Remember earlier this week, when it seemed like the whole world was consumed with eclipse mania? That was enough to inspire this week's topic, in which VGA vet Henry Gilbert and first-timer Matthew Jay join us to discuss five video games that used eclipses as major plot points. We then move on to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Madden NFL 18, the blink-and-you-missed-them SNES Classic pre-orders, and your favorite Sonic the Hedgehog games.

With Sonic Mania restoring Sega's mascot to critical success this week, we invite Heidi Kemps (who reviewed Mania for IGN) to join us for a look at our five favorite Sonic spinoff games. Then it's on to (what else?) Sonic Mania, Agents of Mayhem, Okami HD coming to PS4, a new Swery65 game, and the gritty games you'd like to see get cute sequels.

Nathan "@kenjisalk" Ortega joins us this week for a dive into five cute and/or silly series that suddenly veered into shooty-shooty-brood-brood-murder territory, for better or worse. Then stay tuned for chat about Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Lawbreakers, the return of the Nintendo World Championships, and the portable games you wish you could play on a console.

This week, we delve into five games that made time travel and manipulation central parts of their gameplay - and with co-host Chris Antista out, we've got double guests with Henry Gilbert and Vincent Ingenito to help us sort through them. Then it's on to Tacoma, SNES Classic pre-orders, Dragon Quest XI, and your favorite comic-book games.

With Miitopia and a new 2DS coming this week, this week's Top 5 is devoted to Nintendo's Miis (which have been around for nearly 11 years now) and to the games that let you actually play as them. Then it's on to an earnest discussion of Fortnite, (more) Splatoon 2, Sonic and Archie parting ways, new Telltale seasons, and your favorite moments from Metal Gear.

Metal Gear turned 30 last week, so we're devoting the first half of this week's show to ranking our favorite Metal Gear Solid games, with special help from Henry "hEnereyG" Gilbert. With that out of the way, we move on to Splatoon 2, Toy Story in Kingdom Hearts 3, and the musicians you'd want to perform songs in video game sequels.

With War for the Planet of the Apes hitting theaters this week, it seemed like as good a time as any to rope in Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe and launch our own exploration of the simian perspective with five games that let us play as hulking, violent apes instead of puny humans. We then move on to talking about Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Gorn, Hoobastank's frontman singing Sonic Forces' theme song, and games you've finished, but wish you'd spent more time with anyway.

Plenty of games like to litter their worlds with hidden items and secrets for you to ferret out, but how many of those actually come with their own self-contained storylines? Quite a few, it turns out - but with the help of former IGN editor Vincent Ingenito, we'll go through five of our favorites this week. Then it's on to Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Pac-Man Vs. coming to Switch, and movies you'd like to see get their own janky adaptations. (Thanks to John Spezzano for this week's Top 5 suggestion!)

It's the last day of June, so let's look back on a frankly stellar six months of game releases and pick five of our favorites. (Remember that these are just our opinions, which of course means they now have to be YOUR opinions, too.) Once you're done fantasizing about slapping the smug grins right off our dumb faces, why not listen to us talk about Valkyria Revolution, the SNES Classic, Nintendo Badge Arcade's final update, and your favorite games of 2017?

It's not unusual for comedians to star in games, but there was a time when games could sell entirely on the strength of a comedian's personal star power. Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe joins us this week to walk through five times when comedians played themselves in games, after which we dig into ARMS, Cave Story+, Friday the 13th's new apology content, and the games you wanted to see at E3, but didn't.

E3 2017 is in the books, and the usual duo of Chris and Dave are joined by Talking Simpsons on Patreon's Henry Gilbert and Bob Mackey as each dude delivers their top five games of E3!

We're on the eve of yet another E3, so now seems like a good time to get Hank "Henry" Gilbert back in the studio to help us talk about some of the most memorable celebrities to have graced the show with brief cameos. Then it's time to move on to Tekken 7, Hover: Revolt of Gamers, Pokémon news, and your favorite experiences with in-game chat.

Creepy, quasi-religious cults seem to be all the rage in games this year, with heavy hitters like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and now Far Cry 5 using them as major plot points - so this week, erstwhile hosts Brett Elston and Henry Gilbert rejoin the show for a look at five of gaming's most unsettling and influential cults. Then it's time to dive into Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Friday the 13th, Danger Zone, Sonic Mania, and the arcade games you wish had gotten a home release.

This week, we finally give recurring guest Bob Mackey a topic fit for his <a href="http://www.retronauts.com/" target="_blank">Retronauts</a> chops: ancient arcade games that were "ported" to consoles, but became completely different games in the process. Then it's time to go aggressively modern with Rime, Friday the 13th, Far Cry 5, Red Dead Redemption 2's delay, and the characters you'd love to shove into fighting games.

