need this like again I just I just told you like I'm kind of leaning more towards less graphically impressive games already in terms of what I want to play So for me, it's like, I don't really

need all this. Like, it's cool that it does this. I think there's some potential with the like AI Silicon stuff and like how it can up res and do more with what processing is happening behind the scenes. But it's just like, Yeah, to the, to the layman and to the, to most of us who haven't really been able to experience the PS5 yet, I think they're going to have a hard time, um, getting a lot of unit sales out of this. Unless there's an amazing, like, trade in program where it's like, trade in yo

ur PS5 and we'll give you a PS5 Pro for, you know, uh, 100 bucks or 150 bucks or something like that. Like, maybe, yeah, no, I mean, and I've done that before in the past, I never had a PS4 Pro, but, yeah, this one just, like, literally, I, I can't even think of a reason why I would waste my time to go to GameStop and do the trade in and spend the, you know, 50 or 60 bucks, like, it just doesn't even make sense, like, So, um, I think, you know, you're exactly right. You're gonna get the Sony hea

ds, like the, the people who are just like super crazy about Sony and there are those people just like, you know, I am one of those people for Nintendo. I buy almost everything they put out and I, you know, I enjoy being that person for Nintendo, Do you have a Switch OLED? Ahhhh. But I did like for the 3DS, like I got the base model and then I got the. The pro upgrade for that, like, just the screen quality for the OLED, even though they look super snazzy, and that, that wasn't enough to get me.

Yeah. It was just like I had, I think I had an expendable chunk of income and I had sold some other stuff and I knew I was going to sell my Switch for a decent chunk of change. So it was just like, yeah, I'll upgrade to the OLED. Like, Tears of the Kingdom is about to come out. I want to be able to play that on a better looking screen. So let's just do it. This sounds so absurd, um, and it is the only console I've ever felt this way about, but like, I'm actually like, kind of sentimentally atta

ched to my Switch. I don't want to trade it in for some the OG switch. yeah, the OG Switch, yeah, That, that's not absurd. That's, that's that's very, that's very, uh, heartwarming. That's kind, that is a good sentiment. Lots of good memories. Had in the switch, man. for sure, for sure, Uh, still remember getting mine just the day of like. Being so impressed. I was like, this is a, this is a legitimate piece of hardware. Like this is a nice piece of tech versus when I got the Wii U. I was like,

I don't know about this. I don't know. This I was there, I was there, GameStop, opening night, Merry Switchmas, baby, it was a great night. it was, I mean, it was March, but yeah, around that time Switchmas, I guess that is, is that what they called it? Was that the marketing event? dude, I don't, there was some kid, that was there, and he just kept saying Merry Switchmas, and then a line, like, over and over again. He probably heard it like a hundred times that night. It's like, all right, all

right, dude, it's not that funny anymore. Please stop. Cool it, bro. Um, okay. So yeah, PS5 Pro specs. We'll see. Um, I don't, I don't have high confidence for that. So that's sad. They need to, they need a W, man. They need to come out swinging this summer. Like, give, give something to the, The shareholders or something, because it's been, it's been in a nosedive. You're the shareholder, Landry. You are the, you are the gamer. We are the gamers that need something from Sony. So true, so true.

I'll send them an email. They definitely respond to all those. Um, alright. We had Mario Day. And we had some fun little, fun little updates actually. This is a, this is a quick, very snappy announcement and I think they even like stealth dropped some news after they had this video come out, but yeah, we got an announcement that a new Mario movie is coming. In 2026, of course, uh, very, very excited about that. That's great. The Mario movie is huge in our house right now. Henry is obsessed with

this. So that's, Sawyer had a phase where he was, he was all over it, man. we watched that at least like once a week, maybe more. I don't even know. Uh, we watched like the last 20 minutes last night, just because he wanted to, he wanted to watch a little bit and I was like, man, we only got like, it's time for bed, so we'll do like 20 minutes. We'll just watch the end and we'll go to bed. Um, so good. I It is good. I do too. So excited about that, uh, Peter Mario, Thousand Year Door, we got the

release date May 23rd. So excited You're excited for that one, that's good, and your excitement has me thinking about Woah, woah, woah, you're not excited? Well, I've just never been a Paper Mario guy, Have you played this one? I had the 64 one, uh, not growing up, but when I re bought the 64 a few years ago, and I liked it alright. What don't you like about him? Um, okay. Okay. The combat Like the whole like action combat RPG thing. Like I loved it. Super Mario RPG when I was a kid, I find tha

t it gets a little tedious Mmmmm. like a 20 hour game, you know, that, that kind of frustrates me. And then like with Paper Mario ever since the first two, there's just always some mechanic that is so effing annoying, dude. Like it's so annoying and it's just like, how did you make this this way? Um, Playtesting. yeah. So I will say with the, this one and, and Paper Mario on 64, they're almost exactly the same in terms of how they function. Um, the, the game cube or a thousand year door has a bi

t more like moves that Mario can do where he can like roll up into a tube and like go under doors and stuff. And there's like some other stuff you can do. Um, but by and large Origami King, the exploration part of it. I thought that was really sick. So, and, and I've just heard so much about Thousand Year Door, the story and everything. So, that'll, I, I will probably pick this up, give it a shot. It looks really cool. It looks really pretty. I like what they've done. it's just, there's somethin

g about these. It's very whimsical, very light hearted. The writing's always been very like, kind of tongue in cheek, funny, um, you know, it's kind of the same writing as like the Mario Luigi Superstar Saga kind of I think it's better, I think it's better than those. The, the writing in Superstar Saga, all those games, and I've played, I've played on, I think I've played all of those. I don't really like the writing very much in those. It's like, these are like the precursors to those. I think

