Remember The Game? #326 - Wild Arms

This is what 'Remember The Game?' is all about. Old cartoons, old video games, old video games about old cartoons. So much nostalgic goodness this week. (And the entire 8-bit version of the theme song makes this episode worth downloading on it's own!) So many video games that are based on a popular franchise turn out to be hot garbage (exhibit A: Episode 70 of this show; Ghostbusters), but luckily for all of us 80's kids, Capcom decided to swim against the current and buck that trend. DuckTales isn't just a decent video game adaption of it's cartoon counterpart, it's a great one.  This game is crazy fun, and while it has a challenge to it, it's not soul crushing like so many of it's NES brothers and sisters. You play the role of Scrooge McDuck, and the game sees you travel all over the planet solar-system in search of treasure. You can play the levels in (almost) any order, and there's a ton of exploration involved. It's not linear at all, and it pushes you to search every nook and cranny of each level if you want to go for a high score. Or worth, in this case.  DuckTales also features cameos by so many great characters from the show, including Scrooge's nephews; Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Launchpad the pilot, that cranky old Scottish duck that raced Scrooge to the lamp in the intro, and the vampire lady duck. (I'm not caught up on my DuckTales characters).  It also introduced the cane/pogo stick mechanic, which was so popular it still pops up in games today. Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze and the iconic Shovel Knight both borrow it with great success.  Mark McCue and I gush about one of the best damned games the NES has to offer this week. Not ponytails or captain tales, no...DuckTales! Whoo-oo! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

18 Dec 201947min

I'll never get tired of talking about wrestling video games. The only issue with talking wrestling video games is the fact that there's probably more bad titles than good ones. Lucky for all of us, this is one of the good ones. In fact, it's one of the great ones. WWF Wrestlefest is everything video games should be. It's bright and colourful, the gameplay is addictive, and it's an arcade game. As much as I love vegging out on my couch playing video games on my TV, there's just something special about standing at an arcade cabinet. Holding that greasy, germ covered joystick in your hand while you mash those giant buttons...you can barely hear the game you're playing because there's so many other games around you. It's video game euphoria...I don't even know if anyone reads these stupid things, so we're just gonna get to the show. My buddy Brad is back this week, and it's our first episode recorded by phone, so if the sound quality is off, I apologize. I hope you can trudge through it and enjoy this week's episode, because it's a gooder. It's Hulk Hogan. It's Sgt. Slaughter. It's Demoilition. It's WWF WrestleFest!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

11 Dec 201956min

Back in the late 80's, everything the Ninja Turtles touched turned to gold. TV, cereal, toys, movies, music, and of course, video games. The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES (covered on episode 18 of this show!) was pretty good, but the sequel is the one everyone still loves and plays today. Originally released as an arcade game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II blew the first Ninja Turtles game away. Gone was the "puzzle solving/platforming" single game, and in it's place was a classic side scrolling, beat 'em up that we didn't know we wanted. And it was multi-player!!!! In the arcade version, you and three friends could pump your parents' quarters into a cabinet and stand side by side, pounding on foot soldiers and classic Turtles villains like Bebop, Rocksteady, and of course, Shredder. I remember going to Chuck 'E' Cheese for my birthday as a kid and literally pumping every single token I had into this game. Then it released on the NES. Apparently, the graphics and other specs were dialled back so it could run on the NES, but none of us noticed. They also reduced the number of people that could play at once from 4 to 2, but again, we didn't care. Every kid I knew loved this game. Some of my fondest memories are going to sleepovers with my friends when we were young and taking turns playing TMNT 2. And when it wasn't your turn to play the game, you were watching one of the movies or playing with the action figures.  This game is fantastic. Sure, Turtles in Time on the SNES did everything it did better (frankly, so did the often overlooked TMNT 3 on the NES), but everyone loved this game. I can't believe it took us 75 episodes to talk about it. But it's here now, and you should be as excited as I am. My buddy Miklos returns to the show this week, and man oh man did we have a great time talking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Enjoy the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

4 Dec 201952min

I love Mario. And while it hasn't aged all that well, I'm pretty fond of the original Game Boy too. We could play video games anywhere!! So Mario on the Game Boy should have been a match made in heaven. And eventually it was; Super Mario Land 2 is incredible. But Mario's first road trip, Super Mario Land, wasn't quite as good.  That's not to say it was bad. Mario is like pizza; even when it's not great, it's still pretty great.  This game felt more like a demo for what the Game Boy was capable of. It was also overshadowed by a little known Game Boy launch title called Tetris. They introduced a bunch of new stuff, like different enemies, a new world, they replaced fireballs with rubber....balls? You don't save Princess Toadstool, you save that weirdo, Daisy. The only real thing that makes this a Mario game is Mario himself. But dammit, that's all it takes.  My buddy Patrick returns to the show this week, you may remember him from such episodes as "Game Collecting" and "Resident Evil 4". Patrick loves the Game Boy, loves Super Mario Land, and I loved talking with him. Come feel the love on this week's episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Nov 201954min

