This week marks one year since the first shelter-in-place orders went into effect in the US. To mark this dubious occasion, we invited PNB's TL Foster on to talk about five of the best games ever to take place within a single house. Then it's on to the return of Stubbs the Zombie, the even-more-zombielike sort-of return of Toys 'R' Us, and your fondest Mario memories.

They may be gray and a little saggy, but there's a certain kind of elderly man who, like a lobster, only ever seems to grow bigger and tougher with age. This week, we invite Greg Moore to help us pay tribute to the old game characters who could still kick our asses, after which we'll dig into Loop Hero, the Bethesda-Microsoft merger, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and the things from vidjagames you'd love to try in real life, but probably shouldn't.

If you haven't commandeered a car by jumping to it from your own speeding whip, can you really be said to have commandeered it at all? This week, we celebrate five games that let us accomplish the impossibly awesome feat of launching from one high-speed car to another, fluidly booting out the driver, and taking control. Then it's on to Ghosts 'n' Goblins Resurrection, Switch Pro rumors, Sony's State of Play, and the games that helped you through a year of lockdowns.

Everyone loves a good revenge story, so this week we're joined by Mike Williams of PCMag to take a look at five of the most gripping stories of single-minded, systematic payback produced by videogames. Then we'll explore Bravely Default 2, get lost in Persona 5 Strikers and Valheim, look at the news from BlizzCon, and hear your thoughts on series that should switch genre.

With Persona 5 Strikers - the Dynasty Warriors-flavored sequel to the original P5 RPG - out this week, we're joined by special guest Emmett Watkins of VGU.TV for a look at five sequels that switched to a new genre, forever changing the trajectory of their series. Then we'll dig into to Bowser's Fury, get stomped in Valheim, go through the Nintendo Direct news with a fine-toothed comb, and discuss the characters you'd want to see turn evil.

Abrupt heel-turns are always fun, especially in fighting games where a goody-two-shoes hero gives in to the Dark Power within and becomes a corrupted, evil version of themselves (usually with cooler moves). This week, we welcome Anthony Abatte to help us take a look at five fallen heroes of fighting games, after which we'll talk about Little Nightmares 2, casting HBO's The Last of Us, listen to some reconstructed Mario tunes, and hear about your parents' attitudes toward your gaming.

Los Angeles is the setting of roughly 500% of all motion pictures, and yet relatively few games have tried to turn its sun-baked sprawl into a game world. So this week, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five games that turned the City of Angels into an open(-ish)-world playground, after which we'll dive into The Medium, EA Sports bringing back college football, Stadia shuttering its studios, and the games you think should be adapted as anime.

Train levels are a pretty well-worn trope by this point; start at the caboose and fight your way up to the engine, all in a linear, narrow environment that allows for some variety as you move from car to car. As frequently as we've seen these, some are a lot more memorable than others, and a few even do something unique with the idea. So let's look at five of our favorites this week, after which we'll look at Cyber Shadow, try to understand the GameStop stock situation (as of Wednesday), and talk about your favorite everyday items to use as weapons in games.

With the rebooted Hitman series hitting its third installment this week, we're joined by Tony Wilson of Framework for a look at three other franchises whose reboots were successful enough to spawn sequels and become new trilogies unto themselves. Then we dig into Hitman 3, talk about Mortal Kombat movie news, and look at the mostly dead gaming genres you'd love to bring back.

Ready to feel old? 2001 was a watershed year for videogames, with powerful 3D consoles and classic games that laid the groundwork for the modern era of gaming. It was also 20 years ago, meaning all those games are now two decades old. We've invited Larry Charles of Striking Distance Studios to help us through this sad realization by celebrating five unforgettable games from the now-distant past, after which we'll talk about Street Cleaner, the return of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game AND Lucasfilm Games, and your New Year's gaming resolutions for 2021.

We're back on our traditional yearly bullshit this week, kicking off the new year with a look forward at at five games we're especially excited for in 2021 (assuming they arrive this year). This is one of our shortest shows in years, but don't worry/get too comfortable, as we'll be back in full force next week.

It's the end of the worst year in recent memory, but a great year for games - so let's take one last look back and anoint our 10 favorites! Clocking in at just under 4 hours, this year's show features appearances from Jorge Albor, Kat Bailey, Chris "Cbake" Baker, TL Foster, Steve Guntli, Leif Johnson, Micah Seff, Tony Wilson, and Kayla Zumbaum. It's a veritable explodaganza of long discussions about amazing games, so join us as we fondly remember the best parts of the worst year!