I don't, they're not the same teams, but I know like the styles are very influenced by each other. So, um, so very excited about that. Can't wait. Uh, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, also known as Dark Moon from the 3DS is coming you play that June 27th? Yes, I did. And I enjoyed it. I thought it was, it was good. I remember liking it, but it's been a very long time. That was the first Luigi's Mansion game I ever played and I thought it was quite nice. Um, play I've, I've played all three of them. Correct

. I actually played that one on 3DS. When it came out on 3DS is the re about this. You're right. and then, uh, yeah, 3 though, I just think 3 literally is like two times better of a game than 2. It's just, it's gonna be, I think it's gonna be hard for a lot of people to go back to 2. However, if they kind of Fixed the controls for two because the just the way it handled a little bit on 3DS. I think was a little flat The way everything handled on 3DS was just flat. It was just, it was just never

that great. You're like, this kind of hurts my hand. man. Yeah, I've got a little arthritis in my thumb But yeah, I think if they can make it feel as fun as three it will be actually be worth replaying I think Yeah, I think so too. Um, but that's, that's a game that I'll probably wait on as well to kind of see how it, how it lands with people because if it's not that great, I'm like, yeah, I'll just stick with three. I'll replay three when I feel like it. Um, but For sure. And that's all Nintend

o is ever going to come out with. Those two games. yeah, that's it. Nothing else. Yep. Um, and we got three new Mario titles out of the Switch online. We got, uh, Dr. Mario from Game Boy. We got Game Boy Color's Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. Uh, they all arrived on March 12th, which is kind of cool. I thought that was funny. Uh, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, very cool. Mario Golf on the Game Boy Color, it's like a RPG. Um, pretty cool. But, I just was thinking to myself, the only thing I could think

of was like, who is going to play Dr. Mario on the Game Boy. Like it's already on the NES, it's got the N64 version out there. I'm like, who's going to just go to that Game Boy one and actually click into it and play it? That would be wild. here's the thing. I don't know if we've talked about this. Maybe we have, maybe we haven't, but like, I like that they're adding Game Boy games, and it's cool that they're on there, and like, it just feels, I don't like playing some of these games on the Swit

ch, for whatever reason. Not really. It's not bad, but I just miss being able to play it on like a small device, on a, on like, a Game Boy device. Like if they just had, A tethered, you know, modern Game Boy that like could sync these downloads to like my handheld and I could just Boy Classic, like they did with the NES and all it'd be amazing. I'd be so in like, yeah, just give me like 30 titles to play that you guys think are like the penultimate collection for the Game Boy and I'm in, you kno

w? That's interesting. I don't know that I feel the same way. I like playing on the Pocket for instance, but, um, I also really Like, the kind of, I think that the emulation for Game Boy Advance and Game Boy is done really well to where the image doesn't look stretched when they blow it up on the screen for the Switch, so I've been very impressed with that, and I actually really like playing with it like full screen on, especially Game Boy Advance games, some of that pixel art, like when we play

Golden Sun, he threw that up, that bad boy up on the TV, it was pretty stunning, I was, I was really impressed with, uh, the way some of those games look on a full TV. Yeah, the, um, I think that's there's some positives. and like, I think the UX, the, uh, the rewind functions that they have, like, pre, pre built in and save states, like, that all works pretty well, pretty it's so easy. I do like that. I do like that. It's that is pretty I don't know, just, I guess I'm just used to playing all

these games on, like, the original hardware, and I'm like, ah, man, if they only, they, Yeah, there is something about original hardware, man. That is for sure. I think it's just a d hardware guy. I think it's honestly the lack of a d pad Yeah, and the Switch Pro Controller's D pad is absolute trash. I don't know how they could mess that up so so smushy. You in you invented the d pad. Like, you basically put this thing on the map. Like, come on. mean The best test for a d pad is like, just fire

up a Contra game for a few seconds, and if like, you can't shoot diagonally, which you cannot on the Switch, it just like, goes everywhere. Yeah man, that's absolute perfection right holding up an SNES controller for the audio listeners. And like this, just this D pad still feels amazing. It just still feels right. It's incredible. So you got the wireless one for the Switch Online? No, this is, um, I actually got it from a McKay's for Henry when he was a lot younger and I just took, took the wir

e out and let him play with it. So awesome. to any purists out there. You're like, you've ruined the controller, Dude, those things are cheap. You can get them, you can find them all over the place. bucks or less. Um, alright, uh, and then we also got Lego Mario Kart. There's a Mario Kart set for Lego coming out in 2025, which I thought was kind of cool, so. Yeah, interesting that we're getting announcements for that a year in advance, but Lego wanted to cash in on that. They're like, eh, alrigh

t, we'll just let people know it's coming, just not yet. They're, they're, they're, they're like really ramping up their, like, partnerships and their crossovers, which I appreciate. but they're selective, like, they're not doing, like, trash, um, unless you walk through the grocery store. Cause in Mario, if you've ever noticed, like, like, for kid's section, Mario's everywhere, dude. It's He's everywhere. Mario. People love Mario. Yeah, we have Mario cereal. Mario. Oreo's Mario. You're right, O

reo. We had, we had Mario Oreos too. All now onto a more, uh, sad, sad story. Akira Toyama, the infamous creator of Dragon Ball, passed away on March 1st. Man, I'm, I got, I like, I a tickle in my throat. I apologize. Just like you. Only mine's happening right now. In the middle of the podcast. Yeah, man. Akira Toriyama is such an iconic art style, like, I'm not the guy who is, like, the art style dude. Like, there's two that I think are just, like Profoundly recognizable, and it's Akira Toriyam

a and, uh, Miyazaki. Um, I just feel like those two art styles, I can see them in a lineup of anything and pick them out immediately. And For me, I was a Dragon Ball Z kid when I was an early age. Like, you know, like, I remember being like 7 and 8 and waking up at 7. 30 on Saturday morning to get that, uh, I lived in Texas back then, so we were like Central Time, but to watch, uh, an hour of Dragon Ball Z, man, and, I've never rewatched Dragon Ball Z and I haven't, I didn't even watch it in lik