Injustice 2 hit this week with more power than a locomotive - and with Sub-Zero as a DLC cast member. So to celebrate, we've invited Heidi Kemps of <a href="http://gaming.moe/">gaming.moe</a> to help us count down our picks for the five best guest characters in fighting games. Then it's time to dig into Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Injustice 2 (of course), rampant speculation about Zelda on mobile, the Rap Rabbit Kickstarter, and the board games you'd like to turn into video games.

We've got a bona fide indie developer in our midst this week, as Theresa Duringer of Temple Gates Games joins us to talk about her new mobile adaptation of strategy board game Race for the Galaxy. She also helps us talk about five games that began as fan projects or unofficial mods, only to earn the eventual blessing and/or backing of the companies whose work they were celebrating. Then it's onward toward NBA Playgrounds, Strafe, Deadly Premonition becoming a board game, and your favorite experiences playing games in 3D.

With Austin Powers recently turning 20, we undertake a fan suggestion this week and look at five awful, awful games based on Mike Myers movies... with the help of our old pal Dan Amrich, who won the internet this week by co-creating the stellar Star Wars/Beatles mashup album known as Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans. Then it's time for a spirited discussion about Prey, Call of Duty: WWII, Darksiders III, the New Nintendo 2DS XL, and the series whose gameplay you'd mash together if you could.

Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne
http://matthewjosephpayne.bandcamp.com/

Break song is Dianoga by Palette-Swap Ninja
http://www.paletteswapninja.com/

Haunting and beautiful New Releases Theme by David B. Cooper.

This week sees the release of not one, but two games that mash up popular franchises to create strange and wonderful new hybrids of complementary gameplay - so Henry Gilbert joins the crew to count down a list of five other games that merged existing gameplay formulas to create new crossover adventures. We then switch gears to Puyo Puyo Tetris, Dragon Quest Heroes II, What Remains of Edith Finch, Outlast 2, Night Trap, and the game characters you felt bad about killing.

Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne. Break song is Reincarnation by Yoshiaki Fujisawa. Closing song is Slow Burn by Girls Who Care. Haunting and beautiful New Releases Theme by David B. Cooper.

Follow us on Twitter @VGApocalypse!

This week brings a storm of retro-styled games and revamped re-releases, but before we get to that, Michael Grimm joins us for a look at five games that let you choose paths of (relative) nonviolence, incapacitating and outwitting your enemies instead of straight-up killing them. Then it's time to dig into Full Throttle Remastered, Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy, the Disney Afternoon Collection, our collective disappointment over the unexpected demise of the NES Classic, and the characters you'd want to see work together.

Question of the Week: Has there ever been a game character you regretted killing?

Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne. Break song is The Disney Afternoon Theme by The Disney Afternoon Studio Chorus. Haunting and beautiful New Releases Theme by David B. Cooper.

Follow us on Twitter @VGApocalypse!

It's always fun when someone appears on VGA for the first time, and this week, longtime community member and Anime Streaming Showcase creator Curtis "zabu_san" Stone joins us for a very serious discussion of mascots who habitually carry their partners around on their backs, operating in a state of perpetual symbiosis that you probably thought was totally normal for animals or elves or whatever. The topic was, of course, inspired by this week's release of Yooka-Laylee, which headlines our new releases chat along with Mr. Shifty. It's all we can do to squeeze in some quick Scorpio talk, after which we look at a few dreams you've had about games.

Question of the Week:
Which two game mascots would you like to see work together?

Theme song by Matthew Joseph Payne. Break song is You've Got A Friend as performed by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Haunting and beautiful New Releases Theme by David B. Cooper.

Follow us on Twitter @VGApocalypse!

Persona 5 is here at last, and given that the series has always relied heavily on concepts and symbolism from Jungian psychology (among other things), we thought it'd be fun to dig into five games that deliberately used Carl Jung's ideas to create vibrant, dreamlike stories filled with sinister Shadows. Things then get less esoteric as we look at Persona 5 itself (with help from host emeritus Henry Gilbert), Parappa the Rapper Remastered, Destiny 2's release date, Mad Catz's demise, and your experiences trading in games.

With at least two of last year's biggest games getting big-time DLC this week, it seemed like as good a time as any to take a look - with the help of Telltale's Nathan Ortega - at some of our favorite DLC expansions of all time. More than downloadable extras, these added new stories to amazing games and sometimes even improved the overall experience - and once we're done getting nostalgic about them, it's time to talk about Kingdom Hearts, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Rain World, Narcosis, the Destiny 2 reveal, and your favorite game trilogies of all time.

It's Mass Effect week, so we honor its legacy by starting off with a list of some of the biggest, most important trilogies in gaming - ones that told overarching, three-part stories that stuck in our minds for years afterward. Then it's time to finally dig into Mass Effect: Andromeda, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, the unexpected return of the Floigan Bros., and your favorite Mass Effect romances.