We really wanted to go with a holiday theme for our last real show of 2020, but in the end, what's more appropriate to Holiday 2020 than grabbing Greg Moore for a look at how videogames have portrayed the collapse of brick-and-mortar retail? Then it's on to Super Meat Boy Forever, Nintendo's Year in Review, and your thoughts on playing games right at launch vs. waiting for bugs to get fixed.

2020 has been a terrible year for most things, but a stellar year for games - including a smattering of remakes that took a fresh look at old favorites. As we lead up to our big year-end show on the best games of 2020, we've grabbed PNB's TL Foster and given five amazing remakes that didn't fit in our top 10 their own show. Then it's on to plenty of Cyberpunk 2077 chatter, a few announcements and anointments from The Game Awards, and your preferences vis-a-vis dark or light futures.

Cyberpunk 2077 came out hours before we recorded this week's show, so we don't have a lot to say about it yet. Luckily, there are tons of cyberpunk videogames not named "Cyberpunk," so we grabbed Leif Johnson for a look at five of the greatest cyberpunk series of all time. Then it's on to (what else?) initial impressions of Cyberpunk 2077, a smattering of movie news, the Persona 5 Strikers reveal, and the games you feel will define the PS4 era.

This week, we pay overdue tribute to the passing of the PS4 era with help from Gamespot/LaserTime alum Tony Wilson who’s launching a new video channel called FrameWork, and who helps us look back on five of the best PS4 exclusives (all of which are still fully exclusive, and which came out pre-2020 so we don’t repeat ourselves on this year’s Game of the Year show). Then it’s on to Immortals Fenyx Rising, Chronos: Before the Ashes, Super Nintendo World opening soon, and the games you’d prefer to haunt for eternity.

With Ready Player Two out this week, we've decided to turn up the nostalgia dial to absurd levels by recruiting Greg Moore for a look at five videogames that, one way or another, were about nostalgia for videogames. Then it's on to some chat about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the holiday console-scalping epidemic, cloud gaming, and the open worlds you'd love to revisit.

We're coming back to the table this week with clearer impressions of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X - but first, let's take a look at five of the rare few open-world games that actually re-used their open worlds, with PNB's Kayla Zumbaum! Then we'll bite into Bugsnax, Demon's Souls, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Game Awards announcements, and your favorite third-party launch games.

IT'S NEW-CONSOLE WEEK! We're super-excited for the debut of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but before we get to those, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five times third-party games swept in and stole the show in a new console's launch lineup! Then it's on to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, early Xbox Series X impressions, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Prodeus, and the arcade classics you'd like to see return as Arcade1up-style replicas.

As November begins and we're faced with the mystery of who our next President will be, it's as good a time as any to lose ourselves in the fictional mysteries of our favorite detective games with Octobug developer Eric Bailey. Then we talk about Sega selling off its arcade business, Arcade1up introducing its first sit-down driving cabinet, and the historical settings you'd like to see horror games in.

We're closing out Spooptober 2020 with the grimmest, bleakest topic we could think of: horror games set in, around, and within the (sometimes literal) fallout of the Soviet Union. With history buff Jeremy King of Tweakalicious.tv on board, we'll also dig into Watch Dogs: Legion, Ghostrunner, Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues, news from Nintendo's final Direct of 2020, and the politicians and celebs you'd like to see stream a game next.

High school is a breeding ground for all sorts of lifelong fears and anxieties, so of course it's a perfect setting for otherwordly terror. With friend of the show Micah Seff in attendance, we talk about five games that used locker-lined halls and impersonal classrooms to create scares, after which we talk about Torchlight III, Blizzard possibly moving away from RTS games, and your hometown cryptids and legends.

Our greatest Spooptober episode yet is here! The inimitable Alex Faciane of Chilluminati Podcast (among other things) joins us for a look at five real(ish) cryptids — creatures people swear they've seen but whose existence remains unconfirmed — that have made multiple videogame appearances over the years. Then it's on to a heated discussion of the Monster Hunter movie trailer, Sega's surprise 60th-anniversary games, and the classic Nintendo games you think should get the battle royale treatment.

Spooptober continues with a look at the Greek pantheon's gloomiest god, as Leif Johnson rejoins us to sift through some of Hades' more memorable videogame appearances. Then we shift to talking about Star Wars Squadrons, Crash 4, Super Mario Bros. 35, and Baldur's Gate III, before moving on to Sony's PS5 teardown video and your favorite zombie games with a twist.

It's the start of October, which means we're switching to horror-focused topics and bad Dracula impressions between now and Halloween! We're kicking things off with a look at five zombie games that - despite featuring the most cliched enemies imaginable - managed to stand out with unique gameplay hooks. Then it's on to Genshin Impact, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Peter Parker's new face, and your favorite memories of the 3DS.

