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Tag: Nintendo

Posts related to Nintendo and its properties.

Drive Your Gorilla

Drive Your Gorilla

CONFIRMATION BIAS: Abandoned is an upcoming Playstation 5-exclusive game made by the small Netherlands-based team, Blue Box Game Studios. After the game’s director made an enigmatic tweet, the internet exploded with conspiracy theories, asserting that the game and its trailers were nothing more than clues that this was not a stand-alone survival horror game but was actually a Silent Hill sequel. More than that, people have asserted that it’s a Silent Hill sequel directed by Hideo Kojima, despite the fact that the studio has gone to great lengths to assure fans that it is not. Andrew and Dan discuss the conspiracy and how it got wrapped up in the darker parts of nerd culture, internet culture, and the complicated edges of fandom.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Shortcast 57 – Fair Point, Dude” (01 June 2018): Where D. Bethel talks about the Super Nt, a Super NES clone made by Analogue.
  • For Great Justice” (19 February 2021): Where Andrew & D. Bethel discuss the video game, Six Days in Fallujah, and the discourse around tweets made by developer Rami Ismail.
  • I Am the State” (26 February 2021): Where our hosts discuss Nintendo’s continued neglect of the Metroid franchise.
  • Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where D. Bethel gets excited at the announcement of Metroid: Dread.

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Films in Quarries

Films in Quarries

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives into the strange patchwork origin of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while D. Bethel is pleasantly surprised by the Netflix series, Sweet Tooth, an adaptation of Dan’s favorite recent comic series by Jeff Lemire.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • The Space Dog and Bacchus Show” (21 August 2014): Where Andrew interviews indie game developer, Kai Cambra.
  • It’s Not Crude, It’s Savage” (08 January 2016): Where Andrew and D. Bethel confront the famous sub vs. dub debate.
  • Starfleet First” (31 January 2020): Where Andrew shares his thoughts on the first episode of the Paramount+ original show, Picard.
  • I Am the State” (26 February 2021): Where D. Bethel rails against Nintendo and its apparent bias against Metroid.

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Big Brother vs. Goliath

Big Brother vs. Goliath

FREEDOM FOR APPS: Andrew and D. Bethel dedicate this week’s episode to discussing and parsing and debating and understanding and reacting to the very, very strange lawsuits being fought between Apple and Epic Games. SPOILER: They have no answers.

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I Am The State

I Am The State

LOST IN ZEBES: With a lot of internet chatter focusing on the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda‘s 1986 release, it made D. Bethel upset because another major Nintendo franchise was also released that year that nobody––much less Nintendo itself––seems that interested in celebrating, the weird, wonderful Metroid. D. Bethel talks with Andrew to see why this game and the series it spawned never gained the legs and legacy of Nintendo’s bigger franchises.

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Turnips & Romance

Turnips & Romance

WEEK IN GEEK: In the lead up to the holidays, Andrew binges the entirety (so far) of Amazon Prime’s original series, Man in the High Castle, while D. Bethel has been playing the delightful yet simple Cat Quest in short bursts.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • The charming Nintendo Direct where Mario & Zelda creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, guides us through the new Super Nintendo World theme park:

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Mr. Shorts & Chains

Mr. Shorts & Chains

E3 2019: This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been a strange one with big players absent and new hardware on the horizon, but it’s still bringing announcements and trailers to make our jaded hosts excited.

Games discussed: Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Fallout 76, Pokémon Sword/Shield, among others.

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Guestcast 03 – Muted Police Action

Guestcast 03 – Muted Police Action

A TAYLORED EXPERIENCE: With D. Bethel locked behind closed doors to grade the work of his beloved students, friend-of-the-show Taylor Katcher has graciously stepped in to help Andrew in his hour of need. Together, they run the gamut of nerdy topics, from Super Smash Bros. to Betrayal Legacy to Civilization VI on the iPhone to the most recent DC/CW crossover event, “Elseworlds.”

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Guestcast 02 – Ready Taylor One: Taylor’s last appearance on the last Guestcast. Also, in the “Related Episodes” section of the notes, you can find all of the other times Taylor has appeared on the show.

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 156 – River City Rampage

Episode 156 – River City Rampage

It’s the return of NERD LAW!

A MARVELOUS MONSTER: After a long gestation and some delays, Disney has officially acquired 20th Century Fox assets, comprising of Fox’s film and tv properties. This means everything from the Alien franchise to Bob’s Burgers and even The Simpsons are now owned by Disney. Of course, for comic book fans and fans of comic book movies, the biggest part of this deal means that the X-Men and the Fantastic Four film rights are now under Disney/Marvel control. But it’s a much bigger––and more complicated––deal than just the superhero franchises and make some people a little nervous.

WHAT NINTENDON’T: Emulation software has been on the internet for at least twenty years at this point, allowing people to download and play often near-perfect versions of games from the NES, SNES, and many other classic consoles. While playing emulated games have always been legally murky, Nintendo’s big legal smackdown of a few emulator and ROM sites in particular have really shaken the whole community in more ways than one.

RELATED EPISODES:

RELATED LINKS:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shortcast 57 – Fair Point, Dude

Shortcast 57 – Fair Point, Dude

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew goes back to his undergraduate roots and dives into programming with the Unity engine via the online programming courses taught through Udemy while D. Bethel updates his nostalgia with the Super NES as he plays around with Analogue’s Super Nt system.

RELATED EPISODES:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shortcast 48 – My Smokey Timbre

Shortcast 48 – My Smokey Timbre

RECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE: This week, Andrew and D. discuss revisions that happen to works after they are released. From the canon-bending Star Wars re-releases from the late 1990s to the archival efforts of the Mega Man Legacy Collection, works are “preserved” in some form or another, but attention could (and should) be paid to the reasons for such preservation and re-release: is it in the interest of the creator? Of the owner? Of the audience? While they don’t generate any answers, our hosts certainly probe the topic for its diversity of impetus, goals, and cultural impact. Well, they do decide that pop culture needs some sort of library, but that’s about it.

RELATED EPISODES:

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/