e my teenage years so I don't remember much but I remember that being like pivotal and you know that may have been the reason when I saw Chrono Trigger and I was like 12 years old that I wanted to rent it and that was like the first RPG I ever played so you know that could have been and I'm not sure you know this is all like but the connections there you know those characters look similar um you But yeah, so, he did have a role to play, even for me, I'm not like an anime guy, but I love Dragon Q

uest, I love Chrono Trigger. And Dragon Ball Z is pretty cool, is pretty cool, yeah, for me, growing up with two brothers, one older one younger, um, like a lot of our time was spent watching Dragon Ball Z, and we would, we would literally just. I mean, the Cell Saga, we watched all the way through, Priza obviously before that, and then Boo Saga. And then, that's like when we started kind of falling off a little bit, but man, I just, we would, we would like, imitate the fights, we would like, tr

y to go Super Saiyan, I like, I drew Gosh, I drew a lot, um, in like elementary school and I still, I still draw now, but like a lot of like my early drawings were just of like Goku and like any like DBZ character that I could like remember how they looked. Very cool. And, um, yeah, I just, you know, his art style is incredible and it's been really fun seeing all the people that he's impacted, um, both like current artists and just different communities and people in all kinds of countries acros

s the world are like Paying him tribute. So it's pretty amazing. For sure, man. And like, even going out around town in like, Chattanooga, like, I went to a bar a couple of weeks ago, and like, on the wall, someone had drawn, uh What is the green guy's name? Piccolo or something like that. So I had drawn him and it was like R. I. P Akira Toriyama It's like super cool, you know, just like and then I on ESPN, you know I watch sports a lot and they had a like a shout out to him on A. Smith do yeah

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, which I'm not a big fan of him, but I saw it on Twitter, but pretty cool, did he, did he botch the, I feel like he botched like the pronunciation of like Dragon Ball or something like that. It's the heart that counts, tried, he tried at least he, he at least mentioned it, which was good. So, uh, yeah, so sad news. Um, but, uh, his impact will be felt for centuries or decades or however long, you know, people forget about anime, but I don't think they wi

ll. RIP Akira Toriyama. I think it's pretty pivotal work. think his legacy is sealed. Yeah, it's incredible. Alright, uh, and then Game Informer. I just added this last minute, but Game Informer is back in magazine form. Pretty cool. Yeah, man, we were talking about that. That's awesome, I know that they, like, they're part of GameStop. They kind of are shuttering almost every part of their business because they're not doing well, and obviously the magazine is one. Expense that they had. So I th

ink it had kind of like stopped or like, I should know more about this story. I forgive you for not doing more research, but I just know that they are completely independent and they are, they have relaunched it now. And so you can buy 10, um, issues for like 20 bucks, or you can get 20 issues for like 34 bucks. Um, I'm gonna go subscribe tonight. That's yeah, uh, so it's really cool and there's, it's a small team that has to produce that every single month and it's usually like really good cove

rage of like big games and they get to do some cool stuff. So I think it's, it's a fun thing to see, uh, also at such an affordable price. So here's, here's to the Game Informer folks to keeping that dream alive of print media, print games journalism. Yeah, man, I love getting a magazine in the mail. It's pretty sweet. I used to just, like, eagerly await my issue of Nintendo Power or Electronic Gambling Monthly or whatever I was subscribed to. I had so many of those magazines. I regret getting r

id of them because I'm sure some were Dude, they're all worth so much money now. Not so much, but they're worth like 20 an issue. Um, yeah, and I was getting them up to like nothing for just being a GameStop subscriber. So whatever. It's fine. All right. Moving on to, uh, this month's big game releases and their reception. Uh, so we have a little, a small list here. I'll read through them and then we'll kind of circle back on some we want to talk about. So Unicorn Overlord, 88, Expeditions, uh,

a MudRunners game got a 79 and these are all from OpenCreditLandry. Yeah, these are open credit. Contra Operation Galuga, 73. Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, 67, Hi Fi Rush, at an 89 right now for PS5, uh, MLB The Show, 24, 78, Dragon's Dhamma, 88, Princess Peach Showtime, 75, and Rise of the Ronin, 76. Yeah, um. Some surprisingly high scores here, I did not expect Unicorn Overlord to perform as well as it did. People love that. Matthew knew. Matthew Pilkington knew. of the watcher gam

ing over there. Yeah, you see, he's a big fan, that's awesome. Dude, that guy plays a lot of video games. He knows, he knows things. Yeah, uh, Contra Operation Galuga, oddly enough, is probably my, uh, that I'm most excited about that game. I want to go pick that up. It's one of those games where, uh, I'm almost certain in like a year it'll probably be like 7. 99 on the eShop and that's when I'll snag it. But the score doesn't surprise me. Like I never thought that a Contra game was going to sco

re super well. Those games are hardcore and a lot of the criticism I've seen of it is not necessarily about like the gameplay or that anything's dropping frames or anything. It's all about like the graphic style or like, oh this is tough as nails. So it seems like it's hitting on all The right notes for me. And then Hi Fi Rush, man. You've been playing that. Yes. Uh, I have not, but Matt has, and he is loving it. Yeah, dude. I'm, I'm definitely gonna pick that up at some point. That might be the

next game I buy and I'm excited to play that. I'm honestly scared that I will not like it at all because it is a rhythm action game and I like rhythm games, you know, like Elite Beat Agents is, uh, like low key. One of my favorite games. Guitar Hero is easily one of my favorite games of all time. Um, I just don't know if the whole action thing, like I've heard some people compare it to Punch Out and that scares me because I just like really do not like Punch Out at all. Don't say that. Well, I'

m sorry, It looks, it's, it's more rhythm action, like, it's more like, uh, Matt was saying, have you played, like, any of the Crypt of the Necrodancer games? Yes, I've played The Zelda one? Yeah, so it's kinda like that in some way, where you're, like, timing your attacks on Beat and And I can dig that. I can dig that. The other thing about uh, those games is like, you've gotta be like fully engaged, right? Which is, which is kind of cool. Um, but it demands your whole attention so, you know, t