Nintendo's 3DS is officially kaput, so this week we invite Ultra 64's Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski to help us celebrate nine stellar years of no-glasses 3D with a look at five of our favorite 3DS essentials. Then it's on to extensive chat about Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Hades, Microsoft acquiring Bethesda, a week of nonstop preorder clusterfucks, and your next-gen plans now that most of the cards are on the table.

With Spelunky 2 out this week, we're rejoined by Experience Points' Jorge Albor for a look at five games that started life as freeware projects before moving on to commercial success. Then it's on to PlayStation 5 news, Paradise Killer, Fight Crab, Ubisoft Forward's reveals, and whether the Xbox announcements changed your next-gen plans.

Everything we wanted to know about the new Xboxes - price, launch date, existence of the rumored Series S, and so on - has been revealed, but we're a little distracted by a certain limited-edition compilation with one glaring omission. So distracted that we're doing a whole Top 5 about games that mysteriously failed to make the cut when it came time to bundle and remaster their series, after which we'll get to the Xbox news as well as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1&2, the comics you'd want to turn into games, and much more.

Do you like collecting comics? Do you enjoy videogames? Do you insist that those two hobbies be about each other? Fiiiine. With Marvel's Avengers out this week, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five games that used comic books as collectibles, after which we'll jump into Avengers, Vader Immortal, Madden NFL 21, Gamescom reveals, NVIDIA's new 30 series, and the toy lines you think deserve their own videogames.

Weeks like this are enough to make anyone want to retreat into childhood nostalgia - and we've delivered a brief chance to do exactly that, as Greg Moore joins us to talk about five games that let us play as toys from our childhoods. Then we'll talk Battletoads, confuse Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad, and hear your confessions about the dumbest things you've ordered during the pandemic.

With the US Postal Service currently under siege, now seemed like a good time to grab friend of the show Leif Johnson and pay tribute to some of gaming's greatest postal workers, who tirelessly deliver letters and packages that don't really exist across virtual worlds. Then we talk about seeing our houses from Microsoft Flight Simulator, get hard in Mortal Shell, touch the Apple-Epic fight with a 10-foot pole, and talk about your videogame animal phobias.

Shark Week is here at last, so we invited animal expert Cody Laveau on board for a look at five terrifying sharks who - rather than trying to eat you, as is custom - want nothing more than to be your friend. Then it's on to chat about Risk of Rain 2, Hyper Scape, The Xbox Series X controller leak, Sony's State of Play, and the price you're willing to pay for next-gen consoles.

Stray, the cat-centric game that made a brief splash during June's PlayStation 5 showcase (before being upstaged by Bugsnax), inspired us to hunt for other, currently existing games that offer a four-legged cat experience, and we'll dig into five of them this week alongside PNB's TL Foster. Then it's on to Fall Guys, news of streaming via Game Pass, and the games from at least two generations ago that you'd love to see remastered or remade.

Carrion slurped its way onto Xbox Game Pass last week, and its eat-everyone ethos inspired us to take a look at five other amazing games where you deal with enemies mainly by consuming them. Then it's on to (of course) Carrion, Destroy All Humans!, the reveals from the Xbox Series X Games Showcase and the Nintendo megaleak, and your thoughts on streaming media through next-gen consoles. 

Something about the sight of crypto-fascist stormtroopers in ominous gasmasks will always stir contempt within the rebellious heart, and on this week's show, we celebrate the return of special guest Dan Amrich with a look at five games that pit you against the forces of a corrupt police state. Then it's on to (lots of) talk about Ghost of Tsushima, Paper Mario: The Origami King, the Nintendo Direct Mini, and your thoughts on whether we still need E3.

Ghost of Tsushima is out now, and its release seemed like a great excuse for us to grab friend of the show Greg Moore and count down five of our favorite samurai simulators. Then it's on to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Deadly Premonition 2, Ubisoft Forward reveals, and your favorite modern retro games.

This week's release of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 got us thinking about retro-styled games that often started out as companion pieces to bigger, more modern spectacles, but quickly became fan favorites and even enduring classics - so we grabbed Leif Johnson to talk about five of the best examples, after which we chat about Iron Man VR, get weirdly excited for Ready Player Two, and talk about the games you're most looking forward to in the latter half of 2020.

We're halfway through the worst year in recent memory - but as far as videogames go, it hasn't been half-bad. So this week, let's take a look back and pick our five favorite games from the past six months, with help from PNB's TL Foster. Then it's on to Pokémon Café Mix, Disco Elysium getting a movie deal, and your favorite Games of the (Half-)Year!

