Get Played - 40 Years of The Legend of Zelda

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Heather, Nick and Matt look back at the 40 Years of The Legend of Zelda Franchise. Check out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getpla...yedpodMusic by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com For our exclusive show Get Played DLC, ad-free main feed episodes, our complete back catalogue including How Did This Get Played? episodes go to patreon.com/getplayed Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at getplayedpod@gmail.com Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fm All of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:01 This is a headgum podcast. New Year, same extra value meals at McDonald's. Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg, plus hash browns, and a small coffee for just $5. For limited time only, prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and for delivery. Hey, team, so the big news, we got nominated for an IHeart podcast award for best overall ensemble. How about that?
Starting point is 00:00:35 Yeah, that's pretty good. Pretty good of us. I mean, I think it couldn't have gone. That nomination couldn't have gone to a better trio plus ranch. Plus ranch. Ranch is part of the ensemble. I mean, it's all of our nomination. And I don't want to put the pressure on anybody.
Starting point is 00:00:51 I want to put anyone in their heads. But we're probably getting some new listeners who are joining the show to check in our famous award-worthy chemistry. Yeah. So let's bring it today. Okay. Yeah. It could be new listeners.
Starting point is 00:01:07 checking out the show based on the nomination, or it could be a voting body of some kind of... It could be a voting body, and so this is who knows. These are important episodes, so... Yeah, it's important for us to think of this as an onboarding, a sample. Yeah. You know, you're in the cafe of intellectual delights, and you got to sit down at a couple of tables. The salon, if you will.
Starting point is 00:01:29 Yeah. What else? Sorry, you go. No, no, no. I had diarrhea. I was just going to say I need to go to the bathroom Okay well see this is kind of what they're talking I mean I don't have it now I guess so in sync I guess yeah I guess kind of yes and no it's I mean I had it this week
Starting point is 00:01:53 Earlier I had it this week too okay look we all had diarrhea Not interesting Okay no okay no no yeah do that now that's good What was your name? My name um Hold on, hang on. Hold on. Shit, fuck. Hold on.
Starting point is 00:02:19 Hold on. My name. You know this. You know this. I think it's Nick. Wait, if you're Nick, then that makes me Heather? And, and I'm, am I Mario? Is that who I am?
Starting point is 00:02:34 Your Mario, yeah. That's your Mario. Mario. Mario, Heather and Nick. That's right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Great Do you think we should put the award on like the shelf behind The couch? Yeah Right next to the Signal Award And we're for sure going to get it So I think we should probably pick a spot for it now Okay yeah
Starting point is 00:02:58 I mean we could put it in the bathroom since we're all there so often Well yeah we all have diarrhea all the time Because of our diarrhea I hit a guy on the way over With your car? Yeah I just kept driving I know I said you're about to hit me?
Starting point is 00:03:17 You fucking hit me? All right. We throw boomerangs at Octorox and accept the slow decay of time as we look back on 40 years of Zelda. 40 years. This week on Get Played. Welcome to Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played.
Starting point is 00:04:04 I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Tiger Weiger. That's me, Nick Tiger, along with our third host, Mr. Games, Matt Abadaka. Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone. And welcome back to the premiere video game podcast where this week we are talking about our graves. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. There's something about a 40th anniversary that really hits. Makes me feel pretty good if I'm being honest.
Starting point is 00:04:35 You're younger than Zelda. You're younger than Zelda, France. Yeah, 35. Just shy of it. Well, it's not all great. Yeah, you're right. There's never... There's never been a time when you were on Earth when Zelda was not there for you.
Starting point is 00:04:52 That is true. That's amazing. And is that also true, the Simpsons, your beloved Simpsons? Simpsons was right, yeah, right before me. I feel like the first one is 1989, right? Yeah. Such formative pieces of media for you. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:06 And they've been with you the whole way. although Pokemon came out in your lifetime. Pokemon came out in my lifetime. Tony Hawk's Groskater came out in your lifetime. Tony Hawk was born in my lifetime. Man, Tony Hawk's so cool. Avatar Fire and Ash came out in your lifetime. Sort of the biggest one so far, I think.
Starting point is 00:05:20 Avatar Fire and Ash sure did come out in our lifetime. And like, here's the thing. You've seen it a third time? I've seen it third time. I was just in Chicago. And if I was a more thoughtful person like everyone else in this room, I would have brought back gifts for everyone, but I'm not. You did bring us back half-eaten hot dogs.
Starting point is 00:05:37 Yeah. I need that back. But honestly, if he had, I would have eaten. I'd have been like, oh, my God, from Chicago? Here, I got this out of the fucking trash. No, but I do have something I got for me that I think is relevant, which is... What the hell? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:54 My phone meter. Oh, wow. This is a, I think this is a McFarland toys, and I think this is a nine-incher. It's a big boy. Wow, you can fuck this if you wanted to. As befitting Varang's towering stature, it is a towering action figure. And I think the craftsmanship is really good. Look at that motherfucker.
Starting point is 00:06:15 I think I have to buy this. I can't wait to hold this in my hands. There you go. Oh, my God. If you want, we can unbox it. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it box right now. We've done that on the show before. Absolutely not.
Starting point is 00:06:26 It doesn't go well. I have my knife. I don't want. Also, alarming. We should have never given you that. I like that she's got two faces One's angry and one's sad Yeah, it's really good
Starting point is 00:06:39 I like that she's got a sad face Also her feet are straight I didn't I guess I've never We don't comment on feet on the show That's for the behind the pay wall Don't talk about the feet I've never looked at a Navi feet I guess I never have either
Starting point is 00:06:54 There's too much else going on They've got a hook in them Yeah they're a little different than the human foot Here you go Yeah I'll take another look at this real quick Look at those weird feet Yeah, it looks like... She's got like a thumb gap.
Starting point is 00:07:06 It's because the foot is the same shape as a human foot, but like their hands, they only have four digits. So the toes, there's only four toes per foot down there. So there's like an empty space where a toe would be. Yeah. That was worth all saying, right? Yeah, 100%. Again, we got to cinch up that numb.
Starting point is 00:07:28 This is really good. It's really cool. I'm so happy about it. Congratulations. It is 22. two moving parts. I'm going to pass this to the producer's desk. Please watch your drink.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Please watch your drink. I handed off to Rochelle. And also our intern Ryan is back. Hi, Ryan. Hi, Ryan. Hi, I'm good. Have you seen any Avatar movie? I've seen all of them.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Nice. What do you think? What's your ranking? Way of Water won Fire and Ash. Wow, okay. But they're all like nine and above. Fire and Ash is third in your ranking? I just felt like it was a little derivative of Way of Water, honestly.
Starting point is 00:07:58 I think it's third in my ranking too, but I love all three. The first two hours I thought were like some of the best stuff. I've seen what with the interplay of Korich and Varang. But the last hour I just felt was kind of a repeat of Way of Waters finale. I agree. I was expecting like, okay, this climactic set piece is not going to be another ocean battle with a cocoon. Yeah, I thought we're going to get something else.
Starting point is 00:08:18 But I'd still overall love the movie. And I love Veron. Every other movie that came out in the last 10 years. Yes. It's still a master base. Oh, wait, except way of water. Rather seething. I don't like this.
Starting point is 00:08:29 Ranch, since last week, have you happened to see all three Avatar movies yet? I have not. Ryan, we're going to have to have a talk privately about maybe a new position that's opening up. Ryan, he can leave. Wait, no, he has the Varon toy. Sees him. What a long con this was. To get you to bring that and give it to Ryan.
Starting point is 00:09:00 So he can have a figure from his third phase. an avatar movie. Headgum establishes a fake internship. I don't know. I did when I was at a Disneyland park the other day had my eye open
Starting point is 00:09:13 searching high and low for Avatar Fire and Ash merch. And they had a double-sided pin one side Jake Sully. And I was like, what's going to be on the other side of this pin?
Starting point is 00:09:22 Flip it over. It's Verong, baby. And guess what? That pin, never getting flipped back over. Never. So it's a pin, it's like a button,
Starting point is 00:09:31 like a can badge that you put on your shirt? and it faces out Varang? Yes. Why have you wearing it? I should actually have it on me at all times, yeah. There is a, what I want to know is why did they decide to put Jake Sully Majak on one side instead of Natiri? Because there's such a clear Natiri Varong rivalry.
Starting point is 00:09:50 It should be, it should be Nateri. Two powerful women I admire and support. And mostly for their strength. Yeah. But I agree. It should be Nateri and Varang and then maybe. Quarich and Jake Sully as its own pins. But there should be more pins.
Starting point is 00:10:08 There should be more Avatar stuff in the park in general. There's a pretty good Varang t-shirt here. I need you to send me that link. Fuck, that's sick. It's like a Verong rap shirt. I will buy us all that shirt. If you send me that link, I'm not joking. That's like if Verong was like a WCW wrestler in 2000.
Starting point is 00:10:25 Jesus, that's pretty good. I've had my eye on a similar shirt that has Carmelo Soprano on it. I have one of those for Bobby Bacala. I like that you can just get a stupid shirt of whatever the hell you want. Yeah, honestly, the present kind of rules. In that way only. In that way only? Because you could get a T-shirt with whatever you want on it, and that is nice.
Starting point is 00:10:45 Good news, boys. These shirts are $5 each. I'll spring for one that's maybe a little nicer. That's probably on a Gildan. I would like it on a comfort colors at the very least. The really shitty print-on-a-man quality is one downside. Comfort colors. Oh.
Starting point is 00:11:04 It's a 549 on comfort colors. Send me the link. I'll invest it. Yeah. Put in the group chat. Yeah. Okay, great. Well, I'll get each other one each.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Then we'll all have three apiece. I will put it in our group chat labeled Varan. Yeah. Really took over our entire brain space to the point where we're talking about it on the show every single week. And to the point where I didn't stop at a Verong figure. I took it several steps further. No way. No.
Starting point is 00:11:32 Yes! Yes! I got for wrong ink on my shoulder. Oh my fucking God! It's in full color. Holy shit! It's just black and red, but it does look very vibrant. Oh my God, dude! You are my fucking hero!