We're on Twitter and Instagram (And we follow back!) @memberthegameWe're also on stupid Facebook: facebook.com/RememberTheGameAnd most importantly, we're on Patreon. Please consider supporting our show. For $2/month, we give you tons of stuff! Patreon.com/RememberTheGameI have no idea where Metal Gear Solid 2 sits in the history books of gaming. Is a Playstation 2 classic? Forgotten gem? Is it the worst game in the Metal Gear series? The best? Overrated? Underrated? If you look it up online, you'll find every single one of these opinion floating around. What do I think? You'll have to listen to the show to find out. Nice try. I associate this game almost as much as any other with the PS2. It was one of the first games I remember buying for the second Sony console, and man oh man was I excited to get my hands on it. After playing (and quite enjoying) the original Metal Gear Solid, I couldn't wait to play more. The hype was real, but what was one of the most anticipated games of all-time became one of the most controversial once it got released into the wild. People would debate the creative decisions Kojima and friends made for years to come. What couldn't be debated was the games sales numbers. MGS 2 ended up selling over 7 MILLION copies. We got Metal Gear Solid V recently, and the Metal Gear games have sold a combined 49 million units. So the Metal Gear series is alive and well. But there are gamers out there that abandoned the series at this title. Was I one of them? Was my guest Bradley McCue? Did we like Raiden? What about Snake?Does this game suck?? No, it doesn't. But do we like it? Have a listen and find out.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

20 Nov 20191h 8min

I can't believe it took us 72 episodes of the show to cover Mario Kart 64. I mean, it's Mario Kart freaking 64! If you're listening to this show, you've played this game. I'm a Nintendo fanboy through and through, but the Nintendo 64 is admittedly, not one of my favourite systems. I don't think games from the 64/Playstation era have aged particularly well, and a majority of them just irritate me when I try to play them today. But not this game. The memories I (and I'm sure most of you) have of multi-player MK64 is the stuff gaming nostalgia is made of. Super Mario Kart was fun, but Mario Kart 64 is the reason this franchise is still so massive over twenty years later. The tracks are bigger, the characters are cooler (Wario!!!!!!), Battle Mode is better, and you could play with four players at once. Just that last fact rocked my socks. This game featured some insane tracks; Toad's Turnpike is still to this day one of my favourites in Mario Kart history. Add in Wario and the fact that you could listen to Toad yell "Wooo hooooo!!", and it was the perfect package. I legit smile just thinking about all the good times we had playing this game when we were kids. I would (and hopefully will) buy a Nintendo 64 Classic someday just for this game. Forget your Ocarina of Times and Super Mario 64's; Mario Kart 64 is the king. I love this game. So does my pal Miklos. Have a listen and let us remind you why you probably do too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 Nov 201947min

The original NES controller was a brick. It was practically indestructible. Need proof? Ask anyone that played Ninja Gaiden back in the day. This game was designed to make you want to throw your controller against the wall. You would die and start over, and over, and over, and every time you did, you knew you would inevitably lose and slam your controller against something else. You'd swear (quietly), maybe walk away for a couple hours. But you always came back. And that's the great thing about Ninja Gaiden. Despite it's ridiculous difficulty and rage inducing mechanics, it was always fun to play. It might be the "best bad game" on the NES. (And to be clear, I don't think it's "bad" necessarily. I just think it's too hard. Call me a bitch, I don't care.)The enemies re-spawn if you so much as think about turning around after you kill them. They come out of nowhere, and quite often they show up where you need to land after a precise jump. They can be impossible to avoid. Which leads into the second problem. Every time they touch you, you bounce back half way across the fucking screen. If there's a pit behind you, landing in it is a guarantee. Or you'll bounce into another that just re-spawned, and they'll bounce you into the pit. And then you'll start over, and you'll know it's coming, but they'll get you again. And then you'll finally get by them only to die because you dropped down to the next screen instead of taking the ladder. And that'll be your final life, and you'll start over and bounce into a pit again and WHAM!!!That was your controller hitting the wall.This game drives me insane. But I can't stop playing it. My buddy and guest Bradley McCue knows the feeling. We'll tell you all about it on this week's podcast. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 Nov 201946min

Oh Ghostbusters...I love this damned franchise. Ghostbusters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were my life as a kid. I had the action figures, movies, cartoons, clothes, books, toys, halloween costumes, and of course, video games. This was one of the games I rented over and over again. Pretty well every time my brother and I convinced our Mom to let us rent games for the weekend, Ghostbusters found it's way into the pile. We refused to admit it wasn't good. Well, I'm thirty-five now. And it's time to face the music. The horribly repetitive 8-bit music. Ghostbusters on the NES is not a good video game. I'm sorry, Mr. Aykroyd...(Many people have said that versions of this game on other consoles, such as Atari, Commodore 64 and Master System are a little better. I've never played any of them, so we're sticking to the NES version.)I actually beat this game for the first time this week, prepping for this podcast. No cheat codes, turbo controllers, nothing. Just a little patience. OK, a lot of patience. The entire game is one boring grind to save money to buy gear  to beat a boring level where you do nothing but climb 23 flights of stairs. Then you get one fun boss fight, and then the most infamous end screen in gaming history. If you just read that and thought, "why the hell would anyone play this??", you get it. We don't know why we played it. But a lot of us did...I wanted to cover a scary game for Halloween, and seeing as this is a nostalgia podcast, I saw this week as a perfect opportunity to review not only a treasured game from my childhood, but a "scary" game as well. The ghosts won't scare you in this game, but it'll still give you nightmares. I'm solo this week, and I hope enjoy this trip down memory lane as we look back at the Walter Peck of NES games; Ghostbusters.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

30 Okt 20191h 3min