There are a lot of things The Last of Us Part II does well, but one thing it's particularly good at is simulating a guitar with a touchpad. As a tribute, we grabbed Jorge Albor of Experience Points for a look at some of the best in-game instruments (in non-musical games), after which we'll properly delve into The Last of Us Part II, as well as EA news, Mixer shutting down, and your favorite E3-ish announcements so far.

The Last of Us Part II is out! And some of the review discourse has (not surprisingly) been about how it makes you do bad things (and also tries to make you feel bad about those things). But that's nothing new! In fact, some of gaming's most memorable moments have been ones that guilted us about some horrific "decision," even if our only real choice was to push forward or stop playing. This week's show looks at five such moments, after which we'll talk PlayStation 5 news, Desperados III, and your favorite Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.

This week's show returns to the well from which all RPGs (and arguably all videogames) spring: Dungeons & Dragons. More specifically five of the best Dungeons & Dragons videogames, which we'll count down alongside Cicero Holmes of Rivals of Waterdeep and Discovery Debrief. Then it's on to news of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, 1Up's new arcade machines, and your favorite Game Gear Games. (And we'll dive into the PS5 reveal — which happened after we recorded — next week.)

This week's been one of the roughest in a rough year, and we couldn't bring ourselves to put together a normal videogame podcast as if nothing was happening. But canceling the show also felt weird, so instead, PNB's TL Foster joins us for a frank, lengthy discussion about police violence and race in America - after which, yes, we do bring it back to games, including Xenoblade Chronicles, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Game Gear Micro, and your favorite memories of local arcades and game shops.

Where would RPG heroes be without the faithful merchants who keep them supplied with magic swords and healing potions? Dead in a ditch, that's where. This week, we grab Tyler Nagata for a look at five games that flip the script by making you a shopkeeper in someone else's heroic journey, after which we'll tunnel into Minecraft Dungeons and Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, get excited for Silent Hill's sort-of return, and hear about the athletes you'd pick to fight monsters.

This week, Vidjagame Apocalypse welcomes PNB's TL Foster for a good, long look at five times pro athletes starred in videogames that were more about punching monsters than playing sports. Then it's on to swimmer-munching shark nirvana in Maneater, excitement over Paper Mario: The Origami King, and the Schwarzenegger movies you thought were overdue for game adaptations.

This week's news of Arnold Schwarzenegger's return as Dutch Schaefer in Predator: Hunting Grounds has us just a little excited, so we roped in PNB's Kayla Zumbaum for a look at five of the best games ever to let you step into the Governator's shoes. We then wallow in a little more nostalgia with Pixel Ripped 1995, look to the future with Xbox Series X and PS5 news, and hear about the un-adapted Star Wars stories you'd like to see made into games.

Hang on, this episode isn't about Candy Crush. With Mother's Day imminent, we decided to flip genders on the concept of "dad games" - in which a father has to protect or rescue a child - and focus on moms doing the same thing (which turned out to be surprisingly rare in videogames). Then it's on to Streets of Rage 4, Mortal Kombat 11's Aftermath expansion, and the games you took a year or more to play.

We've now officially done as many numbered episodes of this show as there are days in a (non-leap) year, so this week, we're looking at five games whose stories and gameplay are affected by changing seasons over (at least) an in-game year. Then it's onward to the reveal of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, impressions of XCOM Chimera Squad and Gears Tactics, and the games that made you give one of your favorite series a miss.

In this age of games arriving rapidly from Japan, it's easy to forget that localization used to take a long time - sometimes years. This week, Micah Seff of Perfect World joins us to take a look at games that took a decade or more to reach Western shores, after which we'll touch on Trials of Mana, Animal Crossing smashing sales records, and whether you prefer remakes or remasters.

Megacorporations have been popular villains lately, what with being behind the events of three (or four, depending on your feelings toward Tom Nook) major games in as many weeks. So with help from TL Foster of PNB, let's take a look at five of the most diabolical conglomerates to ever cackle maniacally at your insignificant rebellions, after which we'll dive headfirst into Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cooking Mama drama, and your all-time favorite intro sequences.

Sometimes, the first few minutes of a game are so memorable that they overshadow everything that comes after them, standing out as the first thing you remember about the game for years afterward. This week, we grab TL Foster for a rundown of five of our favorite opening sequences ever, after which we'll touch on Final Fantasy VII Remake, get deep into the Resident Evil 3 remake, and hear about the games you think are most overdue for remakes.

Remakes and remasters aren't just a modern-gaming phenomenon - far from it. They've been part of gaming since at least the '80s, and this week, we grab John Brandon of Square Roots to look back at five of our favorite remakes from the 16- and 32-bit eras. Then we'll dig into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered, Panzer Dragoon Remake, Resident Evil 3, news of Mario and Nier remasters, and your gaming habits under quarantine.