Blaster Master Zero's recent arrival on Switch revived a classic tale of a boy and his frog, so this week we let nostalgia be our guide and put together a list of five of gaming's greatest green amphibians. We then move on to Danganronpa 1-2 Reload, Switch sales, the upcoming Steven Universe RPG, and the sleeper games you've either recently discovered, or wish others would.

Following the surprise of 2010's Nier getting a sequel with this week's release of NieR: Automata, Heidi Kemps rejoins us to talk about five games that were largely ignored at release, only to find an audience years later and come surging back to popularity. Then it's on to extended Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Switch discussion, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Disc Jam, Oculus Rift's price drop, and your favorite launch games of all time.

The Switch is finally a thing you can conceivably buy in a store, and erstwhile host Henry Gilbert returns this week to tell us about his experience playing Nintendo's new console for Fandom.com - but first, we start off with a highly contentious list of five of the best non-Mario/Zelda launch games from Nintendo's past. Then we dig into Horizon: Zero Dawn, River City Ransom: Underground, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the secret lyrics to Mario's theme song, and your oldest consoles that still work.

The release of Halo Wars 2 this week set us a-ponderin' about other huge franchises that have wandered outside their comfortable genres, usually in strange and beautiful ways — so we begin this week by focusing on five of the strangest departures ever to come out of a major game series. Then it's on to Halo Wars 2 and Night in the Woods, after which we talk about Switch download sizes, Fallout 4 in VR, and the game characters you think should like each other... THAT WAY.

This episode was recorded in the aftermath of another Valentine's Day, which we mark the only way we know how: by being miserable bastards and getting spoilery about gaming's most tragically disastrous romances. With that out of the way, we dig into For Honor and Sniper Elite 4, talk about E3 getting bigger and earlier, and (finally!) take a stroll through your favorite games of all time.

We've finally made it to 200 episodes of Vidjagame Apocalypse! Join us as we celebrate by throwing out our usual format and instead try to debate, cajole, and vote our way to a highly subjective list of the 20 best games of all time, starting from the 10 respective favorites of Mikel Reparaz, Chris Antista, Dave Rudden, and Brett Elston, and ending with a vague sense that democracy is just the worst.

The release of the throwback-y Double Dragon IV this week pushes us to look back at games that also looked back, despite being modern and not really having an excuse. With TechRadar's Nick Pino in attendance, we dive into five deliberately retro sequels before snickering at the swinging dicks of Conan Exiles, getting excited for Fire Emblem Heroes, mourning the passing of Namco's founder, and talking about the games you'd like to see get a total overhaul.

This is the first really big week of 2017 for new releases, with Resident Evil VII hitting like a proverbial chainsaw to the POV - but before we get to those, Yakuza 0 inspires us to talk about our top 5 crime lords, with help from Michael Grimm. Then Brett Elston joins us (briefly) to talk RE7 from an insider's perspective, after which there's excited chatter about Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Nefarious, Mass Effect Andromeda getting a 10-hour trial via EA Access, and your reactions to the Nintendo Switch.

This week is full of Nintendo Switch news, as Fandom's Bob Mackey joins us to share his hands-on impression of Nintendo's newest console and its games - but first, one of this week's new (re-)releases inspires a Top 5 about games that featured stealing the bodies of your enemies as their main gameplay hook. Then it's on to Gravity Rush 2 (which Bob also reviewed), tons and tons of Switch talk, and the games you're most excited for in 2017.

We’re back in full for a new year, as Fandom’s Henry Gilbert joins us to look ahead to the games slated to come out in 2017 that we’re most excited for. With that out of the way, we move on to Scalebound’s cancellation, some idle speculation and excitement from before the Switch press conference happened, and (finally!) your favorite games of 2016.

2016 has been a shit year. We won't miss it. But it's nevertheless given us some amazing games, some of which we've been waiting on for years. After a couple of rounds of intense voting, we've come up with our 10 favorites, and assembled an all-star cast of hosts to talk about them, including Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, Nathan Ortega, Michael Grimm, and Brett Elston in addition to the regular crew. It's a long'un, so strap in and find out if your favorites made the cut while we lumber toward 2017 and a (hopefully) happier New Year.

It's almost Christmas, so this week, Telltale Games Community Manager Nathan Ortega and Michael Grimm join us to talk about... games where you play as a dad and protect a kid? Really? OK, fine. We then move on to talking about The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Overwatch's surprisingly divisive character development, Nintendo Switch tech specs, and the Nintendo franchises you'd like to see come to phones.

Dead Rising 4 inspires yet another episode theme, as special guests Henry "Fandom Dot Com" Gilbert and Wes Green joins us to focus on five playable journalists who keep little more than a camera lens between themselves and danger. Then it's on to Telltale's fifth Batman episode, Super Mario Run, Hitman and Overwatch adding holiday content, and the game-character holiday ornaments you'd be proud to display.