he kids have to be in bed, you know? So. And you're just bopping, you're just bopping back there. pretty sweet. What? Dad's really, really jamming out in there. I can hear him playing. Uh, yeah. The, the one that kinda made me laugh a little bit and it kind of sad is the Star Wars Battlefront collection. I don't know if you've seen any of like the launch woes around this, but they like, had terrible server issues. Like they basically, I think they had like two servers that were actually like fun

ctioning. When they launched this game. And so no one could get in for the longest time. And I don't, I'm, I'm assuming it's recovered now at this point, but I think the reason that it has such a low score is because Yeah, it launched in for online and that sucks. I feel like reviewers should just like delay a score if that happens. Although, I mean, these games, I'm interested to see how they would hold up in the modern day. I played Battlefront 2, I think, on PS2 with some friends a couple tim

es, and they're just not my style of the game. I think that Like, I understand that there's a lot of, uh, nostalgia tied to these games, and, and that they're a really cool, like, arcade y kind of shooter, um, this one's just not, not ever gonna be for me, but Aspire Strikes Again, man, they are notorious for, uh, swiping up these classic franchises that have a lot of, like, kind of cult following, and just putting out, like, a doo doo release, and, you know, it's, uh, not doo doo release. Yeah,

not surprising that it's a 67. Oh, a doo doo release. Yeah, I don't know, I never played those games, but I just, I remember seeing the, the anger from some people like, you know, this sucks. I never really played them. I mean, I played them at friends houses a couple times. Uh, and then, Dragon's Dogma 2 is hot right now. Yeah, I feel like that stole the conversation for the month, really. I mean, definitely the game of the month for about as big, um, it's not as big as Final Fantasy VII, but

It's big, it's big. People are very impressed by it. Um, and we'll talk about the non traversy, um, in just a second about this, but, uh, looks great. And then, yeah, I think last, just like we had Princess Peach Showtime come out and people say that it's fine. It's, it's, it's very similar to, uh, Kirby or a Yoshi game where it's like very simple, straightforward. There's like a few collectibles. Uh, but unfortunately replaying those levels is not enjoyable, because like you have to start from

the very beginning, there's no like, there's no minute levels. Lots of dialogue that you can't skip through. yeah, and so, that's unfortunate, um, that'll not be a game that I'm, I'm gonna pick up, and I'm thankful that I dropped it from my fantasy critic, uh, list, cause I was just like, this does not look like it's gonna score super high, um, Yeah, interesting choice on the dialogue as well. You can't, like, not only can you not skip it, but like, you can't press like an action button to move

it forward. Like, it moves at its own, it moves at its own pace. So, there's an interesting thing there. It is for kids, right? But it also, you know, every kid reads at a different rate and pace. So They've kind of hit that middle ground. It moves a little too slow for like adults but maybe even a little too fast for some younger kids so that was a really really weird choice and I wonder if they'll patch that in the future I hope so. I hope it gets like a few quality of life patches so everyone

can kind of enjoy it more. But I know people are saying it's fun. I'm I almost dread the day like if Sawyer ever asked if he can pick up this game because I'm like man I just don't want to play it like zero desire to I'll let you play it. Like yeah, you can play through it if you want. I'm just not gonna, I'm not gonna participate potentially. Just, I don't know if I can sit through this. It's too, too slow. It's too painful. it's just all about the slowness like talking in a platformer you Thi

s is rough. That is tough. It's like, let's just move through. Let's just go. Come on. Yeah. So, but, uh, I mean, overall, like a more, more of a quiet month, I would say, uh, comparatively to the past two, you know, there haven't been some He has still some, still some big stuff though, with Unicorn Overlord, Dragon's Dogma, Rise of the Ronin. I know people were saying that's pretty solid as well, um, but it's sitting a little bit lower. Um, Then I think some expected to as well, so for sure. l

ooking forward to next month. And then last, interesting, funny bits or worst Twitter takes. Um, I just thought this was kind of funny or interesting. The Xbox Baldur's Gate 3 retail version is four discs or like, we're like going back to the PS1 days where like, you're trying to get Final Fantasy 7 and there's four discs. like insert the next one to like be able to play it and stuff. Yeah, that's incr that's incredible. of cool. I don't think this is totally how the, the, this edition is going

to like function. I'm sure half of it's like, yeah, uh, hold on. It'll have four You probably install it all to your hard drive and then won't have to mess with it again. Right? Yeah. I mean, that's the hope you can just put in like one disc once you've got it all downloaded onto your, onto your hard drive or something like that. But just, just funny that That is hilarious. the sizes of our games have increased so exponentially that they just, you know, we thought we were going to get away from

that with like Blu ray discs and everything Dude, the worst thing was getting like, the hot new RPG for PlayStation 1, and you get to like, you get past disc 2 and then disc 3 is like, scratched to hell. Like your dog got a hold of it or something, like that happened to me more than once growing up. I can't finish the game. like, I'm pretty sure I never beat Final Fantasy 3 because, or sorry, Final Fantasy 7, because my uh, last disc was just completely that's sad. That is very sad. And then in

more, in more news about Baldur's Gate 3 being massive. This is kind of a fun little story from IGN. Uh, Baldur's Gate 3's collective dialogue has tripled the word count of the Lord of the Rings, um, uh, series. Wow, so we're looking at like 3, 000 pages. I wonder if that includes the Hobbit and the Silmarillion, but that's insane, dude. That is a lot of words. That's a lot of, lot of words in a video game. That is, this is arguably too many. Maybe, yeah, maybe too many words. We don't need all