This week’s VGA pays tribute to the world’s embattled health-care professionals the only way we know how: By talking about five games that let you play as one, with help from Leif Johnson of MacWorld. Then it’s onward to Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Half-Life: Alyx, and who you’re siding with in the next-gen console wars.

Half the world is on lockdown right now, and the only way through this mess is to band together... by staying separate. But sometimes there's power in isolation, and we're here to help you through it with five games that used themes of solitude and loneliness to tell unforgettable stories. Then we'll look at the recently unveiled details on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, spend some time on Nioh 2, and revisit the games from your childhood you keep coming back to.

Between the third season of the Netflix show and the mobile release of Symphony of the Night, it’s a good time to be a Castlevania fan – so to celebrate, we grabbed friend of the show Greg Moore for a look back at five of the best Castlevanias whose stars weren’t whip-wielding Belmonts. Then it’s time to dive into Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Call of Duty: Warzone, the most shocking E3 announcement in years, and your nominees for President and VP of videogames.

Super Tuesday left seemingly everyone angry about politics, so let's dedicate this week's show to the only politicians everyone can agree on: the absolute shithouse ones that pop up as major villains in videogames. With Alex Faciane - of Super Beard Bros, Chilluminati, and now Wunderling - on board, we lay into five soullessly ambitious lawmakers, after which we'll jump into the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo, The Division 2's Warlords of New York expansion, GDC getting postponed, and the anime you'd like to see turned into a videogame.

This week's release of One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows was precisely the shoddy excuse we needed to make like SNL's "J-Pop America Fun Time Now!" and geek out over anime, as we discuss 5 games you might not have known were made by anime creators. It was a topic too big for Matty and Chris to cover alone, so we enlisted the help of two very special guests this week: TL Foster of the PNB podcast network and first-time guest B_Ron of B_Ron Sports. Then we talk about this week's news and new releases, the Xbox Series X and Animal Crossing: New Horizons announcements and more!

Platinum Games is a studio known for extreme action and distinctive gameplay, so with Bayonetta and Vanquish out again as 10th Anniversary editions, let's take a look at some of the most unique gameplay hooks they've come up with, with help from Cicero Holmes of Rivals of Waterdeep. Then we'll briefly talk Maneater with Tripwire Interactive CEO John Gibson, get excited for Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun: Retro Brawler Bundle, and look at your favorite videogame couples.

Today is Valentine's Day, so let's take a look at some of gaming's most iconic couples, with help from Larry Charles of Striking Distance Studios. We then take a close look at Dreams, Geoff Keighley's departure from E3, and your favorite Black videogame heroes.

In honor of Black History Month, TL Foster joins us this week for a celebration of five of our favorite Black videogame heroes, all of whom took the spotlight in their own games and helped redefine what their franchises could be. Then it’s on to a look at The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, a quick dip into GeForce Now, and your dark horse games of the decade.

It’s finally time to reveal our picks for the greatest games of the past 10 years! And because we chose the list purely based on our personal preferences, dismissing silly ideas like “importance” or “cultural impact,” we invited USGamer Editor in Chief Kat Bailey to lend some authenticity (and skepticism) to the proceedings before taking a look at your favorite games of the past 10 years.

Our march through the greatest games of the past 10 years continues this week, as Greg Moore rejoins us to run through five of Chris' personal picks ahead of next week's top 10. Then it's on to a look at Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Horizon: Zero Dawn PC rumors, and what E3 still means to you.

Our ongoing series on the greatest games of the 2010s continues! After covering five of Mikel’s picks last week, this week’s show focuses on five of Matt’s nominees, with Jorge Albor of Experience Points along for the ride. Then it’s on to Sony skipping E3, the Epic Games Store’s success, and the games you’re most looking forward to this year.

This isn't just our first show of the new year - it's our first show of a new decade! With that in mind, let's jump on the 2010s nostalgiawagon and count down our top 25 games of the previous decade, five games at a time. With TL Foster along to pass judgment, join us as we embark on a multi-episode series of Top 5s personally selected by each host (starting with Mikel's picks this week), eventually leading up to our definitive 10 games of the 2010s. And while we build toward that, let's take a look at some of your favorite games of 2019!

It's time for our seventh annual end-of-year show, in which we invite a rotating panel of guests to help us count down our top 10 games of the year! This year's show clocks in at just under 4 hours(!), and features appearances from Chris "Cbake" Baker, Carolyn Petit, Greg Moore, Steve Guntli, TL Foster, Leif Johnson, Kayla Zumbaum, and Jorge Albor! Join us, why don't you?