Starting point is 00:11:55 It's still healing. It's pretty fresh. Nick Weiger is my fucking hero. I need to know. I need to take a photo of this. This explains so much. about how you were behaving when you walked into that you were excited yeah holy fucking shit we were all very suspect of Nick when he was a shoulder tattooed uh we were a suspect of
Starting point is 00:12:17 nick's i'll say uncharacteristically giddy move when he walked into that i mean honestly part of me feels like we got to redo the intro to the show where it's like uh we play good games the premier verong podcast honestly let's do a veron A Varang tier list real quick. Let's re-rank all the moments the Varang has. They're all S-tier. Yeah. It's all Ferong tier.
Starting point is 00:12:41 That's so great. So this is, did you get this before or after your recent trip? I got this before Chicago. Wow. So you brought it to us actually in a pretty nice state. Yeah. If you had gotten it after you got back, it'd still be all wrapped up. That's a fucking coolest tattoo I've ever seen in my life.
Starting point is 00:13:00 It's made you really jealous. Yeah. I have a bunch of stupid ones. I want that. Oh, shit. Well, thank you. I'm glad it was well received. I mean, fucking end the show.
Starting point is 00:13:10 Where we go from here? That was peak. That was awesome. Where we're going from here is to talk about video games on our video game slash Verong podcast. I felt like I just won a million dollars. I'm starstruck of the guy on our show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:29 You got to show James Cameron. I would love to, man. The dream. JC, if you're listening, hit me up. And we're not talking about Jesus Christ. Well, him too. If you're listening, let us know.
Starting point is 00:13:40 I'll be showing him this at the pearly gates, and you know what he's saying, come on in. Varon's here for you. Wow. A varong for every person in heaven. Welcome to my kingdom. It's also extremely brave because there are two movies left to come. So, like, she as a character could transform.
Starting point is 00:14:00 She's still on her journey. Yes. So she could either, like, it could be that in the next film, and I don't know that this would make you get rid of the tattoo, but she could, like, establish that she's a pedophile. And you'd be like, oh, no. No, I'm ready to get this covered up if it's revealed like Varong is a Zionist. I have to show you, I recently learned of a man named Mr. Avatar. Okay. Oh, I know.
Starting point is 00:14:29 I know of Mr. Avatar. And he's covered in head-to-to-toe. Fuck, this guy rules. Oh, my God. He's kind of a king. Yeah. We salute you, Mr. Avatar. It's good stuff.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Yeah, it was a sort of thing where I told Natalie was going to get a Vong tattoo, and she was like, and then I got back from the, from seeing the tattoo artist, and she was like, it does look cool. Did she follow that with Let Me Out? That's great. That is so great. That made my week, man. Yeah. Wow. That made my week.
Starting point is 00:15:16 This was all worth it. I was truly, I will say, in a bad mood when I walked in. Me too. Now I feel like I could do anything. Yeah. I texted my wife earlier. I'm going to cry. And now I just can't wait because I, because you would, you had, you had,
Starting point is 00:15:30 teased the idea that maybe this was going to be something you did. Yes. And I told my wife, who then told me, do not get a varong tattoo. So I can't wait to show her and have her be proud of you. And then let you get one? And then maybe let me get one. Be sick as hell. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:52 Oh, I'll get them. I'll ranching hood. God, what a nightmare with that baby. We all have the same varong tattoo. Hey, buddy, a well-built wardrobe is about pieces that work together and hold up over time. That's what Quince does best. Premium materials, thoughtful design, and everyday staples. They feel easy to wear and easy to rely on, even as the weather shifts.
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Starting point is 00:17:30 and I almost call it a toboggan, which is what they call it in Canada, but we know a toboggan is something differently. I have a cashmere beanie that is so comfortable. It's my favorite beanie, one of my favorite pieces of headwear. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to quince.com slash get played for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Hey, so that toboggan thing made sense to you. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash get played. Free shipping and 365 day returns, quince.com slash get played. What have I done? I made a sandwich out of donuts and marshmallows again, and I poured apple juice all over it.
Starting point is 00:18:09 I want to eat better, but I got zero time and zero energy to make it happen. I'm just eating these marshmallow and apple juice sandwiches all day long. Well, Factor, thank you. Factor doesn't ask me to meal prep or follow recipes. It just removes the entire problem. Two minutes, real food, done. Last night I ate a shoelace dipped in chocolate. I realized last night as I was eating this shoelace dipped in chocolate, something was wrong.
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Starting point is 00:19:09 No refined sugars. No artificial sweeteners. No refined seed oils. I was chewing on a picture frame for 15 minutes before I realized it wasn't a cookie. Not with Factor. With Factor, I got a chicken pasta kit and it was so good. it's so easy to do. There's 100 rotating meals every week.
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Starting point is 00:20:52 with factor. Put down the light bulb. It doesn't go in your mouth. Matt, I am sick and tired of not winning a award for ad reads. So I want you to listen to me real goddamn carefully. Okay, okay. Listen to this, Matt. Every group has someone who insists on doing things
Starting point is 00:21:14 the hard way. Matt, are you listening? That friend's still paying for a subscription. They forgot they had. That one refusing to update their phone because it still works. Matt, are you with me? Matt, are you paying attention? I am. I just want to go. I used to be that person. too, especially when it came to overpaying for wireless, then I switched to Mint Mobile, and I'm so glad I did, Matt. Matt, I am so glad that I switched to Mint Mobile. Matt, do you believe me?
Starting point is 00:21:40 I believe you. Do you fucking believe me? It's a great service. It's a fantastic service. Stop paying way too much for wireless just because that's how it's always been. Matt, Mint exists purely to fix that. Same coverage, same speed, just without the inflated price tag. Matt Apadaka, I am talking to you.
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Starting point is 00:23:44 See mintmobile.com. Matt! All right. Let's talk about some video games. The question for the room is, what are you playing? What are you playing? It hides me the residue room engine. And I need a tattoo so that I can.
Starting point is 00:24:04 I can support my friend Nick Wiker. Oh, that's nice for any one-mercher, but you don't have to do that. Yeah, I want to get you on my arm. Oh. And then on your arm on my body, we'll be wrong. Okay, you want to get a full-body tattoo of me. No, not, no. Where can they do that?
Starting point is 00:24:23 Can you get a tattoo that make you look like somebody else? No, I, no, I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean like a- I can get a full-knit. Do you actually look like you? I do look like me. Or are you wearing a nickname? Weiger tattoo.
Starting point is 00:24:35 No, not, well, even if I was, then that would still be me. Unless you're saying I'm some sort of doppel ganger and the real Nick Wiger is somewhere else. Is this like Scrabble rules? I can't follow. I can't follow either, to be frank, a Resident Evil Merchant, but I will say that... What do you mean by Scrabble rules? You've never heard of Scrabble? No, I know the game, but like, as far as I know, the rules are, you have to spell a word.
Starting point is 00:24:58 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you got, all right, so there's a board. I like you I like you too Hey Hey I like you too That's nice I like you guys I get tattoos
Starting point is 00:25:11 Of each of my friends I get Heather on my belly Okay Nick of my arm With his arm With Varang Okay
Starting point is 00:25:20 And Matt upodaka On his arm With his tattoo Of his Simpson tattoo On my other arm There you go Okay so you're saying You would get like
Starting point is 00:25:28 Not a full body representation You would get like A portrait of us on your body. Okay, so now because now this idea is in your head, you want the full body one. I was going to tell you it's not going to work. It's not going to work.
Starting point is 00:25:42 To toe and head. So you want like, you know how performers will do that like half thing where it'll be like there'll be one person on this half and half and then they'll switch back and forward. I think you're going too hard on this. I want like a character sheet.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Like in Dungeons and Dragons? No, no, no like animation. You got that front I see And then like pose Yeah you can't do like a gif as a tattoo You can't get any emotion You guys are making this so hard on me
Starting point is 00:26:13 I just want tattoos of my friends I feel like we have to drop it Because if we're such murky territory If you're confused by us I like it I don't like it I spend the whole week learning scrabble And now I'm being confused by my friends
Starting point is 00:26:30 Scrabble's a really hard game Resident Evil Merchant, look, we love you. And I will say, you mentioned Varong in the context of my new ink, but as a towering figure from the world of science fiction yourself, do you have an opinion on Varong or the Avatar franchise? I don't like short ladies. She's not short. She is quite tall.
Starting point is 00:26:52 She's like nine feet. She might be taller than you. I don't like them when they're tiny. Okay, well. I'm afraid I'll hurt him. She's bigger than what you see here. She's not accurate. That's not, that's not, like, one-to-one scale.
Starting point is 00:27:05 That's, well, that's an action figure of Varang. Okay. Again, I feel like we're playing a hard ball here, guys. Like a hard ball? Isn't that who's on your arm? Yes, but that is an action figure representation of a character that in reality or in canon is nine feet tall. Okay.
Starting point is 00:27:27 Yeah, good. So I'm 10-1. Just say 10. 10 is already so crazy. Just say you 10 feet tall 101. Who gives a shit? I like the extra inch. Why not?