those words. That's okay, but it's cool. All right, um, what is this one? This one comes from bruh901 on Reddit. yes, and he says that critics must re score Dragon's Dogma 2 in light of microtransactions Um, is this from you? Are you bruh901? Mm had DLC microtransactions that are just, like, absolutely absurd for the past, like, few years, and Monster Hunter, and Resident Evil, and any time you go to the PS5 shop, And there's a sale. You'll just see like 95 entries of Resident Evil games because

you can buy like different tops for all your characters and like different, uh, pants as well, and it's like, dude, all of these are 99 cents, but like, that's kind of like what it looks like. I've never played Dragon's Dogma 2, but I was looking through the DLC list and it's like, yes, there's the whole fast travel port crystal, there's camping packs and stuff like that. But like from everything I've gathered, it seems like the game gives you plenty to operate off of. And, uh, I have played Dr

agon's Dogma 1, and there isn't fast travel necessarily in that game, uh, from what I remember. Could be wrong, it's been a long time. But, um, it's just, it just seems like, you know, these, these are not really that big of a deal. And somehow, like, these are the issues that just catch fire on the internet, and it's like, everybody wants to talk about it for a day or so. And it just, it drives me insane. Well, and like, I still see people asking about it, they're like, oh man, should I pick up

Dragon's Dogma 2? I'm seeing some like, bad stuff about this DLC, and it's like, dude, just, I don't know who like, misinformed the people, but like, everyone, like, Clearly loves this game like there's just a small subset of individuals that are getting pissed because there's microtransactions But if you actually like listen to anyone that's played the whole game or played through like you don't need Like, you don't need any of the microtransactions to play the game. Like, you don't need it. L

ike, they're just there if you want to, and they're not in the actual game. You have to go to, like, the store outside of the game to actually find them. So, it's just like, they probably know. That 99 percent of players aren't going to buy that DLC, It's just there. It's just extra money for them if they, you know, they get some people jumping to it, which they probably will. I mean, I know a lot of people are like, Yeah, I don't have the time for this. I'm gonna buy some stuff to speed my prog

ression up, and I'm just gonna move through it. You know, I just, you know, time is money. And you know, that'd be, it'd be cool to see if like somebody could do a speed run with like buying a bunch of port crystals or something, you know, like it, all of it seems additive and not, uh, at all taking away from the game. And that's exactly what DLC should be. Uh, greed, Landry. So who should we award our horse armor trophy of the month to, uh, for, for March? You know, typically the horse armor tr

ophy goes to the publisher, usually the one of the big three, uh, that had some of the worst PR or press for the month. Um, I, I'm going to vote for PlayStation again, just because they didn't really have too much bad news, but. When is there when gonna come, right? Like, the PS5 Pro Is, is kind of a disaster, right? Like, I don't remember reading anything over the past couple of weeks that was positive about it. It's all speculative and questioning, like, do we need this? Like, I can't remember

how many articles I scrolled through when I Googled PS5 Prospects about like, do we need a PS5? What seemed to like be the general consensus of just like the article. It's a take like asking the question and talking through it. And it's, yeah, I imagine a lot of them come to the same conclusion that Eurogamer did. And that is like, yeah, no, we don't need this. Need is a strong word, first of Yes, we don't want this. Yeah, do we want it? Like, certainly not. not really, no. Um, yeah, so, yeah,

PS, have another take, I'm, I'm not no, Sony would be my vote as well. They, they, they are the official winners of the Horse Armor trophies. La la la la! I'll, I'll, like, Photoshop a horse armor trophy. Trophy into my hand right there when I do that. Boom. sweet. All right. Now I'm excited for this next part. Game Watch for April. Uh, just some games to keep your eyes on. There's not a lot coming out, uh, but we got Grounded coming to PS5 April 16th. Honey, I shrunk the kids. This is one of th

e first in the, like the four announced Xbox games, right? Uh, that were like blown up last month about like, Oh, they're going third party. Uh, this is, this is one of those. We're well, well the first was a Hi Fi Rush, right? Hi Fi Rush. Yeah. Sorry. So yeah, Hi Fi Rush and then Grounded. Um, and then we get Tales of Kinsara Zao coming out on April 23rd. Again, that's the Metroidvania. Looks cool. Oh, I didn't know that was not Xbox exclusive. Tis, tis not. Uh, TMNT, Arcade, Wrath of the Mutan

ts, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC. Sorry, I wasn't naming off the consoles they're coming to. Grounded is coming to PS5, PS4, Switch. And Kinzara is Switch, wow. all consoles, basically. Yeah, Switch, I don't know how that one's gonna perform, we'll see. Switch, wow. Stellar Blade, uh, PS5 exclusive coming April 26th. Sand Land, uh, for, this is actually a, you know, kind of cool. It's Akira Toriyama's artwork again in this one, and this is actually based on an anime. As well. I'

d like to pick the demo up for that. Yeah, I want to check it out. Just kind of see what's going on. It's about building mechs in the desert and just fighting things. I don't know. Uh, that comes out April 26th. And then Sea of Thieves for PS5, which is the third in the list, I believe, uh, comes out April 30th. Man, they got all the games out fast, huh? They did. They already had everybody rock and roll, which I think is why we started getting all those heavy rumors about them. So, um, heavy ru

mors. Uh, most excited for me, I think, would be, I think, Sea of Thieves. Um, and Sand Land. I'm kind of Yeah, Sea of Thieves seems cool, I'll probably not play it, but I love, like, the idea of playing a Rareware game and, you know, 24 like gets me excited hmm. probably gonna say Sandlands like the closest thing to something I may play on this list If it's if it's cool I like the art style, so maybe that, but I really just don't like, like, desert landscapes, just to be honest. my thing, Not f

or me. Not for me. Well, if you guys do want to stay up to date on game releases for the month, you can subscribe to our shared Google Calendar that is linked in the show notes. So, check that out. All right. Jumping over to our Game of the Month Club. I'm excited about this one for Dude, me too. So we played Caban Symphony of the Night, uh, on PS five, which was, uh, originally released on PlayStation one. Um, and you know, Landry, I think you really were the one that picked this game and I'm,