Here's a quick cheat sheet with timestamps, if you want to jump around and hear which games made the list:

0:04:10: #10 (w/ Leif Johnson, Jorge Albor)
0:18:51: #9 (Kayla Zumbaum, TL Foster
0:39:32: #8 (Leif Johnson, Jorge Albor)
1:05:21: #7 (Steve Guntli)
1:21:48: #6 (Greg Moore, TL Foster)
1:36:24: #5 (Chris Baker, Carolyn Petit)
1:56:40: #4 (Steve Guntli, John Brandon)
2:14:54: #3 (Just Chris, Matt, and Mikel)
2:34:18: #2 (Carolyn Petit)
2:56:32: #1 (Greg Moore, Steve Guntli, TL Foster)

Who says 2D's dead? The year-end cavalcade continues as we take a look at five of our favorite retro-styled games to arrive this year, with help from Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski of Ultra 64! Then it's on to Wattam, news from the Game Awards, a new Xbox, and your favorite new characters of 2019.

2019 has been a great year for new and original games, and it's introduced a ton of new characters to the gaming canon. This week, Leif Johnson of MacWorld.com joins us to talk about five (OK, six [OK, seven]) new characters whose antics this year left us wanting to see more. Then it's on to MechWarrior 5, SuperMash, Nintendo Direct and Sony State of Play (we'll talk about the Game Awards next week), and the games that convinced you to get a PlayStation.

PlayStation turned 25 this week! To celebrate, we invited PNB Podcast's TL Foster and Kayla Zumbaum to join us for a dive into the past and a look at five much-loved PSOne exclusives that never made the jump to later generations. Then we'll take a quick look at Phoenix Point, get wistful about the return of Toys 'R' Us, and hear about the games you crowdfunded and loved.

Shenmue 3 is just the latest example of crowdfunding as a way to bring back series and genres long thought dead – or to create new ones. This week, Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski of Ultra 64 join us to look at five of the best games ever to be funded by crowds, after which we dip into Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts, take a closer look at Stadia and streaming in general, and find out which villains you’d like to play as, even if they still lose.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What’s a crowdfunded project you backed and absolutely loved?

ALSO: Want to update your feed while we try to get our site working? Plug http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com or http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com/rss into your podcast app of choice!

Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne. Break song is Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe.

Prequels can be tricky. Fans already know what happens next, so if you wanted to tell the story of doomed heroes on an ill-fated mission, they might be able to guess how it ends before they even start playing. TL Foster of PNB Podcast joins us for a look at five games whose heroes you knew were fated to fail, after which we'll talk about Jedi: Fallen Order, Pokémon Sword and Shield, The Game Awards Nominees, Stadia's launch, and your least-favorite recent game design trends.

Question of the Week: If you could play through the villain's story in any game, knowing it would still end in defeat, who would you choose?

ALSO: Want to update your feed while we try to get our site working? Plug http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com or http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com/rss into your podcast app of choice!

This week, Jorge Albor of Experience Points Podcast returns as we take a look at five examples of a strange modern gaming trend: semi-interactive sequences that make you stagger, stumble, or crawl helplessly while dramatic things happen around you. We then take a deep dive into Death Stranding, breathe a sigh of relief at the Sonic movie redesign, and dig into your favorite oddball games.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What's a modern gaming trend that bugs you?

ALSO: Want to update your feed while we try to get our site working? Plug http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com or http://vidjagameapocalypse.libsyn.com/rss into your podcast app of choice!

Does Death Stranding really represent the arrival of a whole new game genre? To find out, we invited USGamer's Kat Bailey to tell us about the "strand" genre and to look back at five other games that defied any conventional genre definitions, becoming very much their own thing in the process. Then it's on to Death Stranding, Luigi's Mansion 3, BlizzCon news, and your favorite mundane stuff to do in games.

This week straddles the line between October and November, between Halloween and harvest season - and so does our show, with a look at five games that combine elements of farming and horror. Then it's onward to Outer Worlds and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, PlayStation Vue winding down, and your favorite villains.

Our final show before Halloween sends off October by tackling no less an evil than Satan himself, as we look at five of our favorite games that let you go toe-to-toe with the Devil. Things then get relaxing as we visit Eastshade, get excited about SUDA and SWERY joining forces, and shiver at the scariest games you've ever played.

Zombie hordes are a dime a dozen; chances to actually join them, less so. This week, GameXplain/IGN alum Micah Seff rejoins us to talk about games where a hero's demise turns them into flesh-hungry cannibals (at which point other heroes usually have to put them down). Then it's on to Disco Elysium, Ninja Saviors, Fortnite (briefly) disappearing into a black hole, and your scariest carnival stories.