Starting point is 00:27:41 It's like how Bull Simmons says he's six and a half, half inches tall. Six feet and a half inch or six one foot one and a half. That's just the funniest way somebody could say they're five ten. I'm six foot and a half. Okay, little guy. I feel like I got to ask you guys a question. That's right. Matt Obitaka
Starting point is 00:28:02 What are you Oh my God I'm 110% You're 110% Yeah give it a hundred and ten percent I see okay We do admire your commitment Look
Starting point is 00:28:16 I'm playing Octopath Traveler quite a bit I love this for you so much I said this last week Nick when you weren't here I started Octopath Traveler I don't have five members possible for my party So I mean like you know figure out who I want in the in the core crew yeah as it were and look I just think it's all
Starting point is 00:28:38 interesting this this game for me I feel like is maybe it must be how people feel when they were like watching Game of Thrones having like read the books or something because I was like to me this is kind of like a book there's like so much there's so much words in this game right and there's And the dialogue is all really interesting, and there's a lot of, like, sort of, like, there's a, I mean, it's, there's, like, there's, like, there's, there's, like, there's, uh, there's, uh, there's, there's, uh, there's, there's, like, very colorful and very, um, I don't know, it just, it handled it very nicely. I just, like, I'm just, like, last week I pray is the voice, uh, acting, and there's just, like, there's so much of it. There's more in it than I had thought. How do you feel about the combat? I, you know, I will say that, like, the, the, I, I, I, I will say that, like, the, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I will say, I, I, I, I love turn base stuff and I like I was saying last week I like figuring out how to break the shields and stuff like that and I started with Cyrus who is a scholar and he has the ability to analyze enemies and stuff so when you have there's like you'll have like a there's a small row of you know question marks and some of them will be revealed if you've battled these
Starting point is 00:29:55 types of characters before or something but otherwise they'll be filled in you can analyze them and then every time you see them you can know how to take down their shield and break them and I just have a lot of fun figuring out everybody's little combos like not combos like
Starting point is 00:30:10 their different abilities and how to knock them down it is like that stuff is a little slow and it is a like I feel like the game itself is slow yeah right because like you're walking from place to place I I'm underleveled for continuing character's stories at the moment.
Starting point is 00:30:32 So what I'm doing is I'm just kind of like going around and like trying to level up as much as I can and then also collect the new. I think I only have like three characters left to get, I think. And I'm just like enjoying. I'm always, you get the option to either have them join your party immediately or go back and play their beginning of the story. and I'm just doing that every time because I think it's all just like interesting stuff so I think if I'm to finish this game
Starting point is 00:31:00 it's gonna be a meaty one because I'm not in chapter two yet of anybody's story and I think I'm like something like probably like 20 hours in or something just doing a lot of stuff but I'm just I'm really really enjoying it and I want to balance that
Starting point is 00:31:16 with like a fun sort of like actiony kind of experience I'm playing this on Switch to Dragon Quest Seven's coming out so I can only imagine this getting bumped maybe for that because I can't wait to play that I can't wait. It looks rad. I can't wait to play it.
Starting point is 00:31:33 That new Resident Evil is supposed to be really, really good I'm hearing. Is that out? No, not yet. It's coming out this month. Okay. And I'm really looking forward to that. Too many games already. Games are back. Games? I'm breaking news. They're handing me a piece of paper from over.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Games are back. Wow. Wow. It's crazy. It's a crazy time. But that's what I've been playing, Octopath Traveler. Okay. For, you know, our listeners, we're on a video podcast.
Starting point is 00:32:01 Matt did a full act out there. Yeah. Put his hand to ear like he had an earpiece. Yeah. And then grabbed a piece of paper handed from an unseen person. I thought it was pretty good. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
Starting point is 00:32:12 That's an improv training. Yeah, I would have been. Thousands of dollars well spent. I'm sure I'll be famous any day. Improvisor way to fame. Oh my God. Hey, you know what? It's happened to people.
Starting point is 00:32:27 That's true. That's what I've been playing. Heather, what have you been playing? Well, a couple quick updates. The Pokemon card game pocket season just ended. It felt like a very short season. I only made it to Ultra 4. Didn't crack Masterball again this season, even though I did.
Starting point is 00:32:47 What? Where did Gail get? Oh, Ultra 1. She had a full collapse this season and could not break into a good pace with her cards, even though you can now give cards to people and trade cards. So I gave her the cards that she needed in order to complete the deck that I was using, which I was shooting up the ranks with. I just didn't have a ton of time to play Pokemon the card game Pocket.
Starting point is 00:33:15 So finished at Ultra4, new... Expansion pack drops at 5 p.m. recording day time. Wow. Which might be, you know, literally right now. 12 minutes ago, as a press time. 12 minutes ago, drop the new, what are you looking for? Are you reading a book? This is for my, I wasn't trying to get it to comment it on.
Starting point is 00:33:35 This was going to be for my, I'm just getting ready for my, what are you playing? I thought you were just like, fuck this. I'm going to start reading. I'm passive aggressive would that be. Um, um, sorry. That's fucking sucks. The fingerling. to turn the page is good.
Starting point is 00:33:52 Also, we went backwards with the page turn. I better go back to read this again. I heard talking is ruining my reading. I clearly just don't even know how to read. So playing that, the South Park season of of a Fortnite, which has been,
Starting point is 00:34:12 first off, can we talk, I don't think I've talked Fortnite a few weeks. Yeah. So I think I can drop in with a couple of updates. The biggest update is that South Park is the season. Yes. So like the South Park characters are in the game. Cartmanland is in the game.
Starting point is 00:34:30 Respect my thought of that. There is for the first time since I've been playing a medallion, a coin that you can get called the Kenny coin, which automatically reboots you because you can't be killed. That's pretty good. Great power up. But simultaneous to that are these high. Realistic The Office skins that have just hit the game of the boss and the guy. Oh, my God. You work in television.
Starting point is 00:35:05 The blank spots you have for certain aspects of pop culture is staggering. So funny to me. I've never seen the office. I've seen the entire original British office. The British office is great. British office is really, really great. I think that I'm going to be the first person on Earth to say this. The American office is pretty funny.
Starting point is 00:35:24 That's what I've heard. That's what I've heard. Michael Scott and Dwight Shrut. Yeah, those guys. So they are in Fortnite currently. Yeah. And so is Ed from Ed, Ed, Ed, and Eddie. Wow.
Starting point is 00:35:39 And those are like the three simultaneous big drops. Ed is the little pink one? I don't know which one he is. Maybe it's not Ed, Ed, and Eddie. I don't know who they're. the fuck the guy is. He's got squiggly lines for his line width. Could be any of them. The line
Starting point is 00:35:54 width adjusts constantly. It's really a fantastic skin. But it's the joke that used to be like, oh, everybody's in Fortnite is becoming so alarmingly true. Like to have these near photo realistic office and kill
Starting point is 00:36:11 bill and Pulp Fiction skins running around simultaneous with Cartman and Kenny and Kyle from South Park it's a really strange menu to be to be engaging with right now but also extremely fun
Starting point is 00:36:29 I think there's this like this spectrum right where the hyper realistic characters of like LeBron James or like Ariana Grande like for some reason show he Otane like that stuff is funny Yeah. Some movie character, sure, like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, like, sure, why not?
Starting point is 00:36:50 Yeah. Something about the office guys, it's on the other end of it where I'm like, that's actually not good for some reason. Like, there's something about it to me that doesn't ring correct for some reason. It's kind of like this weird uncanny valley threshold where it's like, wait, you're not like a, you know, you're not like John McLean, you're not like an action hero. Yeah. You know, you're just like a guy.
Starting point is 00:37:12 It's like for some reason it's funnier to me that, you know, normal human man, LeBron James, running around shotguning like Bugs Bunny or something. Right. But like something about Michael Scott with a gun is scary to me and I don't like it. Yeah. It's weird because it also is like it feels to me like I don't know. I don't know for a fact that this is true. But I'm willing to say I think it has to be the first straight.
Starting point is 00:37:45 sitcom skins in the game. Yeah, I think so. Right? Because there's not like Big Bang Theory guys in the game. Or any of the friends. Right. It's just so it's, Well, Nick's right, Bazinga.
Starting point is 00:37:56 The friends should be in there. Honestly, Joey, how you do it? And he fucking takes you out. Oh my God. It'd be good. That'd be awesome. It'd be great.
Starting point is 00:38:04 It'd be great. But that's part of what. A smelly cat emo. Oh my God. That's Matt. Where we, I don't know. Ross saying pivot. Oh, fuck.
Starting point is 00:38:15 That's so. funny. We talked about that one last week. I know that one. I know pivot. I explained to the episode where he couldn't get his leather pants up because his legs were all sweaty. I think perhaps the single greatest clown performance I've ever seen. So funny. I'll show you the clip. You'll lose it. I can't wait. I can't wait. But anyway. So those are the updates on the games that are my sort of forever games that I'm playing. Nick, what are you playing? Heather, thank you so much for asking. As you mentioned, and I apologize for my absence on last week's episode, I was out of town. I was in Chicago doing some Do Boys live shows.
Starting point is 00:38:55 I did see the Sonic Cafe in person, and we did not dine there because the rest of my party said it smelled too bad. But you were, if you had your druthers, you would have gone in and you would have ate something. I could have gone solo. I could have gone, but I just, you know, I decided I'll stay with the group. And if we, if we decided to come back here, we're great, but it didn't end up happening. What'd you think of the bean? I didn't see the bean. I've seen the bean in the past. It was so fucking cold on our bean day. Yeah. That we, that we were like, we were going to go to the bean and then we were like, I feel like we're going to freeze to death. Yeah, it could become vanilla bean, ice cream. Oh, it sounds like happening to me. Vanilla's a flavor. But so I didn't, but here's what I'll say about my Chicago trip. Also, first, I should mention that I met a lot of Get Played fans. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:49 Played listeners who came to our Do Boys live shows. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much for listening. Chicago. And yeah, yeah. Great to see you all out there. Thanks for showing up. At the wrong podcast.
Starting point is 00:40:01 Well, at the only game in town. It's the option you got. So I'm glad you got to show Nick some love by having your presence. I really wonder. It must have happened at this point that a get played listener has come. to a dough boys show not knowing, who doesn't listen to dough boys. It's possible.
Starting point is 00:40:17 They're just like, oh, it's like I can see one of the get played to us in person. I'm pretty sure all the people at your shows don't have, don't listen to the show. If they did, they wouldn't be there. Anyway, to the point of the episode two weeks ago, I didn't even consider bringing my switch to. There wasn't even a moment where I was like,
Starting point is 00:40:34 You're gonna get in trouble, man. They're gonna get in fucking trouble, man. There wasn't even a moment when I was like, you didn't want to say, Dick, can I just help you out real quick? Say you didn't want to bring it because you didn't want anything bad to happen to it. Yeah. There were too many games to choose from.