I'm happy you did. And, uh, I'll let, I'll, uh, I'll let you start. We'll, we'll do our highs, our lows, and then our overall score out of five Okay, so, highs for me, just the overall, like, aesthetic of the game. I feel like it's one of the best aged PS One games, and, um, I like the I'm not a big horror guy, but I am a big, like, monster movie guy, like, from the classic, like, Universal films, so, just the fact that you can take on, like, some epic boss battles against, like, old school mons

ters, like, Frankenstein, and the Mummy, and Medusa, um, is really cool and fun for me they're all named different things um but more like to the game's design i feel like most metroidvanias that you play these days at least a lot of them will just take metroid as a series for example The focus of that game is more gaining abilities to unlock new areas. Like each ability is a key and, um, maybe it's additive to your kind of weapon kit as well, but combat takes a backseat except for boss battles

in Metroid. In Castlevania, I feel like. The front seat is, is the combat, like that's what this game is all about, is like just running through like a gauntlet of enemies and getting to that next save point, and the challenge really ramps up towards the latter half of the game, um, but I really like that kind of change of pace from a lot of the Metroidvanias that I've played, the, the combat focus, you still have the abilities that like are kind of acting as keys, but there's only like five tha

t are really, uh, important. Quintessential to the game. And the other thing about just the design of this game, it being one castle, you're kind of just like, this is the way I played it in a new way. And I didn't use a guide. Uh, really until the second half of the game, but I was just running a lapse around the castle, right, and like, I would run a lap, and, you know, which, you have no idea what the save states are, so you hit a certain amount of save states, then you just take a look at th

e map, and you're like, okay, I know that in the top left corner, I need There's a bunch of space over there. There's gotta be something over there. So then you just start poking around and you look at your map where there's an opening and kind of find something and, and then you find a new skill or something like that, and then go to the next area. I thought that was an interesting design. And there's not a lot of Metroidvanias that I've played where there's like this one kind of connected circ

le and then different rooms and, Mm hmm. Mm hmm. found that to be very interesting. And then dude, some of these boss battles are frickin sick. Did you find Grandfalloon? So, full disclosure, um, I am like at a, I'm at 100 percent of completion and I'm about to go into the inverted castle. Uh, so I haven't gotten to like the other half. I don't know Grandfalloon's in the first castle. if I, if, if he's in there, then I may have already fought him or not. What does he look like? What does, what d

oes Grenfell look The giant sphere of just dead bodies glued to each other and every time you hit it a body falls off and starts like running after you. Um, I don't think I've fought this yet. It is the most terrifying and also awesome boss I've played in a very long time. I think I'm, I think I'm in the area where that's, I just got to the area where that's about to start showing up in the catacombs or whatever. I think that is where it's at. Yeah, okay. sick dude. Yeah, it's in the catacombs.

Oh, gosh. Okay. It is a really cool, creepy, nasty, disgusting boss and I also like the idea of leveling up in a metroidvania. It makes like Every Metroidvania I've ever played, you're gonna get lost. You're gonna have to poke around. It makes those times where you're poking around, you're not just wasting your time, you can actually level up as well, which is cool. yeah. I mean, everything you said, I agree with, um, the highs for me, like, this, this game, like, has, like, continual, like, thi

ngs that reveal themselves to you, like, better than I would say other Metroidvanias in that, like, um, yeah, you, like, Metroid is a good example where you, you know, you know, you see a, you see a glowing door, And then you're just like, okay, well, I got to come back to this and I got to find the thing that does that. Um, whereas like in Symphony of the Night, sometimes you might not even have the ability to like get through certain areas. You just don't realize you have the ability to do it.

Um, like I was telling you, I, there's, there's a true sense of discovery in this game where both from the environment and the Game Boy standpoint, where you can, you can be like, I was like button mashing and kind of smashing some buttons to like do something. And I made a spell happen. And I was just like, I was like, wait, who knew there were spells in this game? Um, who knew there were familiars in this game that follow you around and like, level up and then you can turn them into like, a w

eapon themselves. I was just like, what? Like, this is insane. Like, there's just like, so many things I do not know about this game. And it almost feels like Symphony of the Night was designed to be played with a manual. Like, did the game come with a manual that showed you the spells that actually looked it up, man. I looked it up today and I was surprised at how little there was. It mentions the five relics you need. That you're looking for in the castle. It does mention there are spells. It

mentions there are secret combos, but like it doesn't tell you about any of them, That's crazy. That's crazy. But I just love, I love the boldness of that, of just being like, eh, we're just not going to tell the players that they can do combos and see if they figure it out, you know, like, um, that's cool. And then There's no mention of the inverted castle either. there's no, yeah, there's no mention, like, you wouldn't even know, like, you can finish, I, I fought Richter first, you know, and I

was like, okay, clearly there's more I'm supposed to be doing here, because I haven't explored this whole bottom half of this castle yet, and they just started me back here. Yeah. Um, so I went down to the bottom and I found out where to get in there and started going through the catacombs and stuff and, um, yeah, I learned about the inverted castle because I got stuck once, sadly, it got spoiled for me and I was just like, oh, there's like a whole, there's like a 200 percent for this game that

