Following the Golden Gizmos, it's time for the darker side of video games... The sinister counterpart... The Golden Gremmies! We, once again, ruminate on what an absolute clusterfuck the industry has become, while trying to maintain some optimism for the future. Whether that happens or not, dear listener, is something you will have to discover for yourself!
It is time, once again, to review what we considered the best games of the preceding year. Just, uh... Ignore that tumbleweed moseying on by.
REVIEWS OF GAMES MENTIONED, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
Arctic Eggs - Larry
Crow County - George
Dungeons of Hinterberg - Larry
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - George
Home Safety Hotline - George, Larry
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - George
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess - Larry
Metaphor ReFantazio - George
Outcast: A New Beginning - Larry
Pacific Drive - George
Persona 3 Re:Load - George
RKGK: Rakugaki - Larry
Shadow Generations - George
The Talos Principle 2 - Larry
In the second, and final, episode of Big Money Podcastas, Larry and George review 2010's Big Money Rustlas, directed by Paul Andresen. Despite being, in their estimation, a massive improvement upon the first film, it's actually rated lower on IMDB. I'm not sure why... ICP fans are known for their discerning taste, after all. Now let me take a swig of this ice-cold Faygo...
In preparation for recording this year's Golden Gizmos, and as a result of severe mental illness, George and Larry decide to review the entire filmography of the Insane Clown Posse.
First up: 2000's Big Money Hustlas, directed by John Cafiero.
After recording the regularly-scheduled Gremmies, everything somehow got even worse. So, here we are, ruminating on the impending demise of the AAA game industry, and running down Embracer Group's many and varied subsidiaries while trying to determine if they will survive or not.
What, you think that's grim? Well, tough shit, that's reality, baby, and we're all living in it! We eat the pig and together we burn!
Now that the good is out of the way, it's time to talk about the worst that 2023 had to offer. And, oh boy, there was a LOT of shit.
It's that time again! Time for us to run down our Top Ten Games of da Year, including the recipients of the most Prestigious award in all of video games: the Golden Gizmo! After that, we run down the currently scheduled/hopeful titles of 2024 to find out what we're looking forward to.
NOTE: I kept referring to Case of the Golden Idol as "Curse" of the Golden Idol. In my defense, that SHOULD be the name of the game, and it's a mistake I've made ever since I played it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?! George also likes to call Bomb Rush Cyberfunk "Cyberpunk" so whatever, we all have our burdens.
Ending music: "Pseudo's Theme" from Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, composed by Patricio Meneses.
If you'd like to read our full reviews of the games mentioned here, I've linked them below, in no particular order:
Pikmin 4:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/955664/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/981993/
Melon Journey:
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1001710/
Case of the Golden Idol:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/945434/
Super Mario Bros. Wonder:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1101684/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1126820/
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1042069/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1024517/
RoboCop: Rogue City:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1131187/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1142770/
Resident Evil 4:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/727755/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/742426/
Super Mario RPG:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1157294/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1172594/
Final Fantasy XVI:
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/909512/
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/737705/
Marvel's Spider-Man 2:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/1125306/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1116122/
Star Wars Jedi Survivor:
Larry - https://www.backloggd.com/u/LarryDavis/review/783822/
George - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/review/1183353/
We're back, with our lists of the TOP FIVE best games of 2022! If you still had this subscription in your RSS feeds or whatever, uhhh, sorry! But we had to deal with this depressing-ass year and a dearth of quality content, so now it's your problem too. This year, the Gizmos and Gremmies are released as one episode because, honestly, we had a lot of overlap in the Gizmos and there wasn't a whole lot else to talk about. There were some great games this year, though, and I got to join in George's Best Old Game category.
The Gremmies begin at 1:47:17, if you want to skip the spoilers for a certain game.
NOTE: This was recorded before Justin Roiland's recent Law Problems. Doesn't really change anything, I just wanted to point out that we're right to hate him.
This is it! The end of the most celebrated video game/Star Track/gremlins-focused podcast in existence. With all our enemies dead, we celebrate our victory and discuss The Matrix Resurrections. Then, the final Retro Corner: The Pagemaster for the Sega Genesis. Look, I don't know, it seems anticlimactic to me too, but George seems to think it makes sense. It subverted your expectations, right? That means it's good!
Be on the lookout for the return of Stand and Deliver: A JoJo Podcast, which you can find and subscribe to here: https://anchor.fm/sadjojo
Outro music: Neverending Story 3 Rammstein remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DHBlfXtH9E
It's time for our annual celebration of the best video games of the year! In addition to the main Gizmos, we also name our Best Re-Make/Re-Models, and Best New Characters. Next week: THE END.
Link to Gremlins 3: Dawn of Desmond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fnwXgLbjeA
Outro music: "Here Comes the Gremlin Man" by Nick Lutsko ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3DEAHbsqk )
Before we get to the Golden Gizmos next week, it's time to clear out the trash... The really rapey, gross trash... The Golden Gremmies are for the worst of the year, and oh boy, there was a lot of bad stuff in 2021! So sit back and... Enjoy? As we run down the Worst Games, Worst Developer, Worst Publisher, and Biggest Shitstorm of 2021.