Starting point is 00:40:47 Right. I was worried that if I brought it, I'd be so disappointed with the selection of software. No, no, no, no, no. No, no. No, no. No, Nick, they're going to blame me. And the way that thing sucks, it would go all the way down. That thing is, I'm always so scared.
Starting point is 00:41:02 I'm going to get sucked down in it. Yeah, it really is, really is powerful. I, no, I didn't even think about bringing my switch to. I, like, which, again, you know, speaks to, I, I'll just say, my own personal lack of connection to switch to as it currently stands beyond loving Donkey Kong Bonanza. A feeling that is sure to shift in the next few weeks as unreleased virtual boy games finally come to the switch to. That's what we're all waiting for. By the way, you're halfway to winning this bet again because your bet was Grand The Auto 6 I think doesn't come out on time or it comes out on time and new virtual boy games.
Starting point is 00:41:40 Really? That was my bet. So you have half of it down. Holy shit. If G.A. 6 comes out on time. Wait, I thought it was that it was going to be postponed. Oh, maybe that's what it was. I thought it was new virtual boy games and the postponement of GTA 6.
Starting point is 00:41:56 Okay, yes. And yours was that it's getting postponed and there will not be new virtual boys. Mine was the split where it was GTA 6 is coming out on time and there will be no. Yeah, so which are all three different options. But anyway. Anyway. Anyway, I didn't think about bringing my switch to because I didn't need it. Unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:42:16 And you hate it. And I don't like it. Which is my fault. Heather told me not to like it. I was more than occupied. I was more than occupied with Bellotro on my iPad, which I don't really like playing on my phone, Belatro on my phone, even though I will do it on the train. I think it's a great iPad experience.
Starting point is 00:42:39 and just, just, you know, a little bit more screen real estate. I mean, it's it's a little bit easier to discern the cards and to, you know, just just appreciate its aesthetic. I have really improved my Blachro win rate, and part of that is because I've been consuming more content from, from YouTubers, from streamers. I've been watching more Raffle. I've been watching more Bellatro University. And it's interesting because Blotcher University had one video that,
Starting point is 00:43:09 was fairly recent that really did inform my strategy as I'm trying to go for the gold stakes, which I have achieved on multiple decks at this point. The basically, it's funny because it's like it's algorithmically slash clickmated like titled by necessity like Blotro has a huge balance problem. But it's actually not that like it's more just talking about the reality that and it might not be Blotro University, maybe a different creator. I apologize. Anyway, it's just basically talking about how.
Starting point is 00:43:39 how in the end game, in the late game, as you get to the highest difficulty levels, it just narrows the number of options that you can, that are viable. And you're much more likely to win with a pairs build because you have fewer hands, you have fewer discards. You just have fewer opportunities to draw like a multi, like a five card flush or a five card straight or something like that. These more five card full house, these more elaborate higher value hands. and so it's better just to go for pairs.
Starting point is 00:44:10 So I've been sort of like going more towards that strategy in general, case-by-case basis. Every run is different. But that has really improved my success, right? And I feel like I'm like, okay, I played this game for seven days at this point. Yeah. That, you know, it's nice that I can, I still feel like I can improve at it. But I thought I'd talk about a book that I picked up that I've been reading on the plane. and I will have a more, a fuller,
Starting point is 00:44:39 a fuller discussion of this when I finished it. But it's called The Score. It's by Cthi Wynne, who's a philosophy professor at the University of Utah, previously wrote a book called Games Agency as Art, which I'm now curious about reading. But I really like, and Heather, I think you're in this headspace too.
Starting point is 00:44:59 I really like reading anything that's about how our devices and the internet has broken our brains, has just basically like irreparably damaged us as individuals and as a society. And this one is so much about how gamification is just kind of like fucking up our brains, but also diminishing the inherent value of activities. Because like now, oh, I'm like, like, even with like a, I was reading a different piece about this about like how American sauna versus how other, how, you know, European sauna.
Starting point is 00:45:31 And just like for Americans, there's like kind of like this, uh, fitness. influencer culture behind it about like seeing how long you can sauna and tracking it and everything when it's really just supposed to be a social activity that's just about rejuvenating yourself you know what I mean? Yeah. And so and we see the same thing where I mean like three out of the four of us are wearing aura rings. I plan to get one.
Starting point is 00:45:50 You know, but it's like we're tracking absolutely everything, our fitness and our sleep and and it's used as well to track our working, you know, in office culture. Yeah. And it's just like, I don't know. It's fucking everything up. But also the other thing the book starts to do is talk about how that diminishes the value of games themselves. Because games have their inherent, like, sort of purpose. And it does spend some time dissecting that.
Starting point is 00:46:17 So I really like it. It's an intellectual sort of, I don't know, I just, anything that's kind of like intellectually trying to understand gaming as an art form. It feels to me kind of like the thing I think you've articulated before about how Nintendo doesn't have achievements. And there's like a, there's like a feeling of like, well, if I. I'm going to play this game and have it count, then I want to play it on a different platform. And that's gamification of games. Right, right, right. And so, like, the idea of playing a game for a game's sake is eliminated when there is an
Starting point is 00:46:48 additional metric that you can collect in order to make that game real. In similar ways, like, if I'm eating food, recently I've started tracking my food. And the moment I started doing that, I wanted to be like, oh, I got to max out this stat. And the food became secondary to the idea that I could level up my dining experience instead of just engaging with flavors. That being said, if you could gamify flavors, then I'd be back in. Yeah, I'd be in. Well, yeah, Nick could be at the top of the leaderboard. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Anyway, the book is the score how to stop playing. A hundred in Chile and nothing else. Somebody else's game. I also wanted to talk about a game adjacent thing. Nelly and I started watching Taskmaster, the British show. Matt, you've seen Taskmaster? I love Taskmaster. I had not seen Taskmaster before.
Starting point is 00:47:42 It is, we started with our buddy Jason Manzuka's on a season. We started with that season. So we had to buy that season, but I think a lot of the earlier seasons are on Tooby or Pluto or something. They're free somewhere. Anyway, it's so entertaining. It's great. It's five comedians and, you know, largely British comedians that, to me, as an American, like I don't, I'm not familiar with them, but they are all super talented, at least on this particular season.
Starting point is 00:48:07 They're super funny. And they are basically given a series of tasks by the taskmaster by the host where they have to do things like, you know, just various games. And there are one, there are some like, you know, for instance, a straightforward tasks like putting a wetsuit on a mannequin or improv style games that are like, you know, tell a ghost story about a barbecue and fewer than a hundred words or lateral thinking puzzles, like sit in this lab. and figure out what makes this light bulb turn on. And it's just fun to see people like think through these things and out loud and physicalize these activities. But also they're all just like cracking jokes and ripping on the host and ripping on the show the whole time, which is really, really funny. And in Jason's particular case, trying to destroy the game from within. Yeah, that's the other thing that's great is that the format is like loose enough and low stakes enough where they will reward sometimes like circumventing the rules and coming up with a creative solution.
Starting point is 00:49:04 Kind of like if you're at a Zelda's shrine and you're supposed to roll a ball down something, you figure out to skip progression entirely. It's just like it's cool to see that those workarounds. Yeah, no, Jason was like sequence breaking the entire game. It's great. It's so funny though. I just like I like we're laughing out loud repeatedly multiple times per episode, which like I'm so jaded about comedy now and I consume so little of it. Yeah. That I just like it's like holy shit.
Starting point is 00:49:29 This is like a genuinely very, very funny show, a really great premise that's really well executed. I was thinking about that when I was watching it because I was similarly don't like I find things funny but I'm never like I don't know it's tough for me to be like oh this thing is so fun like I don't know it's like tough so like watching I just watch more dramas and stuff in general and then find funny stuff in that right like and Sopranos is like one of the funniest shows I've ever seen but um with this I think it's just because it's so outside of our uh it's a different different rhythm yeah kind of like it's just so outside of like what I'm used to see. seeing in comedy and like what I'm used to like even like doing. Uh, so it's just, it's just fully entertaining like from from the jump. It's great. The comedic energy is, is really, or the energy that's conveyed by the editing is what I was trying to say. It's, it's really, really sharp. And also just it's an interesting game, like, like show from a game design perspective. I think all the game is like, oh, that's a really thoughtful, creative idea for, you know, for some sort of contest. And they tend to have some sort of silly layer like,
Starting point is 00:50:33 oh you have to pause and shh every 20 seconds or something like that yeah or like there was the one where they had to like where they throw a pee as far as you can or something like they have to go find the pee yeah like in the scene it's like fuck why did I throw it so far yeah because they'll reveal like steps of it so like how far can you throw this pee and they're figuring out to throw the pee the farthest way you know like um uh Jason like carves into something else yeah and and and puts the uh puts the P inside of it and then throws that object. But then they find out the next step is they have to go find it. And whoever finds the P the fastest is the winner.
Starting point is 00:51:07 So it's like if I, they can they find ways to like fuck with you, which is great. It's really, really fun. Yeah, it's awesome. Sounds great. It sounds great. It's great show. It is a great show. I'd recommend anyone.
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Starting point is 00:56:04 Support our show and let them know we sent you after checkout. Lisa.com promo code get played. Let's talk about 40 years of Zelda. Wow. Wow. Let's all go back in time. I'm just but a sperm. All right.
Starting point is 00:56:30 Do you think you were the sperm? No, not yet. There's no way. No, but this is what I was going to say. It's like, is your sentience. I don't think the sentience of the sperm transfers into the ovum and then that it becomes a being. There is no sentience of the sperm. I agree.
Starting point is 00:56:45 I don't think there's any sort of like I think. That's why when you jack off, you should actually go to jail. It shouldn't be okay. You're actually killing babies when you do that. No, it's of course, I feel like portrayed in that way, like in movies or something or like the sperm swimming to the egg and like the sperm is the one with life. But it's like such a, you know. It's inherently like patriarchal. Yes, of course.
Starting point is 00:57:09 Like, the man did this. Right. You couldn't do this without the fucking sperm. Right. Shut up. Spirms sucks. Who gives a shit? You don't need it.