I have to achieve, sort of like, uh, I guess Donkey Kong does that too, where there's like, you yeah, Tropical Freeze does. it's just like you can get double the amount that you think you're supposed to get. Um, so yeah, I, percentage. I think, I think it's great. I think the end game content's good. Movement, combat, all feels great. The only downs for me were like map clarity. The map works fine as it is, and I think maybe it works in its favor in some ways to not give you too much informatio

n, but like, it's annoying to like see one space in your map where there's like an open doorway, and you're like, is that where I'm supposed to go? And you're like, okay, I'll wander back over that way and see, and then you spend all this time going over there, And then you get there and you're like, Oh, I remember. I can't go here because I don't have the freaking thing yet. So I think I got to go that's, it's the worst. that's the great frustration of, uh, Metroidvania is right? not a good exp

erience, but if the map could clearly indicate, Oh, Here's this color. This means that you need the bat relic or whatever or mist relic. It's like, ah, okay. I'm not going to go over there. I'm not going to waste my time because I don't have that yet. Um, like that, that's kind of like, you know, the downside. And then I had an issue with, uh, diagonal downward strikes on the PS5. Maybe it's just an issue with the controller, but like having to like, you know, Swing down like it wasn't consisten

t enough for me like where I'm just like I'm there's like some short enemies or you're like above one you're trying to like swing down and kill them and I'm like Those stinking flea men, man. just just hit it just hit it one time come on um and were you using the analog stick or the d I've I've used both but I think I find it the d pad feels better to me For the downward strike, yeah, I mean I use the d pad the whole time, but um, yeah, and then also on the highs about like secret combos and stu

ff, there's this one weapon where if I press down forward, I can throw the sword out and it like spins around and it hits the enemy twice and then comes back to me, nice and it does like double damage, and I've just, I've It's um, it's curved, I think, uh, like, I always see this word in like fantasy, and I'm so insecure. Yes, scimitar. Yeah, but uh, that's not what it is though. It's like, it's a different type of scimitar like, there's, there's two of them that you find like almost, I found th

em like, in the same, probably 10 minutes of each other. Dang. Okay. it to you when I see it. But anyway, it was, uh, It was really cool to just stumble on that. I was trying to do that downward strike, and then I threw it and I was like, holy smokes, that was awesome. What the? I don't know I could do that. This is amazing. Yeah, and there's all kinds of moments like that. for sure. Yeah, that's, it is a really cool way for the game to keep all those things, hold those things back, and then you

discover them. Or, you know, There is, you can go to the Master Librarian and buy spells and learn the combos that way, hmm. but, you know, you can learn all that stuff or do all that stuff before you get it, which is neat. Um, there's also, for a low, or a negative in my opinion, that the inverted castle is so sick and, uh, awesome. It's locked away behind a really obtuse puzzle. Like you literally have to find two items and you have to equip them in one room. And I don't know if you, if maybe

I skipped over it in dialogue or something. Yeah, but I didn't, I didn't have any hints in my gameplay that would have led me to do that. And I may have just skipped over something, but. I thought that was very obtuse. There's all kinds of crap like that, dude. Like, one of the ways to, like, open a little room in the bottom left, like, in that very first game. Area with all the mermen. You have to fly through one way as the bat and come back through as the wolf to unlock a door in the bottom l

eft. And I was like, how in the world, like, how, I was like, how is this even a thing? Like, how is this, how is this something that someone, somebody should have known? Yeah, that's like, uh, you know, you're at recess with your friends type thing tell you, yeah. you know, the Oh, did you know? is all over that. And You gotta, you gotta fly through the cave as a bat and come back as a wolf, and then it opens a secret tunnel, told me your dad worked at Nintendo, you lying piece of piece of shit

. Um, yeah, it just kind of stinks that they would hide some of that stuff behind there. Um, No, I mean, it's so good. The soundtracks are, the music's so good. Um, the art style holds up super well. The, the only, the funny thing is that, you know, being one of the first 3D consoles, it's funny that, um, Um, you know, there's not a lot of 3D in it, but you'll notice it in some places, like the save points, where it spins the coffin around you, you're like, oh, wow, there's like, when the castle

flips and like, when you get your, the ending, the fake ending cutscene and the last ending cutscene, there's some, Uh, I can't, like, some actual, like, cutscenes. Yeah, some of the cutscenes are pretty funny, too. There's just very murky, shadowed castle on a hill, you're like, okay, yeah, there it is, there's Dracula's castle, let's get in there. It's kind of, it's endearing. It's, it's It is, it's endearing, it is, yeah, it's kind of, it's got that spooky cult vibe, kind of, to it, you know

, just, it's a little bit out of, something, something's wrong with it, but it's good. Sigh. the game, Jake, overall score? I mean, it's kind of lame to give it this, but I think it's a 5 out of 5. I mean, like, I think to me it's a, it's a perfect game for what it is. Um, one of the, one of the, I mean, I think this is, this is the game that put Castlevania really on the map in terms for, in terms of like, what a game should be like, like this. Um, and, and I think it even does things. That are

more still interesting or intuitive or fun than some more modern Metroid paintings that have come out since this, which is, it's been a long I agree. I mean, like, easily my top five Metroidvanias. I would give it a five out of five as well. Um, I think it being so action focused and, uh, It actually gives me, like, I'm not gonna call this the Dark Souls like, but it gives me that same, when you're in the inverted castle, the enemies are so tough, and like, getting to that next save point is so

difficult, it gives you that same kind of grind as Dark Souls, and for that to just hit halfway through the game and shift, like, For me, a game from exploring to just trying to make it to the next save point was really cool. The bosses, again, are just so awesome and also a really cool thing that I never noticed when I played this on PS3. I never beat it back then. I've played all the NES and Super Nintendo Castlevanias since. And this is like the perfect sequel to the Castlevania games that c

ome before and it wraps up like all the lore in the previous Castlevanias and I mean that's just a cool little added bonus but it really is not only the culmination of what Castlevania was before it because Like, I mean, Castlevania 1, 3, and 4, those games are really, really sick. But then 2 kind of had this Metroidvania thing, but they just didn't do it extremely well. But yeah, it just, it kind of adds all those together and just comes out with this incredible game. So I would say it's 5 out

of 5 as well, and it just plays really great in 2024 still, so I had a really good time with it. Like I was literally like, Oh, I can't wait to go play Castlevania, uh, there for about two weeks, And it's because you like, you end like a play session, like sort of most of the time, like seeing where you're going to go next. You're like, Oh, okay. Like I have this whole area to explore next. I can't wait. Like I'm, I'm excited to go check that out and make progress. So yeah, no, that's great. Per

