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!