Starting point is 00:57:18 Yeah, I don't need it. What the fuck is happening? Matt locked out of Marty Supreme one minute in. Get this shit out of here. What an opening for Marty Supreme. If anyone hasn't seen, this is such not a spoiler. It's like very, very early on the movie. It's opening credits.
Starting point is 00:57:32 Yeah. But, yeah, it's like, starts with like a baby being conceived. down to like, it's like, look who's talking. You're seeing this firm swimming towards an egg. It's insane. It's insane choice, but it's awesome. But also weird because it's been done specifically in, look who's talking. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:57:50 Yeah, but in look who's talking, they're all cracking jokes. That's a good point. And Marty, they didn't do that. Yeah. No, it's played straight. I actually, as part of the, when you're in like the entertainment unions, you'll get sent ancillary materials for awards voting. So I was looking at the Marty Supreme script because I was that, is that in there?
Starting point is 00:58:07 and it is. It's like page one. It's like we see sperm flow into it. It's like, this is insane, but I love it. I like a movie that is like, oops, all swings. So many big choices. So, so fun. Anyway, but we're not talking about Marty Supreme, although we could.
Starting point is 00:58:23 Here's the thing we could, but that's, I feel like it's primarily a Varang podcast and maybe secondarily a Marty Supreme podcast. Right. But right now it is a Zelda podcast. Yes. Ha! What a franchise. I mean,
Starting point is 00:58:46 Shakira Miyamoto conceives and creates it. And it's just one of those things where it's like, he already made Mario. He already made Donkey Kong. And he makes Zelda. It's like, and Pickman is like also a successful franchise. But it's not a Titan that those three are.
Starting point is 00:59:03 Those are three of the most iconic franchises in video game history. And they are. primarily the brainchild of one man. It's equivalent to that Jim Carrey run in the 90s or like the Rob Reiner decade of just straight bangers. Matt, I don't want to diminish Jim Carrey starring in Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber and the Mask all in the same year. But I think Shigeru Miyamoto's accomplishments perhaps eclips even that year of cinema
Starting point is 00:59:31 from old Carrie. Here's the thing. I don't disagree with you. For some reason, I feel like that Miyamoto had a game before Donkey Kong. Was it was Popeye one of his? I'll look it up real quick, but he did it. It's just, again, just early career achievements are so, so staggering. And the Legend of Zelda, I am old enough to have, as a small child, experienced that game and been befuddled by it.
Starting point is 00:59:57 Which I believe, Matt, you played this game for the first time and through to completion, I should say. Yes, I finished this game this week in preparation for this episode. Alpha as hell, you are the finisher. I will say, look, but you, that must, I believe that paralleled your experience,
Starting point is 01:00:13 like not really knowing what to do with this thing. I didn't really know what to do, like, because the game doesn't onboard you in any sort of, in any way at all, actually,
Starting point is 01:00:21 you'll, throughout the game, encounter rooms in dungeons that have sort of obtuse, like, clues. Like there was one, or it was like,
Starting point is 01:00:33 there's like a secret in the point of the nose or something like that. And then you later realize, that there's a secret room in, like the maps, the dungeon maps, how I'll have specific shapes, one bad, but there's one room where it's shaped, if you sort of look at it like a face, there's a nose and that has a hidden room in it. So it has stuff like that in it. But there's no, you know, there's no dialogue in the game. There's no.
Starting point is 01:01:03 Well, you do find out it's dangerous to go alone. Well, yeah, that's like there's a few lines. There's few lines of dialogue. There's the monster who says grumble, grumble, and you got to hand him a piece of meat. Yeah, and I was like, you're just like, me for real. But it is, like, I had to, I did follow a guide for some of it because I was just like, I wouldn't know directionally how to get around. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:26 You know what I mean? Like, even just to the next dungeon. But then there was like, and also I was playing it on the Switch 2, so there are like a lot of modern conveniences. I was able to like rewind and be like, oh, fuck, this was. was going bad. Sure. Or something like that.
Starting point is 01:01:39 So like, you know, maybe there's an asterisk got to be finishing it. But I did, you do, I will say, you do still have to do it. Yeah. Like you, like, you can read exactly how to do something and still fuck it up pretty bad. Yeah. Or like I got to, by the time I got to the end, which I guess, you know, we'll get to this. I had been out of potions. And I had gone so far where I couldn't go back and like even, you know, redo that.
Starting point is 01:02:05 I had no potions left. I had to start my fight. with Gannon with three hearts. Wow. And like had to rewind a lot. Spent a lot of time just doing that. Wow. Because I was like, I have to sort of be like pixel perfect in this fight
Starting point is 01:02:20 because I cannot afford to lose any health in this at all. Right. And finish the fight with half heart basically. Wow. Well done. Well, it was extremely fun. That's something that I wouldn't have realized, I think, because having started it a million times as a kid and just being like,
Starting point is 01:02:41 what am I doing with this? There's a lot in there. Yeah. There's a lot to do. It's a so, and I overheard Ryan saying some of this as I was coming in the studio of just that was the era, the RTFM era of game design where you're expected to read the manual before you play it. There was no tutorial.
Starting point is 01:02:57 You had to, you know, read 30 pages of text to understand what you're supposed to be doing. I have a very distinct memory of very early, memory of me. My brother, my Afro brother, older brother, Nate, was at, it was, had a music camp that he was at, and I, we went to, like, his performance, and I brought the Legend of Zelda manual, which was a new game I'd just gotten and had not played yet, that we'd just gotten, me and my brother. And so I brought the manual just to read, like, as an activity. And I remember just being, like, what, like, like, pea pot, like, like, I was just so confused by all the language. And then when I actually played the game, which I was very excited to do, I was just like I was baffled because every game
Starting point is 01:03:42 I'd played prior to then, there was fully linear. Every game I'd played was like Mario Brothers was just like, hey, we're progressing from point A to point B. And so I just walked around this map. I got the sword. I like I battled some enemies and I got to a fountain where a fairy healed me and I thought I'd finished the level and I didn't understand why nothing happened. And it wasn't until watching my brother play and coming to understand like, oh, the structure of this is, you can kind of go wherever and you can do things in any order. And then once I internalized that, of course, I was obsessed with it and played the shit out of it. What was interesting about going back and playing the original one, having played some Zelda games in my life, so much has persisted
Starting point is 01:04:27 from the original. That's just so cool. Like just even like just like finding things like just the tune of that like do do do do do or the Koji Kondo scores. Yeah, it's all it's all still there. And that's so, so cool to me. Yeah. Yeah. My first experience with Zelda was probably Zelda 2, which I think my parents rented for me or something so that I could play it. And I didn't then play another Zelda until Aquarina of Time.
Starting point is 01:04:58 Wow. Wow. And Ocreen of Time, I played at a friend's house. Like, I wasn't like, oh, I got to play the new Zelda game. I played the Ocreen of Time that somebody else owned because I was like, I don't have any emotional connection to Zelda. And they didn't have it for the Sega CD. No, they didn't. What a catastrophe.
Starting point is 01:05:17 One of the big failures of the game, not available for the Sega CD. But then when I lived in Amsterdam, we had a GameCube, and Wind Waker came out. and Winwaker consumed us. Like, I know that people look at Winwaker as like a half finished or a broken, broken Zelda or whatever. I still, because it was my first true, like, emulsified Zelda experience, I was like, oh, this is incredible. It looks like nothing else that exists. And just the act of sailing around on the sea is contemplated.
Starting point is 01:05:58 and relaxing and fun. Like, I loved it. So, like, when I think Zelda, I don't think Wind Waker. Yeah. I mean, I don't think, uh, Occurringing of Time.
Starting point is 01:06:11 No, no, the new one. Tears or, like, Breath of the Wild. Breath of the Wild, which I do think is, for so many people, like the way you think of Zelda now is Breath of the Wild. Yeah. When I think of it, I think Wind Waker.
Starting point is 01:06:22 And so whenever that guy shows up, whenever TuneLink shows up somewhere, I'm so happy to see him. Yeah. You're like, that's my guy. That's my guy. Yeah, I mean, like, we've talked about it at length of the podcast previously, but we should touch on it when they announced Wind Waker, a game I also love,
Starting point is 01:06:41 and I think is awesome. And yes, it's a little clunky as is the GameCube Mario at times, but it's just like so, it looks like nothing else. Yeah. And I just, it's such a cool experience. When that was announced, a lot of people were like, they ruined Zelda. What's up with this kiddie Chibi's link?
Starting point is 01:07:00 What the fuck is this? This isn't what the game should look like. And then, of course, ultimately, when it releases, just because of its art direction and animation, it's kind of undeniable. It's also one of those games from so long. It's 20 years old at this point. Like, Winwaker is like basically the halfway point
Starting point is 01:07:17 between the legend of Zelda and today. And the game has aged so little because of the art direction. When that game shows up on the Switch 2's interactive GameCube fucking throwback library and you can like adjust the controls, then it's just a full-blown modern game. Like it's not lacking in anything. Yeah. My very first Zelda was the Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS. Fuck yeah. Which is also Toon Link.
Starting point is 01:07:49 Yeah, TuneLink. And canonically is TuneLink. Yes. and what I loved about that was my first one I had never played one I never had something that could have Zelda on it
Starting point is 01:08:00 I guess I had a Game Boy advance and a game boy but there wasn't like I wasn't interested in Zelda then so by the time DS comes around and people are talking about this new Zelda I was like I gotta see what's going on this everybody's interested in this
Starting point is 01:08:12 and it simultaneously one made me love these types of games and also made me love my DS even more because it did things that I just had never seen in a video game before.
Starting point is 01:08:25 There's like a puzzle that you have to solve by closing the DS. Wow. And it like stamps like the other page of the book or something. And when you do that, like when you open it up, the thing that you were trying to do is on the other one. And I was just like, this is devil's technology. This shouldn't work. This is impossible.