It's our first show of December, which means the holidays are nearly upon us. More to the point, Dead Rising 4's Christmasy zombie uprising gives us the perfect excuse to - along with Fandom editor Bob Mackey - look at games in which the annual gift-giving holiday is not only threatened, but totes wrecked. We then talk about THe Last Guardian, Dead Rising 4, The Last of Us Part 2, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, and your favorite Final Fantasies.

Final Fantasy XV is out after a 10-year wait, and we're celebrating the only way we know how: by looking back at our five favorite games from the series' 29-year run. Once we've finished enraging fans with our wrong opinions, we shift our focus to Final Fantasy XV, Steep, Nintendo showing up at Universal Studios, and the games you played over the long weekend.

It's Black Friday here in the US, which means that at least some of you are probably already enduring a retail mosh pit to get a few bucks off a new TV. With that heady whiff of capitalism in the air, we shift our focus this week to some of the most noteworthy merchants in video games, some of whom risk life and limb to sell you stuff in combat zones. We then shift gears to talk about Pokémon Sun and Moon, Monster Hunter as a "cinematic universe," and which games you think would make perfect real-life escape rooms.

The Wii turns 10 in North America this week, pushing us to revisit a strange era of dominance built entirely on first-party games - or was it? In spite of its reputation, the Wii had a whole mess of fantastic third-party exclusives that have never been seen again, and this week we'll talk about five of our favorites with the help of Hank "Henry" Gilbert. Then it's on to talk about important stuff that matters, like the PS4 Pro, Watch Dogs 2, the NES Classic Edition, Nintendo Switch news, and the game characters you'd like to see as president.

We're just days away from the 2016 election as of this posting, and "tensions are high" doesn't seem as appropriate an assessment of the general mood as "chaos reigns." Still, we try to keep it celebratory, as Henry Gilbert rejoins the show for a look at five US presidents we can all agree on, if only because their insane policies are confined to the games they inhabit. We then move on to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Titanfall 2, Owlboy, and the games that you think would be a good fit for Nintendo Switch.

Happy Halloweek, everybody! We're... actually cutting our Halloween theme short a week early, because we only get one Episode 187, and we'd never forgive ourselves if we didn't seize the opportunity to reference an ancient Dre/Snoop song by focusing on characters who went into deep cover to investigate crime syndicates. We then move on to Battlefield 1, Civilization VI, and World of Final Fantasy before talking at length about the Nintendo Switch, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the creepiest things that happened to you while playing games.

As our month of spookiness continues, Heidi Kemps joins us to tackle one of our most bizarre subjects yet: SHMUPs (or shoot-'em-ups, or arcade-style shooting games) that ventured beyond familiar sci-fi trappings to confront something much darker than aliens and enemy fleets. We then touch on Eagle Flight and Return to Arkham, get speculative about Red Dead Redemption 2, mourn the loss of United Front Games, and look at the horror movies you'd like to see get turned into games.

Our monthlong spooky theme continues with some of the most understated scares games have given us over the years: mysterious, often unexplained whispers. Sometimes they're part of the ambient sound, other times they seem to target us directly - but they're always creepy. Then it's time for a look at the week's crowd of new releases, including Mafia III, Dragon Quest Builders, and Gears of War 4; excitement at Red Dead Revolver hitting PS4; and a look at some of the times games scared the hell out of you.

It's the first week of October, which means we're kicking off a month of supernatural- and horror-themed Top 5s, beginning with a look at immortal, superpowered bloodsuckers who starred in their own games. We then talk about the early releases of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Gears of War 4, delve into why Danganronpa on PS4 is exciting news, and look at the N64 games you want to play, but still haven't.

The Nintendo 64's North American debut happened 20 years ago this week. Because any list of its best games would be dominated by Nintendo titles (and would be utterly predictable), let's take a slightly less well-trod road and count down five of the console's best third-party exclusives. We then dig into a bustling week of new releases that includes Forza Horizon 3 and XCOM 2 on consoles, discuss our face-on impressions of Battlezone on PlayStation VR, and talk about your favorite videogame foods.

With the legendary Okami turning 10 in North America this week, Michael Grimm joins us for a look at five cel-shaded games that - partly because of their graphics, and partly because of their forward-thinking design - still hold up alongside modern games. We then speak with special guest Arthur Parsons of TT Games about the second year of LEGO Dimensions, touch lightly on the Digital Homicide debacle, and look at the classic games you'd like to see turned into crazy neon caricatures of themselves.