Once-beloved children's entertainers are blazing nightmare fuel in videogames, where white makeup and red noses are all but synonymous with sadism and murder. While this week's Laser Time explores evil clowns in wider pop-culture, we're drilling down to find five of the most terrifying clowns ever to menace gamers. Then it's on to Indivisible, PlayStation 5 news, and your creepiest arcade experiences.

It’s our first show of October, and tradition dictates spooky content. So join us in welcoming Podouken cohost Adam, who’ll help us navigate through some of the most memorably fun horror-themed games ever to hit arcades. Then it’s on to Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Shawn Layden leaving Sony, and the classic game series you’d like to see get FMV offshoots.

Whether you think of them as "full-motion video," "FMV," or "a regrettable trend in game design," cheesy interactive movies once seemed poised to take over the game industry - and with the help of MacWorld's Leif Johnson, we brave stilted dialogue (and our own audio issues) to revisit five fondly remembered FMV games from the distant '90s. Then we bite into Apple Arcade's games, get charmed by Link's Awakening, and look at the dead consoles you want to return as "classic" versions.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening makes its adorable comeback this week, so with the help of not one, but two towering guests - Chris Baker and Brett Elston - we dig into five of the best Zelda games that unfolded somewhere other than Hyrule. Then it's on to Borderlands 3, Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son, Dread Nautical, and the videogame music you made up your own lyrics for.

The Dreamcast, Sega's beloved but doomed final console, just turned 20 this week! To celebrate, Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe joins us for a look at five games that made the best use of the VMU, Dreamcast's memory card/second screen/handheld device. Then it's on to River City Girls, Gears 5, Apple Arcade news, and the long-lost platform exclusives that you think deserve a second chance.

Everyone loves hippies! Right? Or at least enough to put a few of them in videogames. This week, PNB Podcast's TL Foster returns for a look at some of the ways games have depicted counterculture dropouts, after which we'll dig into Astral Chain, Blair Witch, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, and a slew of other new releases, along with a ton of Nintendo Direct news and the games you'd like to see in hand-animated 2D.

Being a Disney animator used to mean you were among the world's best creators of hand-drawn, 2D animation - an art form that's fallen out of favor in Hollywood. Luckily, there have been a few times that Disney alums have lent their considerable skills to making 2D games, and we'll dive into five of the best. After that, we snap back to modernity with Control, Knights and Bikes, the apparent resurrection of Telltale, and your favorite bad and weird translations from videogames past.

Localization can be a touchy subject these days, but there was a time when it often meant turning a game into something completely different for foreign audiences. This week, we grab Greg Moore to talk about five classic games that changed completely during the move from Japan to the West, after which we'll talk about Remnant: From The Ashes, Rad, Death Stranding's Gamescom showing, and your favorite movies that influenced the game industry.

This week, we grab Diana Goodman for a high-speed detour to explore five '70s and '80s movies that had a profound influence on the early years of gaming, helping shape the then-new medium's aesthetics and defining its direction for decades to come. Then we dig into No Man's Sky Beyond, rumors of SNES games on Switch, and the games you had to cheat to beat.

Cheat codes may largely be a thing of the past, but this week, we'll look at five cheat codes that became important and iconic enough to earn a place in gaming history - and even to influence its course. Things then take two distinct political turns: first, we dig into piloting a presidential mech in Metal Wolf Chaos XD. Then, we talk about a different President trying to turn games into a political punching bag, after which we wrap things up by talking about your favorite developer workarounds to behind-the-scenes issues in videogames.

We’re at the tail end of another Shark Week, so let’s capitalize on it by grabbing animal expert Cody Laveau, and taking a look at five games that use sharks to keep you from testing their waters. Then we’ll bite into Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and what the kids would be like if you shipped any two game characters.

When Mikel's away, the kids will play. Speaking of kids... This week, Matty and Chris are joined by TL Foster to talk all about games that let you play as the kids of some of your favorite videogame heroes. Then we talk Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, the new Nintendo Switch, the Gears 5 beta, and more!

Some game series run out of ideas and/or steam by their third installment; others hit their stride and shine like never before. With help from GameXplain/IGN alum Micah Seff, we'll explore that latter group, after which we'll dig into Dragon Quest Builders 2, Blazing Chrome, and your strongest arcade memories.

Hey kids, remember the '80s? These games sure as hell do, and they want you to know it. With help from MacWorld's Leif Johnson, we dedicate this week to a look at five modern games that recaptured the neon spirit of the Reagan Years, after which we jump into Stranger Things 3: The Game, Switch Lite news, and your favorite videogame revolutionaries.