Starting point is 01:08:48 Just very, very cool. And then after that I played a little bit of Akrona Time 3D on 3DS. and have still, it's never finished it. It would, is a game that I would really like to, to finish, I think,
Starting point is 01:08:58 but my Zelda's our Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. I loved, I loved Tears of the Kingdom so much. Yeah, we did our T-I-E-R-S of the kingdom for the Zelda franchise previously. And I'm trying to remember
Starting point is 01:09:13 what ended up in S-tier, but for me, it's a link to the past, it's Majora's Mask, and it's Breath of the Wild. Those are, to me, like my three favorite cellos, and I think those are the best examples
Starting point is 01:09:26 of what the franchise is capable of. I should go back now that I've done the original one. I feel like linked to the past probably would be fun for me to do because if I've experienced the original one, that one seems to be everybody's favorite. That jump from NES to Super Nintendo, from Famicom to Super Famicom to Super Famicom
Starting point is 01:09:46 in terms of technology and how game design advanced over those years. is as big as it going from like a PS1 game to a PS2 game. It's just like it's it's it's so big and and Link to the Past is like oh it feels like Legend of Zelda was a prototype for what this game ultimately ended up being. I really like that Link's Awakening Switch remake too. That was really really great.
Starting point is 01:10:11 That was really fun. I really like a link between worlds which is kind of like the sequel to a link to the past and that you know that's that's a really well executed has some really fun new mechanics. I'll bring this up. I was going to talk about this later because of, but because we've mentioned Wind Waker, I'll throw it out there. One thing, one reason I love the NBA is that there's a lot of athletes who are basically only playing the game because they happen to genetically be very tall. And one of those is Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Center, Jared Allen, who just by all accounts is just an absolutely awesome dude. and he's also a huge legend of Zelda fan. Every time he hits a free throw, they play the do, do, do, do do do do.
Starting point is 01:10:57 And he wrote a Players Tribune piece that was talking about, you know, his experience coming into basketball. I'll just read an excerpt from this. I wasn't one of those kids who had a basketball in his crib or was dunking on a plastic hoop at age two or whatever. I wasn't a prodigy. As a little kid, I barely even played hoops. I was more into Pokemon and Zelda, Wind Waker, very underrated masterpiece, by the way. Oh, wow. I love it.
Starting point is 01:11:21 I love to hear it. He's so cool. I saw a clip of, I can't remember who it was. Some kid asked an athlete who their favorite Pokemon was, and he thought about it for a second. He goes, Diaga, I think. And I was like, that's insane. I was like, okay, this guy knows ball because one, not one of the big ones. It's such a specific choice.
Starting point is 01:11:41 So funny. I don't know if you guys know that part of my enjoyment of Winwaker was that. if you had the accessory that connected your Game Boy Advance to the GameCube, you unlocked a special Tingle mode that would allow you to track treasure on the Game Boy Advance that was hooked up to your GameCube. And any time there is an unnecessarily complicated accessory to a game, you know that's my game. Yeah, particularly if Tingle's involved. Well, this guy's a strange man. a little weird guy. He's a little weird guy.
Starting point is 01:12:22 I think there was also, maybe I'm misremembering, a four-player, maybe it was through the GameCube or maybe it was just four players on the Game Boy Advance, four Swords Adventures? Yes, there was. You could use four Game Boy advances connected to play it. Yeah. I never knew that many people, so I never got to play that one, but I really like the art style on it, which, again, was Toon Link inspired. One of those really dumb things that Nintendo would do of just like, this is so cumbersome to set up. I need four Game Boy advances and a GameCube, but also it's awesome that you made this a possibility. And I think it also meant at the time four copies of the game.
Starting point is 01:13:00 Four copies of the game, yes. And the thing that we're really forgetting here, three friends. You mentioned Adventure of Link. I have an even stronger memory because my kid brain had a little bit more developed of the adventure of Link, because... Your head stayed the same size, but your brain was getting... Yeah. The...
Starting point is 01:13:25 It looked like Mega Mind. Anyway, my brother and I, and I just looked up the release date, and yes, it did come out on December 1st, 1988 in North America. My brother and I were both eagerly anticipating Adventure of Link for, as a Christmas gift. And it was one of those things where there was a, there was some sort of cart, short shortage or memory shortage or maybe it was false scarcity but it was a hot you know it was a hot ticket item at that particular Christmas it was hard to find my dad who was you know working two
Starting point is 01:13:57 jobs uh making dinner every night um it was what like went all around to a bunch of different game stores a bunch of different malls to track it down and his telling um and ultimately found it at the time i believe that game was retailing for 80 dollars oh my god which is one of those things where in $1988, you know, today it's like, whatever, $400 or something. It was insanely expensive. The amount of money to spend on one game that was, that me and my brother played and we're like, eh. It's kind of disappointing.
Starting point is 01:14:27 It's so brutal to, like, just do that sort of calculus because, like, two things are sort of at play. Obviously, the inflation of it is, like, is tough to think about. But then just to just remember how, like, you didn't even give a shit that much, like, sucks so much. So much work for my dad. In terms of like labor he's doing and actually hours tracking it down. The inflation calculator is $219.
Starting point is 01:14:52 Jesus. It's 80 bucks. Do you think he actually went to a bunch of stores or did he just want to get out of the house for a little bit? Entirely possible. Got these fucking kids. I believe him. Of course. Also, as long as I'm asking the internet for different things, I did look up,
Starting point is 01:15:08 Miyamoto was not involved in Popeye because they couldn't get the rights to Popeye. but had designed the love triangle between the gorilla carpenter and a woman based on the IP that they could not get a hold of with Bluto, Popeye, and Olive Oil. Wow. A Popeye game did ultimately release. Yes, it did. But, yeah, it was chronologically after Donkey Kong, which I had flipped in my memory. I think Link probably one of the all-time great characters, right? Yeah, I mean, he's one of the all-time greats.
Starting point is 01:15:39 I would also say Zelda, by virtue of the introduction of Sheik later on, ends up being like a really rich heroine. And also, like, one of the coolest Smash Brothers characters ever, that you've got both existing in the same character, and you can transform between them midmatch. That is really cool. There's a bunch of, I mean, unfortunately, Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom didn't love that game
Starting point is 01:16:10 That game was so annoying It was annoying I sort of do think though If the menu management Was better We would be saying It would just be a completely different experience The UX is pretty cumbersome
Starting point is 01:16:22 Because like I like the art style And I liked the idea of doing that The main mechanic of that game Which was like making things I was like yeah I can make a guy It's kind of fun for this to kind of be this like Puzzle platformer sort of game But to have to then
Starting point is 01:16:38 have one of the things you want to make and it's like all the way at the end of the menu you're gonna scroll all the way to the end of it I'm like let me favor it a couple of things I was just so annoyed by the sections like the boss battles where you have to like channel link and it's just like okay so Zelda doesn't even get to be the hero in her own game you can
Starting point is 01:16:55 I guess fuck shit up as Zelda in those high rule warriors games but I'm just kind of not really interested in those yeah yeah completely different things yeah so so Legend Zelda Adventure of Link those are the two Famicom NES games a link to the past comes out for Game Boy. I never played on Game Boy.
Starting point is 01:17:12 Did you play it on Game Boy back in the day? No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, yes. Yes, Link, no, yeah, yeah, right? No, Link's Awakening. A Link to the Past is the Switch Nintendo. I did Link to the Past is the Switch one. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:22 Yeah, Link to the past is for Super Nintendo, which I should know. It's one of my all-time favorite selves. Links Awakening is for Game Boy, and yes, I did not play that at the time. I did not play that until the remake comes out, the Switch remake, which I really enjoyed. And then we have a little bit of a stress,
Starting point is 01:17:38 where there's no Zelda for pretty much five years. And so if you think of it in console terms, if you think of it at home releases, Link the Pass is 1991, no Zelda until 1998, a full seven years between entries. And that's when we get Ocaryne of Time, which is just such an amazing influential 3D iteration. I would love to read a little bit about the inspiration,
Starting point is 01:18:02 according to Wikipedia, which is just a summary of other news sources, about how the legend of Zelda was. conceived. And I think this is well known, but for listeners who maybe weren't around for the lore to be sort of shared amongst everyone, the games were inspired by Maimodo's running around as a kid. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:27 And he wanted to capture that sensibility in a game. And that's why the first legend of Zelda has this sort of like, like nonlinear gameplay is because he was trying to get at the idea of, oh, remember when you were a kid and you'd run around with a stick and it would be a sword and you could go anywhere and do anything? And I don't know, it's not like certainly it's not the first open world game, but it did popularize that sort of shape to a game for, I think, a huge number of games that followed it. 100%. We don't get Skyrim or Eldon Ring without the Legend of Zelda. Right. And which we probably don't get without adventure. but like it's it's so yeah it was so of course influential in in terms of its scope and I will also say that the series kind of got away from that original design progressively by making the game more you know narrative driven and and a little bit more linear in terms of how you could progress all the way through until they swing all the way back with Breath of the Wild which is kind of a course correction that made that to me feels the most like the original the legend of Zelda Yeah. I also think it's interesting that you'll get this, this original legend of Zelda feeling, this open world idea, that then becomes more and more linear as time goes on until you're like, oh, I've got to do this and go there and do this and go there. And then Shadow of the Colossus comes out. And Shadow of the Colossus inspired by Zelda is like, oh, go anywhere. Yes, right. Do anything. And then Breath of the Wild. Yeah, Breath of the Wild. Why are you? No, just go everywhere, do anything, and also, you're a monster. Go ahead, do whatever you want.
Starting point is 01:20:12 It'd be really bad if you did it, but go ahead, go ahead. But then when Breath of the Wild comes out, even though Breath of the Wild is sort of like a tip to the hat of the original game, there is a, I think, a pivotal moment in Shadow of the Colossus creation and execution that then influence, like when Breath of the Wild comes out, people are like, oh, it's like Zelda meets Shadow of the Ghost's. Shadow of the Colossus. 100%. I love when shit happens. I love when it circles back on itself,
Starting point is 01:20:41 and it starts influencing the influencer. The auroboros of influences, so fucking fascinating that cycle. It's like how Resident Evil ended up influencing the 28 Days Later franchise. It's right. It rocks. Wild.