This is a big week for current-gen remasters of last-gen games, with Bioshock and Dead Rising re-releasing on PS4 and Xbox One, so let's start with a look at five of the best, most feature-rich remasters to hit current-gen consoles. We then move on to ReCore and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, argue loudly about PS4 Pro and iPhone 7, and hear about the games that you went from loving to hating (or vice versa).

In honor of this week's episode number, our erstwhile co-host Henry Gilbert (now of Fandom) rejoins the show to talk about games that did a 180 in the minds of the gaming public - that is, games that went from being widely considered classics to being widely considered classic turds, or vice versa. Then there's extensive news from PAX West, a look at Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice and Mother Russia Bleeds, and a rundown of the PlayStation games you've always been curious about, but never touched.

After all the recent furor over Metal Gear Survive and Metroid Prime Federation Force, we for some reason decided it'd be a good idea to delve into five other games that turned traditionally single-player series into four-player co-op-fests, sometimes with amazing results. After that, we shift our focus to Attack on Titan, a new ToeJam & Earl, and the Super NES games you never got around to despite everyone saying they're great.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System celebrated its 25th anniversary this week, so Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe joins the regulars this week to talk about key moments that created huge shockwaves not just for the SNES and Nintendo, but for the industry at large. Then it's on to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, King of Fighters XIV, Metal Gear Survive, PlayStation Plus coming to PC, and the Wii games that you'd like to see get a second chance.

This week, we enlist Retronauts host Bob Mackey to help us navigate an ancient landscape of games that were based on movies, TV shows, and cartoon characters... until they came to the US, at which point that was all stripped out. We then switch gears to talk about Bound, Metroid Prime Federation Force, Final Fantasy XV's latest delay, and the classic licensed games you'd love to see make a comeback.

We've got spaceflight on the brain this week with the release of No Man's Sky, so before we start in on the game everyone's talking about, Brett Elston joins us to look back at five of the most iconic spaceships video games have produced. Then it's on to (of course) No Man's Sky, Brut@l, Another Metroid 2 Remake, classic Disney games being granted new life, and the games that have been helping you pull through summer.

Who wouldn't want to experience dangerous situations as a soft, helpless infant? Inspired by their recent playthrough of Baby's Day Out, the VGA crew invite Michael Grimm to join this week for a look at games that let you play as babies. After tearing through that discussion, it's on to talk about Abzu, Batman: The Telltale Series, controversies over Pokémon Go updates and No Man's Sky, and the Achievements that made you proud.

Erstwhile host Henry Gilbert rejoins the show this week, just in time to help us talk about multi-platform games that. for a variety of reasons, were completely different experiences on old-gen consoles. With that out of the way, we move on to Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Headlander, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Comic-Con, the latest Nintendo NX rumors, and the games you'd love to see become esports.

Heidi Kemps of gaming.moe joins us fresh off last week's EVO championships - and with fighting games on everyone's minds, we take a look at some of the weirdest guest characters ever to grace games about people hitting each other on the head with fists. Then it's on to I Am Setsuna, Nintendo's tiny NES Classic Edition, and your favorite video-game ghosts.

Friend of the show Bob Mackey (of <a href="http://www.retronauts.com/" target="_blank">Retronauts</a> and <a href="http://www.usgamer.net/" target="_blank">USGamer</a>) joins us this week to count down five games that took clear inspiration from an established series, but recaptured what made the originals great instead of being pale imitations. Then it's on to Pokémon Go (of course!), Monster Hunter Generations, Evolve going free-to-play, and the game-hero childhoods you'd most like to see.

Michael Grimm returns to the show this week to help us talk about five games that flashed back to their heroes' childhoods, letting us experience their most important formative memories firsthand. Then it's on to thoughts on Inside, Furi, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII; Red Dead Redemption and The Warriors arriving on modern consoles; and your personal picks for Game of the Year (so far).

We're at the midpoint of 2016, so it's time to look back at the last six months and assemble a non-definitive, highly subjective list of our favorite games of the year so far. If you haven't rage-quit by the end of it, be sure to stick around to hear us talk about Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Nintendo's NX mutterings, and your dream mashups of two completely different series.

A show number with "69" in it only comes around every 100 episodes, so we take full advantage this week, as Michael Grimm joins us for a somewhat NSFW show about games that used the (sometimes-dubious) talents of former and current adult-film actresses to great effect. Once the moaning is out of the way, it's time to dig in to Mighty No. 9, Umbrella Corps, No Man's Sky's legal troubles and your favorite E3 items that weren't showcased at a press conference.

E3 is coming fast, so let’s distract ourselves just a little before the show starts with a Top 5 about (surprisingly competent) games based on “unscripted” television shows about “real” “people” who are “not entertainment lizards in hu-man guise.” The second segment gets a bit parkour-flavored, what with the one-two punch of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and Watch Dogs 2’s reveal, and then it’s on to your most frustrating memories of losing a game to a glitch or hardware failure.