fect game. And then we haven't talked about this April's game of the month. We haven't really, we, know I saw it on there like five minutes ago and it's like, Oh no, what are we going to do? have a suggestion and I don't, you know, we can, we can, we can decide here live on the podcast, but Pepper Grinder comes out today. It's 15, um, and it looks like a game that I think could be, could be worth checking out, could be worth checking out. I'm, I'm excited to play it. I, I will, I plan on picking

it up. Or, I got another one for you. We could talk about Bellatro for April. Dude, let's do Belantra. Okay, alright, because I have Bellatro also. I'm just gonna be honest, I played the Pepper Grinder demo and I did not like it very Okay, perfect. I'm, that's just me, I'm so sorry. how dare you? How dare you? No, yeah, we'll do. We'll talk about Bellatro. I need to like, try and get through that game. I need you to help me understand poker hands a little bit more. I understand them from a core

concept, but I still get a little confused as to what, uh, what outranks what. And then also Bellatro just is really confusing in general, because it's like, well, this is going to 2x your score here, and you're going to get more points for this suit. So, We'll talk about that on, on, uh, in April's podcast, I guess. Heh heh heh. Alright, let's jump over to our last segment then. Name that game music. The hit game where I play music and Leonard plays music, I guess. Or we'll play it together. F

rom a video game and contestants earn points by guessing the correct game. And moment or area that it's from. Dude, what if we don't get any of This will be really embarrassing, but I think you will. I think you'll get these. So Landry's I think you will too. He, um, he has, he has picked a song for me to play. So I guess this is confusing, but I need to re reverse this order because I put them in this way. So it's actually going to be me guessing first, then Landry. Then Jake, then Landry. Okay

. Sorry. Sweet. Alright, so you put this. uh, V, Head V Head, Mono E Mono, let's, E mono. Let's go, dude. a dodgeball quote? Mono, E mono. I feel like that's a quote as old as time, but maybe not. Alright, here we go. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm gonna play it. And 3, 2, 1. Okay, Hollow Knight, obviously. You were right. And is this the City of Tears? Oh, nailed it, man. This is my favorite song on the Holladay soundtrack. I knew you were a big fan. See, I gave you a layup right of

f the bat. dude. 10 points. Let's go. 10 points for Jake. All right. Well, I think I may have given you a lay up as well. So let's see. Well, dude, last time you said that, you like buried a Mario Kart song that's been literally on like nine different games. okay. Hold on. Hold on. It was on one game. It was the GameCube version. Okay. Banjo All right. This is a, this, this is a lay up for you. Kazooie. Correct. This is like the Gruntilda theme, right? Like, right at the beginning? Right when th

e intro's coming on? Yes, sir. You got it. Dude, love it. Actually, I had those mixed up. So the other ones, even more of a layup. Oh no! Yes, that was technically Gruntilda's lair. But yeah, you're just, it's the overworld theme where you're just hopping around and just hopping into the paintings or portals and stuff. So what a game, dude. I need to go I played that like a year ago. 5 out of 5. Grant Kirkhope, man, his scores are just so recognizable. He's amazing. All right, here we go. It'd b

e funny if we put the same songs for each other. I know. Oh, no. All right. Oh. Donkey Kong Country, Aquatic Ambience, or whatever it is. Nailed it. Crushed it. Dude, you don't even need Come on, 5 seconds. Okay, I told you. I told you it was taking it easy on you some layups. All right. Uh, all right. This is gonna, this last one's gonna make you laugh then. Here you go. Donkey Kong Country, Overworld, baby. There you go. That was a, that was a true layup. The audience isn't even gonna be able

to hear that one because we played it for like such, such a short time. Look at this. A perfect round. 10 10 10 10. We just took it way too easy on each other. Yeah, we should probably like try to do like easy, easy mode, hard mode, like one time. It's like, okay, I'm going to give you something that's easy that you probably should know. And then I'm going to give you one that like, you might know, like, See, it's a work in progress. I love that. That'd be good. but the thing is like, again, we

know these songs, but to the average person, if we played that music, they're like, you guys are gigantic nerds. Like how in the world do you know within three seconds where that game, what that game is and where it's like, where you are in the game. It's like, yeah, it's true. We are, we are huge nerds. Yes, Well, good job, man. Good job, us. Um, we probably should like do like a tiebreaker one where we just have someone, I'll have Hannah pick a mystery song and send it to us and we'll play it.

It'd be, it'd if I had my wife do that, she'd probably put, like, Spice Girls or something on there. I'd just be, like, something crazy. This isn't a game. Yes, it was. It was on DS. You just didn't play it. Dang it. Oh man. All right. Well, unfortunately all that is the end of our March podcast. Listeners, what do you think of, uh, Just the news for the month. Let us know what stood out to you. Um, if you are gonna play Bellatro, please tune in and, uh, you know, play along with us. We'll be p

osting some stuff throughout the month and since I'm back on social media now, or at least more welcome back, bro. I'll be, uh, I'll be posting, uh, some more clips from this episode and future episodes and previous ones where we can play Name That Game Music with the, uh, with the public there and they'll have a fun time with us. Uh, so please do tune in for that. Uh, you can follow us, um, it'll be just, I'll be posting through, uh, the YouTube channel, uh, at BitCast or just BitBloggist. And

then on Twitter as well, BitBloggist. Landry, where can the good folks find you on the internet? I am at Soft Iconoclast on X, and my voice is, like, gone, It's toast. so glad we're done, because I, I just need to go to bed. I just need to take a nap right now. Yeah. Uh, yeah. And listeners, write in to bitcast at bitbloggist. com to have your questions and or reviews, concerns, anything else, ideas, right off on the show. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, this has been BitCast. Thank

s for tuning in to talk about some stuff.