Starting point is 01:20:56 Man, we also saw that Bone Temple, right? The Bone Temple fucking Rips. That's some extremely good shit. Ryan, you visit the Bone Temple? Yeah, I mean, Richel saw, or ranch saw it first, and then, and she was like, you got to see this thing. It's so boating. It was nasty. I mean, I was going to see it anyways, because I loved years.
Starting point is 01:21:16 Yeah. So good. Yeah. Rocks. This is a franchise. Delivers on the bone temple. Yeah. It 100% delivers on the bone temple.
Starting point is 01:21:26 You sort of think, there better be some fucking bone temple in this. When you hear it, when, because also, I do think, I was saying this to some. other friends. I think Bone Temple is the tightest title I've ever heard in my life. Yeah, you kind of really good. You kind of wish it didn't even need the 28 years later prefix, although you get it. Yes. The Bone Temple, unbelievable title. Awesome. This is a franchise that, I mean, Legend of Zelda, of course, not the 28th. Yes. Length of Time franchise. that I wish I had sort of more experience with. And it's like something I can go do
Starting point is 01:22:07 because weirdly you can play a lot of the games. You can't play all of them on Switch 2 or on I guess you actually can play a good chunk of them. I think the only ones you can't actually play, I think the only one is probably Twilight Princess, I think. That you can't play. that you can't play on Switch currently. But I would imagine that that gets corrected.
Starting point is 01:22:31 I'm going to say that's probably not going to be true this year. I bet you it comes to Switch 2 at some point this year. Well, the Legend of Zelda's story chronology, let's see how many of these we can play on modern hardware. Yeah. Skyward Sword. Yes. The Minish Cap.
Starting point is 01:22:47 I think that's in the Switch 2 online, I think. Four Swords. Yes. Aquarina of Time. and then Heroes Defeated, we get these games, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons and Ages, a link between worlds.
Starting point is 01:23:04 I don't think that one's on there because that one is 3DS, yeah. So the DS ones definitely not. Tri-Force Heroes, Echoes of Wisdom, The Legend of Zelda, the Adventure of Link. Really find it always interesting that the legend of Zelda is so late in its own timeline. Yes.
Starting point is 01:23:19 If the hero is victorious, then you get your child era. Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess Four Swords Adventures. If the Hero's victorious adult era, you get Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are the only canonical, like,
Starting point is 01:23:34 actual sequels, right? I guess, would you say Majora's Mask is a sequel to Ocarina of Time? Yeah, I feel like Mujors Matt, I mean, it kind of qualifies, I don't know. I mean, tears of the kingdom certainly is a proper sequel, and then a link between worlds is a sequel to a link to the past. Right. But, but, yeah,
Starting point is 01:23:50 it's one of those, it's like it's sporadic. It's rare when they do that. It's like Final Fantasy 10-2. Well, it's the same shit with Metroid 2. 2, right? Where they're like, here's a 2D Metroid that's a sequel to this one.
Starting point is 01:24:02 Right, sure. From 20 years ago. Yeah. And now here's Metroid Prime 4. Also 20 year gap or something. It's like the Halloween franchise. Yeah. One franchise with like three different timelines.
Starting point is 01:24:13 Although Zelda has like 14 different timelines. Yeah. Anyway, like I did what is going to say? That's not exactly true. Like, don't correct me. Get off my back. We're just talking. Heather.
Starting point is 01:24:22 told me to say that. Anyway, so... What the fuck? Here's... I just want to go back to what you were saying, Matt. It's like, I can speak with some authority because I have played
Starting point is 01:24:32 and mostly finished every Zelda since the legend of Zelda. Holy shit. For console. I can't speak to all the handheld games. The one exception is Skyward's sword. But...
Starting point is 01:24:45 And tears. Did you finish tears? I guess tears of the kingdom, too. I got to say now. I got to finish Tears of the Kingdom. Here's the thing. You can do the Switch to... two one. Yeah, I guess I could play it on Switch
Starting point is 01:24:54 2. And it's nicer on the Switch 2. I'll get it out of the airplane laboratory. So, oh no, somebody's shit on it. Going through the list of games, it's like, you see kind of that Breath of the Wild as I mentioned was a kind of course correction
Starting point is 01:25:12 that regresses it back to the original Zelda regresses, but in a modern context, it kind of needed that because in the the Wii era, Wii U era, It kind of like lost what was cool about Zelda. I remember because I... Hold on a second.
Starting point is 01:25:27 Okay. Breath of the Wild is a Wii U game. Okay, yes. Except to the end of the Wii U's lifespan. Heather, thank you so much for that. We would have gotten in big trouble. The Shika slate is the Wii U controller. Yes.
Starting point is 01:25:45 What if they had just held on? What if they'd just been like... Tears of the Kingdom, Wii U exclusive. Yeah, what if they had just been like, okay, we're going to save the Wii U and they bring out Breath of the Wild as a Wii game. Where were we?
Starting point is 01:26:00 We needed to be doing the podcast Save the Wii U episode. Obviously, the reports are coming out now. The Nintendo Switch 2, somehow the fastest and highest selling console of all time. Here's what I would say to that, Heather. They didn't make it a Wii U exclusive
Starting point is 01:26:17 because they're Nintendo not Sega. I was pointing and laughing at her like a bully. I was going to say, we also were a Beta Max household. Oh, God. Yeah. I don't have time to deal with that. You watched you churn through bits.
Starting point is 01:26:44 I remember seeing like the first images and maybe a, you know, commercial for Twilight Princess. And even somebody who at that point hadn't really played in the Zelda was kind of like, this doesn't seem right. This kind of seems really different. I don't know if this is going to do it.
Starting point is 01:27:06 So there was a kind of the, the sequencing is there was the GameCube launch trailer, which featured a rendering of a game that never happened, a Twilight Princess looking Zelda and a Twilight Princess looking link and Gannondorf in a battle. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:27:25 And it looked awesome. And everyone's expectations were like, that's going to be the GameCube Zelda. That's going to be the next-gen, Zelda. Of course, they come out with, you know, Wind Waker. Wind Waker, which has a completely different aesthetic. So when Twilight Princess comes out,
Starting point is 01:27:39 people are like, holy shit, we're getting that thing we were promised a long time ago. And there was a lot of hype for that game. And then it comes out and it's kind of like, I don't know. I feel like Twilight Princess is kind of a shrug. Yeah. It seems like it never seemed that interesting
Starting point is 01:27:53 I'm sure people have it Their affection for it But I'm just not I don't have any nostalgia for it I just remember it being kind of like This doesn't this seems a little too dark Yeah yeah And also just like the It's ugly
Starting point is 01:28:08 I don't like the aesthetic and then the It looks like a Netflix movie You know what I mean It has that sort of like washed out Kind of like why did they make it like this Too smooth? Yeah yeah The Russo Brothers
Starting point is 01:28:21 directed this? It costs $250 million. It has two really big stars and then a bunch of people that just like didn't get paid probably. Wait, there's a Chris Pine, Kristen Stewart movie that came out in 2019? What the fuck? Called Aegis? It's the most viewed movie I'm not going to be. There is a pocket of people that are like, that's my favorite movie and I've seen it a hundred times.
Starting point is 01:28:50 Yeah, yeah. Before K-pop Demon Hunters, I think, like, the most viewed movies on Netflix were, like, Red Notice and, like, the Grey Man. Like, it's crazy. The Red Notice. Who has seen those? Yeah. The Grey Man talking about the colorist for Netflix movies.
Starting point is 01:29:04 They also had the, they put in some, like, we waggle controls. Yeah. Which didn't really. And then Skyward Sword has more the, you know, one-to-one sword play. But it's just like, I don't know. I didn't want to be doing this. I tried playing it on Swiss. bitch like that.
Starting point is 01:29:21 Yeah. I don't want to do that ever. I don't like motion controls. That maybe is an episode. I don't, I think motion controls were a big mistake. Motion controls are good in two instances. We sports.
Starting point is 01:29:36 Yes. And connect Star Wars. Yeah. Because you get to dance as Han Solo. Is time crisis, would you count that? That's gun. No, I think light gun is a different thing.
Starting point is 01:29:48 Like gun is a different thing. Yeah. And also you have to, you step on. a thing. Yeah. So it's not motion control. It's like on off, right? Yeah, you're right. Okay, never mind. I think there's another game that...
Starting point is 01:29:57 I'm talking about a time crisis cabinet so bad. What? I would love to have a time crisis cabinet with the pedal. It would be fucking awesome. I also think we fit was a successful. Walking Nick's fucking just deep throating the barrel. Oh my! What?
Starting point is 01:30:11 Like, Nick, that's not going to work. Jesus Christ. He keeps pulling a trigger and his eyes are lighting up. He's just stomping his as a can of the fucking thing. Namco GunCon is like as thick as a bazooka.
Starting point is 01:30:28 Get that thing in my mouth. Well, you're in the top 1% percent of mouth sizes. I'm in the top percent of the 1% of the... People's mouths are getting too smaller and his mouth's getting bigger and bigger. Look. Look. Look.
Starting point is 01:30:45 There's going to be another one of these at some point. Zella? I think so. Yeah. And it's good, but right now they're at a certain, they're at, I think, a critical point. Yes. In the franchise. Yes.
Starting point is 01:30:56 Because they've had success in the past with sticking with the thing and then they always make a change of some kind. Yeah. Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom are the last two. They're not making, they, I think, have said the next Zelda won't be like that. Yeah. So the next version of it is going to be completely different than what we know. Or mouse controls only. Mouse and keyboard and mouse control.
Starting point is 01:31:20 First person don't choose. First person does suck. Dee, you're the, but instead it's like, hurr, because you're in the head. I think some of them, but like I just think I'm excited to see whatever it is that they, you know, whatever they come up with, if they go back to a design of some kind or if they come up with like a new design and, you know, are telling a story within the same thing.
Starting point is 01:31:47 I'm always looking forward to whatever the next thing is. Tingle was mentioned. Do we have any other favorite ancillary Zelda characters? Horse. Horse is great. Epona, good. Love Epona. I do, obviously, I think Gannondorf is really fucking cool.