In belated tribute to the PS2 "classic" Jaws Unleashed's 10th anniversary last week, this episode focuses not on the triumph of being a shark, but the terror of being its victim, with a Top 5 about the most stressful games to swim in. Then it's on to a heated discussion of One Piece: Burning Blood, Primal, Mighty No. 9's latest trailer and the most memorable dreams you've had about games.

We begin this week's show by exploring the theater of the mind, with five games that take place entirely in their characters' heads and/or dreams. We then weigh in on the the Overwatch mania currently driving the internet bonkers, along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, Hideo Kojima's studio plans, and the games you play with your kids (or will play with your hypothetical kids).

Shadow of the Beast arrival this week is a reminder that sometimes, it's possible to tell a clear, engaging story without any actual dialogue. And that pushed us to spend this week's Top 5 discussion looking at other games that tell rich stories with little more than pantomime and grunting. We then move on to Doom, Homefront: The Revolution and Valkyria Chronicles Remastered before turning our attention to worrying game-movie plans, Shenmue remasters and your ideal toys-to-life games.

This week's release of Uncharted 4 is by all accounts a fitting send-off (for now) for one of the PS3 era's most beloved series, and so we get all topical with a frank discussion of five iconic roles inhabited by voice-acting supertalent Nolan North. The discussion then gradually meanders to our time with Uncharted 4 so far before we turn our attention to Disney Infinity shutting down, Assassin's Creed getting a movie trailer and your favorite moments in Star Wars games.

Mikel returns as host this week, and we celebrate by cursing America's pastime with a list of five baseball-themed games in which you never actually play baseball. We then jump back to the present with a look at Battleborn, before shifting to reactions to Call of Duty news, the Ratchet & Clank movie getting panned by critics, and the non-Zelda Nintendo franchises you'd most like to see revived by the NX launch.

Special guest star Heidi Kemps of <a href="http://www.gaming.moe" target="_blank">Gaming.moe</a> rejoins the show this week, just in time for a discussion about our favorite improbably non-Japanese ninjas. Then it's on to talking about Star Fox Zero and the rumored PlayStation 4.5, after which we tackle your favorite Superman and/or Batman games.

Ratchet & Clank's arrival this week sparks a Top 5 discussion about that great and rare Ouroboros of modern media: Video games that got turned into movies and TV shows, and then back into games based on those movies and TV shows. We then dive into a fevered discussion of Dark Souls III, touch on Titanfall 2's multiplatform reveal and take and earnest look at your favorite sports games.

Now that Final Fantasy XV finally has a release date 10 years after it was first announced, Gamespot editor Scott Butterworth joins the hosts this week for a look at five other games that had long and troubled development cycles, but emerged beautifully. Then we dig into Quantum Break and Mega Man Legends 2, marvel at Danny DeVito’s ignorance of Pokemon, and look at your favorite April Fool’s pranks of all time.

Making a game is often a huge undertaking. Making a successful game all by yourself is a staggering feat, and it's one that the five creators behind the games in this week's Top 5 managed to pull off spectacularly. The it's on to a look at the Oculus Rift and its key launch titles, Let's Play controversies, butt controversies and a look at your favorite Game Boy Advance memories.

It’s a jock-out lockout this week, as Retronauts host Bob Mackey joins us to take a look at the gawkiest, dorkiest, most pedantic nerd archetypes the games industry has thrown at us over the years. Then its on to a rip-roaring discussion of Day of the Tentacle Remastered, the week’s flurry of Nintendo rumors and/or hoaxes, and a look at the VR headsets you think have the most potential.

This week, we delve into those strange and short-lived days when it was considered bold and avant-garde to market cheesy games around the promise of nudity and stick them on consoles. We then return to modernity with a look at Salt and Sanctuary, EA Sports UFC 2 and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, then delve into some of the new announcements from the week of GDC before looking at the oldest save files you someday plan to return to.

We get an early jump on St. Patrick's Day this week, with a hiss-heavy segment celebrating five videogame snakes that Ireland's patron saint would doubtlessly have run out of the country on a rail. We then snap right back to the present with a look at The Division, Rise of the Kasai on PS4 and Hitman; wallow in the sad sagas of Lionhead and the Coleco Chameleon; and dig into the best games you never played the DLC for.

The regular cast settles in this week for a look at five bosses that showed up to challenge fist-themed heroes while packing decidedly non-punchy firearms, often with predictable results. With that out of the way, we shift our focus to Superhot and this week's torrent of re-releases, the announcement of Pokemon Sun and Moon, and the survival skills you'd want if you were literally bombed back to the Stone Age.

This week, former Game Informer editor Tim Turi joins us to talk about our favorite prehistoric adventures where sweaty men in loincloths fight dinosaurs. (Appropriately, none of them were made after 1997.) Then we shift slightly to talk about Far Cry Primal, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Vive pricing news and your favorite fighting-game characters.