Outro music: "I'll Still Destroy You" by The National
Halo Infinite is out! I've played it! The green boy is back in town! Anyway that doesn't matter, because we also watched Star Track: First Contact (1996), which takes up most of the time in this episode, and in Retro Corner, George is knocking out all da Marios: Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island. It was released as "Super Mario World 2" here, but we all know that's horseshit. It's like when they decided Edge of Tomorrow should be titled Live Die Repeat now. Nobody actually calls it that. Or remember when they renamed Lady Ghostbusters to "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call"? Dumb.
Anyway, the Deus Ex video referenced often in this episode is Deus Ex: The Recut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUfZZbrXVAw
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "Opium Tea" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
With no new games out this week, I've continued my retreat into 2015's Mad Max game, and I'm gonna talk about it! Because fuck you! We also talk about Spiders-Mans (George was wrong about its release date, BY THE WAY), Stars Wars, and other assorted bull crap. The Sega Saturn version of Symphony of the Night, that's another one. Uhhhhhhh, probably something else. It don't matter. In Retro Corner it's all Mario, all the time, with Super Mario Kart, Mario RPG, and Yoshi's Story! Yoshi's Story contains no Mario, actually, so I think it's kinda bullshit that it was included in what are SUPPOSED to be Mario games. Whatever. I am airing my grievances here because George actually reads these, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: Main title theme from Super Mario Kart
This week, we take a brief foray into the News, because we've unfortunately willed a Chrono Cross remake into this bitch of an Earth. Betty White, meanwhile, continues to live. Anyway, I give some brief thoughts on Call of Duty: Vanguard, we get a bit deeper into Shin Megami Tensei V, and then in Retro Corner, George talks about an all-time classic: VICE: Project DOOM for the NES. Then he also talked about Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure, for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color. That shouldn't surprise anybody.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "Jam it in the Hole" by Electric Six
God, it's been a long week. Last time we recorded, the freakin Grand Theft Auto Definitive Trilogy wasn't out yet. What a mess. But you know what else is out, and... Mostly not a mess? Shin Megami Tensei V! It's finally here! Then in Retro Corner, George briefly talks about Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi 3, but instead we mostly sort out the release timeline of the Shinobi series. It's a mess.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "Wasted" by The War on Drugs
This week, we're basically both waiting for Shin Megami Tensei V to come out, but in the meantime, I've been playing Forza Horizon 5, and I finished The Forgotten City. George finished Metroid Dread and Far Cry 6, and in his Retro Corner, he's gonna take you back to the past: the years Chrono Trigger and Ocarina of Time came out, to be specific. Are these shitty games that suck ass? Y-- no? Well. Look, I have my own views on OoT... Chrono Trigger, though, that's a game. There's a frogman in it!
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "I Got the Six" by ZZ Top
Once again, video games are BACK, and I'm here to tell you about The Good Life, Back 4 Blood (again), and Metroid: Dread! George instead wants to talk about Nintendo's garbage online pass or whatever, so I humor him. Then we have a little bit more about Far Cry 6, before it's on to RETRO CORNER: MORE TROIDS! All the Troids are here! Well... Metroid 1, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, and Fusion, actually, that's not all of them. But it's a good chunk! It's the ones that matter.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "It's a Good Life" by The Horrors
Video games are BACK!!! We're here to talk about Far Cry 6 and Metroid Dread, though it's mostly Far Cry. I also relay some information about the current state of Switch emulation, which is completely unrelated, by the way. Totally. We also have a quick aside on the 2021 film Malignant, which everyone should watch, and in Retro Corner, it's Lunacy, for, you guessed it, the Sega Saturn! More Sega Saturn games! It's what everyone's been asking for! Well... Actually, one person did ask for this game specifically. Don't know what's wrong with his brain.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "Bedrock Anthem" by Weird "Al" Yankovic
This week, we learn more about Predators, the Sega Saturn, Nintendo's various failings, bad remakes, ice hockey manga and anime, and George's difficulties in pronouncing Japanese titles. In Retro Corner, the subject is Ninja Gaiden 1-3. The NES ones.
Theme song by David Cassel
Not a lot going on this week, as I'm still plugging away at Deathloop, and George is still in his insane Sega Saturn phase, but I did watch Predator 2, so... There's that. There's also the promise of NINTENDO NEWS on the horizon, and we unravel the mystery of Goonies 2 for the NES. But that's not Retro Corner. Retro Corner is, in fact, about JACKAL for the NES, and WRATH OF THE BLACK MANTA, which is definitely a video game you can play. Technically. Thanks to @buffaloser on twitter for recommending this, even though George never told me to contact him about being on the show for this. Sorry, Dale.
Theme song by David Cassel
Outro music: "Old College Try" by The Mountain Goats