As we head into another 4th of July weekend, we're joined by veteran writer/editor/videogame person Carolyn Petit (formerly of GameSpot and Feminist Frequency) for a look at five of the greatest games that let you lead your own revolution. Then it's on to Mario Maker 2, My Friend Pedro, and your personal games of the year so far.

The year's half-over, and that means that - with help from USGamer Editor in Chief Kat Bailey - it's time to look back at the past six months and lift up five games as our must-play picks for the first half of the year. Then we tackle Judgment, The Sinking City, Elden Ring news, and the E3 games that got you most excited.

We're back with a full episode full of reactions to E3 news - but first, strap in for a Father's Day-inspired rundown of some of gaming's greatest DILFs, with special guest Alaina Yee. Then it's on to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Cadence of Hyrule, Collection of Mana, and the western devs you want to see tackle Japanese franchises.

E3 made a big splash this week, but we were too busy actually being there to record a show about it. We'll be back with E3 impressions next week; in the meantime, please accept this short, Top 5-only show we recorded earlier, in which Mikel, Chris, and Matt look at five games that far exceeded our expectations this year (or just suddenly appeared with zero build-up to knock our socks off).

When a Japanese developer wants to dig up a long-abandoned franchise and market it to westerners, one common tactic is to outsource it to a western developer. Sometimes, especially in the 2000s, this came with a mandate to make the series relevant to gamers looking for some hard-boiled nihilism, and the results stand as monuments to a strange era of gaming defined mostly by Grand Theft Auto making piles of cash. With help from PNB Podcast's TL Foster, let's look at five of the grittiest reboots of (already gritty) Japanese classics, after which we'll blast off to Outer Wilds and Void Bastards, catch some Pokémon news, and look at the features you wish more games would copy.

Games crib from each other all the time, but sometimes, a new gameplay idea can be a huge hit with fans and still be widely ignored by the industry. With help from John Brandon of Square Roots Podcast, we'll dig into five of our favorite series with unique features that have yet to be (widely) swiped by other games, and then we'll immerse ourselves in Blood & Truth, get cranky about Playdate, and look at the universes you wish were secretly connected.

Games tend to live in their own conveniently isolated universes, where the rules are different and only one hero's journey can unfold at a time - but sometimes hidden webs of connective tissue link seemingly separate franchises. With help from Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe, we disentangle five of those webs this week, before getting absorbed by A Plague Tale, George R.R. Martin's foray into game development, and your predictions (some wrong, some right) for the Game of Thrones finale.

When wrestlers become actors, the results tend to be either wonderful or laughable - and wrestlers who act in video games are no exception. This week, Larry Niece of Pody Slam! joins us for a look at five standout performances by wrestlers in non-wrestling games, after which we jump headfirst into Rage 2, the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Xbox One, the Final Fantasy VII remake, and the water levels that got you good and stressed.

Underwater levels have a long history of being terrible, but underwater games? Those are something special. This week, we welcome special guest Cicero Holmes of Spawn On Me and Discovery Debrief as we dive into five of our favorite undersea adventures, after which we chat about Shakedown Hawaii, (more) Days Gone, Microsoft's trash-talk guidelines, and the games you love in spite of other people reviling them.

Last weekend, nerd culture was rocked by two huge battles on the big screen and the small one (we're talking about Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones, naturally), so with help from PNB Podcast's TL Foster, let's dive into five times video games made you feel like you were in the middle of a massive, chaotic conflict. Then we shift gears to talk about Days Gone, join the endless chorus giggling at the Sonic movie, and look at the comics and comic storylines you'd like to make into games.

Avengers Endgame is in theaters this week! What does that have to do with videogames? Plenty, because even if there's no official tie-in game, Marvel's Thanos/Infinity Stone arcs have been fueling games since the '90s. With help from two very special Chrises - Comics on Consoles' Chris Clow, and game-industry legend/Operencia writer Chris Baker - we dig into five games that trace their origins back to The Infinity Gauntlet, after which we wade through gore in Mortal Kombat 11 and Katana Zero, wax nostalgic over the discovery of a secret City of Heroes server, and dig into the classic Capcom games you'd buy a logo-shaped retro console for.

We don't usually let real-world tragedy make it into VGA, but the destruction at Notre Dame hit hard for us - and with medieval scholar (and Macworld editor) Leif Johnson joining us this week, we took the opportunity to honor Paris' most iconic cathedral with five games that let you explore meticulous digital versions of it. Then it's on to World War Z, details on the next PlayStation, Capcom's logo-shaped Home Arcade retro console, and the final sendoffs you'd give beloved characters.