Ryan J. Hodge, author of Laser Time's own Play/Write series, joins us for the first time this week to chat about frumpy Soviets, suspiciously unnamed guerrillas and other commies who've taken starring roles in games over the years. Then it's on to talk about Street Fighter V and Fire Emblem Fates, free Sega games on Steam and your earliest crushes on game characters.

Our sesquicentennial episode takes a fond look back at some of the absolute worst voice acting ever to appear in video games, as Heidi Kemps joins us to talk about her upcoming MAGFest panel. Then it's on to a packed week of new releases that includes Firewatch, Unravel and a new Naruto; a goodbye to GameTrailers; and the games you'd play if you were trapped in a reality-resetting Groundhog Day situation.

Video games have been around since at least the '70s, but introspective games - ones with a statement to make about how we approach and play games, and what we expect from them - are still relatively rare. With The Witness out this week, however, we decided to take a look at how Jonathan Blow's earlier effort helped push metacommentary in games - and then we use it as a jumping-off point to talk about a few others. With that out of the way, we can talk about The Witness, Final Fantasy Explorers, Mighty No. 9 getting delayed again and the third-party Nintendo exclusives that you'd like to see get a second life.

For decades, character designers have kept a hidden ace up their sleeve, one so powerful that they probably feel like hacks for using it, and so rarely do: if you put a cute face on a vaguely rounded shape, the resulting character will be irresistible and people will line up to buy its merchandise. Today's Top 5 looks at some especially effective blob protagonists (blobtagonists?) whose quivering, jelly-like forms have kept us entertained over the years. It's then on to talk about this week's charming re-releases, including a Boy and His Blob and Dark Cloud 2, before we take a hard look at the songs you were introduced to by games.

Following this week's first round of sad news, Dan Amrich joins us this week to help pay tribute to David Bowie the only way we know how: by basing a Top 5 around his more notable ventures into gaming. The sadness bleeds into our second segment with a look at That Dragon, Cancer, but lets up with Pocket Mortys, Amazon's 20% new-game discounts and a look at the games you're looking forward to the most.

Welcome back for another year of VGA! As has become tradition 'round these parts, we begin the year by looking ahead to five games we're really excited about. (There isn't a whole lot that's been revealed about some of these, though, so it's a short segment. Then it's on to a quick look at Amplitude, some quick laughs about the Star Wars "RPG" Kicstarter and other news that's erupted while we've been away, and a rundown of your favorite games of last year.

It's time for our last show of the year, and we've put together a big one. A rotating cast of regular VGA hosts is joined by friends of the show (including Bob Mackey, Heidi Kemps and Chris Watters) to discuss our favorite games of 2015. There's even a mysteeeeerious "holiday special" sandwiched in between! All that awesomeness left no room for current-events talk, so we'll resume our regular format when we return in 2016. In the meantime, merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Sick of hearing about Star Wars yet? Too bad, because (after a surprise announcement from Anne Lewis) we're making a shameless grab for its coattails with our (admittedly shaky) rundown of our favorite Star Wars games. With that safely out of the way, it's on to a brief look at SteamWorld Heist and the Jack the Ripper DLC for Assassin's Creed Syndicate, some talk about developments in the worlds of Hideo Kojima and Super Smash Bros., and the offbeat franchises you'd love to bring back.

Mikel's back, and he's bringing special guest hosts Bob Mackey and Heidi Kemps with him! This week, we get into five games that let you not just turn evil, but actually unseat the villain and conquer in their place. (Evil path/bad ending spoilers abound, so listen for the time cues if you want to skip ahead.) With that out of the way, we move on to Yakuza 5, Earth Defense Force 4.1 and news from The Game Awards and PlayStation Experience, before taking a look at the games you most closely associate with a holiday break.

With the Xbox 360 turning 10 next week, we're joined by GameSpot host/writer/producer Chris Watters (here to tell us about his brand new book, The Gamer's Bucket List) and Brett Elston (in his first VGA appearance as a full-time LaserTime editor) as we discuss the five greatest true exclusives the Xbox 360 had under its belt. We then switch gears to talk about Star Wars Battlefront and last week's Nintendo Direct, before looking at the hard choices you had to make between two out-at-the-same-time games.

This week, we go unabashedly old-school in honor of LaserTime's newest full-time member, Brett Elston - who couldn't make it, leaving us to stumble through a frank discussion of grappling hooks and swing physics. Then we dig into Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider and a few other big releases, talk about some Overwatch and (pre-Direct) Nintendo news, and take a look at your favorite places to call home in games.

Whether you think of it as your house, headquarters, or simply a comforting save room, having a customizable home base has become a big part of a lot of our favorite games in recent years. As our string of horror-related shows comes to an end, we spend this week reminiscing about five of our favorite homes, after which we dive into new releases like Need for Speed and Cibele, scratch our heads over the King/Activision news, and talk about your worst experiences at places that were <em>supposed</em> to be fun.

Happy Halloween, everybody! For our final horror-themed episode of October, we're going for the jugular with a genre feared even by some horror fans: scary games in which your only defense is to run, hide and hope the monsters don't find you. Then it's on to a lighter discussion of Halo 5: Guardians and WWE 2K16, an enthused look at Sony's Paris press conference, and your favorite encounters with Cronenbergs.

Rick and Morty is a fantastic show, if for no other reason than that it gave us a new use for the word "Cronenberg," referring to incomprehensible masses of writhing flesh and body horror that look like they just flopped out of a David Cronenberg movie. As we continue our scary-for-October theme, taking a look at gaming's most prominent Cronenbergs seems like a logical next step. And after we wipe off their residue, we dive into Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Tales from the Borderlands, baffling Hideo Kojima news and the points at which horror games stopped being scary for you.

Our month of Halloween shows continues with five games about eldritch horrors from beyond the stars, as inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Then it's on to talk about the decidedly less scary Minecraft: Story Mode and Dragon Quest Heroes, Star Wars season passes, and the times you injured yourselves playing games.

We're big fans of Halloween around these parts, so this week's show kicks off a full month of horror-themed shows, starting safe and slow with five survival-horror games (seemingly) intended for children. Then it's time to talk about Transformers: Devastation, Super Meat Boy and Uncharted before providing half-informed analysis of the Star Citizen debacle and talking about your ideal video-game dance partners.

Bay Area games journo and kusoge* expert Heidi Kemps is our guide this week as we explore a slate of wonderfully bizarre and baffling music and rhythm games, a couple of which never made it to the States. Then we tear into Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 and Persona 4: Dancing All Night, discuss news about Kickstarter campaigns and Pokemon butts, and look at your favorite Konami games of all time.

This week's strange will-they-won't-they narrative about Konami possibly exiting the console-game business perked our ears, and while it looks fairly certain that the publisher doesn't plan to exit the industry anytime soon, a fond look back at our five favorite Konami series still seems timely. With that out of the way, we stumble through Soma and other new releases, talk offhandedly about a possible voice-actor strike, and take a look at your favorite celebrity performances in games.

Lego Dimensions' voice-acting cast turned out to be an extremely hefty deal this week, with the likes of Michael J. Fox, Alison Brie and Peter Capaldi confirmed as voicing plastic versions of their iconic characters. This naturally turned our minds to other games that boasted big-name casts, and we put together a quick list of five favorites. Then it's on to hearing Chris gush about Forza 6 and Destiny: The Taken King before getting into Tokyo Game Show Sony news and your favorite Mario moments.

Join us for a celebratory crossover episode with our old friend Brett Elston, who joins us fresh off the 100th episode of VGMpire for a Top 5 about games that pushed the hardware of dying systems to remind us that our old consoles still had legs. Then it's on to talk about Mario Maker, some confused outrage over Nintendo's apparent nervousness about 3D, and your most-cherished PlayStation games.

This week, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain took everyone's attention by storm. It is, by all accounts, a fantastic finale for the series - or at least the part of the series written by creator Hideo Kojima - and with the two-decade anniversary of the PlayStation's U.S. release coming up on September 9, we decided to celebrate early as a way to revisit the console that first revived Snake's career. Kicking off with our five favorite PlayStation games, we then swing into MGS V, Mad Max, faceplate-friendly 3DSes and your favorite boss fights of all time.

A new Metal Gear is just a few days away, and the critics can't shut up about how great it is - but somehow, we manage to restrain ourselves long enough to get out a Top 5 about games with storytelling that outshone their so-so gameplay. THEN we lose our shit over Metal Gear coverage, but not before talking excitedly about Until Dawn, Mega Man Legacy Collection, the Madden "trailer" and your favorite games that never got a sequel.

As much as the games industry catches flak for being a giant disgusting sequel factory, it has its fair share of great games that - whether by design or by circumstance - never got sequels, and maybe never will. Michael Grimm joins us this week to shuffle through five of our favorites*, after which we talk Tales From the Borderlands, new retro game consoles, Grin's death by Kickstarter, and the first games that ever bored you.

*[Informed by a strong belief that The Last of Us is about to get a sequel and a total ignorance at time of recording of Triad Wars, which is an MMO non-sequel anyway.]

They may not be canon and they may not always be happy, but few hidden extras are quite as satisfying to find as secret endings - and this week, we count down five of our favorites. Then it's on to our reactions to Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, some feigned shock at Halo 5's Teen rating, and our first-ever sing-along community segment, with lyrics YOU assigned to game music.