Starting point is 01:32:06 Gannendor's awesome, and it's, I mean, he's a bad dude. He's bad. Yeah. We love Gannendorf, don't we? He has great ideas for a high rule. He turns into Calamity Gannon. And in the beginning, in the beginning, they made it look like a little pig and that wasn't very nice, was it? He's not a pig.
Starting point is 01:32:26 He's a big, strong man. Anyway, Gannendorf's awesome. Character design is great. He looks fucking cool. I don't think he's, I don't remember if he's viable in Smash Brothers, but he's very fun to play. I think I remember hearing you say this recently. Yeah. That he's surprisingly low on the tier list.
Starting point is 01:32:47 I think he's in like the D's or something. Might just be too big. Yeah, he might be too big. He just has Captain Falcons move set, which is a little bit less engaging. Anyway, he's awesome. I was going to say that I have a lot of affection for the guy who is an Addison stand in Tears of the Kingdom. Yes, he's always at every location wanting help putting him. up his sign to, you know, elect Addison.
Starting point is 01:33:20 Right. I do like him to. He started the Chadley of those games. Yeah. Just like a little weasel. Fucking Chadley has become shorthand for a kind of guy. He's a kind of guy. He's like a little twerp that we help.
Starting point is 01:33:36 I love Chadley. Chadley's great. I like him. I like the guys. I mean, they're not ancillary. I think they're like important to the story. but like the guys who you can get there like summon power in
Starting point is 01:33:49 in Breath of the Wild Rivali's Gail and the other three. I remember Ravali. I like Ravali. Yeah, Ravali's pretty good. Well, of course, Impa is like, I basically been around since the original although I think was unnamed in Legend of Zelda. They never say Impa, do they?
Starting point is 01:34:06 No, I don't think so. They say like old man and old woman. Old woman, yeah. You know what, old woman is basically the retconner is Impa. What about Face Tree? Decu tree. Decu tree is good.
Starting point is 01:34:17 Navio is going to shout out. You would. All right. You got a tattooed on your body. That's too. Hell yeah. Beetle's awesome. Love beetle.
Starting point is 01:34:28 And then of course just you know eye candy. A Prince Sidon. Fucking hot as hell. Yeah. He's the fish one? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:34:38 Fish one with like muscles? Yeah. He's kind of the Varang of Zelda. How about this? Boat. Boat is pretty good. King Boat.
Starting point is 01:34:50 Remember when the boat talks to you and he's like, Heh? Pretty good. The boat is good. Look at this fucking guy. In sight on. He's an absolute Adonis. Not for me.
Starting point is 01:35:02 Although he does have dengy teeth. He does have the dingy teeth. And obviously the music in these games are all so great. We've done music episodes on them in the past. Yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, because this show is on Spotify, we have issues playing music on it because the episode will just get taken down. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:35:23 I would love to share some of our favorite Zelda tracks on here, but people can find a playlist. Yeah, yeah. We want to and we just can't because we're being silenced by big Spotify and stuff. The Zelda music is so good that even though I didn't have a Nintendo, I knew the music from the cartoon and I learned to play it by ear on the piano.
Starting point is 01:35:43 Wow. Because I was like, as a kid, I was like, wow, that song is so good. Yeah. It makes me feel like an adventure. I want to learn to play it. I feel like an early like Caza like track was there was a, someone had done like a cover of, or not a cover, someone had done an original song to the Zelda theme that's about Link. And it would sometimes be, it would oftentimes get attributed to like sublime or something like that. The fuck was that song.
Starting point is 01:36:10 Where that Link, he rescues a princess. comes to get Zelda some shit like that. I don't know a song at all, dude. I remember the Bill Clinton fake phone call. I remember getting the phone call, like the guy who's yelling at you for getting the pizza or something. I don't know what the fuck you guys are talking about. If you were hypothetically to download music illegally on the internet. Parity, fair use.
Starting point is 01:36:37 Sometimes there would be like a, you know, you'd type in Weezer. And you would get things that were like not attributed things mislabeled. It'd be like Rick rolling, but it sounds that you downloaded. It would be like a prank. Like you would get like a fake like a prank call from Bill Clinton. Okay. Or you would get just something mislabeled and it would be like Wheatis. It would be like Teenage Dirtbag by Weedis, but they would attribute it to Weezer.
Starting point is 01:37:01 That happened to me. Right? Exactly. Right. I thought Teenage Dirt Back was by Weezer for a long time. Look, people our age are getting tricked left and right. We're talking about how. old people are falling for these scams.
Starting point is 01:37:14 No one's really thinking about us back in the day on Limewire. The Link song. Link, he come to town, come to save the Princess Zelda. Gannon took her away. Now the children don't play. It's all just to the two. Great. Now we've played it on the show and now the episode's coming down.
Starting point is 01:37:31 Yeah, but they might have also attributed that one to Weezer. I don't know. Weir was responsible for a lot of the biggest hits of the 90s and the 2000s and today. Yeah. I'll just just in summation. just to wrap things up, Zelda, a great franchise.
Starting point is 01:37:45 Zelda good. Is Zelda good? Top 10 franchise easy in video game history. Is it top five? Where does it land? It might be top five, but I think it's definitely top,
Starting point is 01:37:56 it might be top two Nintendo. It's definitely top two Nintendo. What? Pokemon Zelda? I think Mario. I think it's got to be Mario Zelda. Because like Pokemon, Pokemon's in the top five,
Starting point is 01:38:07 but like from Nintendo-specific IP, I think they're in there. I think Pikachu. or Pokemon is probably third or fourth, probably. Yeah. But it's got to be Mario and Link. I think it's one of those things where it sounds like, yeah, of course, Legend of Zelda top five Gifference franchise of all time.
Starting point is 01:38:26 But then once you start actually making the list, you're like, hmm, that list gets cluttered real, real fast. Oh, yeah, yeah. So as much as I love it, as much as impactful as it been, has been over the course of my life and as much as it's influenced my own personal taste. That's a good episode, by the way. Yeah. Top 10 franchises of.
Starting point is 01:38:42 all time. That is good. We'll write that down. I do think it is like, there's like a weird shorthand where like people who don't necessarily know games, no Mario, no Zelda. Right. And so like if you're playing a Zelda game now and people still don't know video games, they at least know what that is kind of. I mean, maybe non-gamerers also like, I know so many people who don't play any other games that got a switch just to play Breath of the Wild. One hundred percent. Yeah. No, yeah. It is it is a game that non-gameramerers. latch on to. And yes, a lot of people, even if they think Link's name is Zelda, they know what the Zelda franchise is. Shall we do a segment? I would love a segment. All right, let's do a segment. It's the return of Isakai or Issaqai or Issaqa?
Starting point is 01:39:33 Anime. So we all know the Isakai anime. I was trying to remember what this was called the other day. It's Isikai or Isa Guy. I kind of write it. I got someone stuffed to write down. I mean, I got it written down. You need to track it. I just mean you remember what I just got to write down. all the little things you say. Don't do that. Isakai, the sub-genre that means something like different world or another world and usually involves a protagonist who has been transported from a reality akin to our own into some sort of fantasy alternate reality.
Starting point is 01:40:10 So the way this game will work is I will read a title. You tell me if it's the real title of an actual Issaqa. anime you can watch on Crunchyroll or a fake title I made up to describe an existing video game. For instance, that time I got reincarnated as a slime, Isakai. Yes. Reborn as a plumber in a kingdom of mushrooms is a guy describing Mario from Super Mario. This is really good. Okay, so everyone can guess.
Starting point is 01:40:38 Ranch and Ryan, you're welcome to play as well. And so you get one point for getting correct Isakai or is a guy and you get an additional point. if you can whoever buzzes in with their name and can name the game. Okay, great. All right, awesome. First up, the wrong way to use healing magic. Isakai or Issaai? Heather, Isakai.
Starting point is 01:41:01 I'm going to say is a guy. Ranch, Ryan? Isakai. Ryan? Oh, yeah, I, Isakai. Okay, so Isakai, it isaqa. It isaqa anime. Yes.
Starting point is 01:41:13 So everyone gets a point except for a match. Oh, no! Just fucking sucks. Next up, in another world with my enchanted tablet. I'll go first. Yes. Is a guy. Other says, is a guy.
Starting point is 01:41:32 I love the title. I think it might be is a guy. Okay. In another world with my enchanted tablet. It's a guy. I'm just copying. Other. I also think is a guy.
Starting point is 01:41:49 Okay. Is a guy? What game is describing? Anyone can buzz in? Heather, that's Breath of the White. It is Breath of the White. Heather gets an additional point. Heather has three.
Starting point is 01:41:59 Matt has one. Ranch and Ryan each have two. Next up. Uncle from another world. He's a guy or is a guy? What's perfect about this game is that any of this could be from the twisted mind of Tiger Wife. Uncle from another world?
Starting point is 01:42:22 Uncle from another world. Oh, God. I'm going to say Issa Guy. I'm going to say Issa Kai. I also think Issa Kai. Ranch is correct. It's an Isakai anime. Whoa.
Starting point is 01:42:37 Next up. I was going to guess Ghost of Sushima. They're not from different worlds, but they're sort of culturally from different worlds. Uncle is my sworn enemy. Oh, is a guy. Issa a guy. Isakai. Is a guy.
Starting point is 01:42:54 Is a guy. This is describing Ghost of Tsushima. There it is. Which I should have given you an opportunity to guess. I'll give you an extra point as a result. Hell yeah. All right. Next up.
Starting point is 01:43:05 My uncle. It's my enemy. We've talked about this before, though, but I think the uncle nephew dynamic is very funny to me. It's great that that's about an uncle and nephew. Yeah, it's great. I love it. There's an uncle myself, I felt seen. Next up, I'm in love with the villainess.
Starting point is 01:43:23 Isakai or is a guy? Isakai. I'm going to say is a guy. Isakai. Isakai. It is an Isakai anime. Oh, fucking shit. Fuck.
Starting point is 01:43:39 God damn it. Where are these points? How are we doing? Heather has five. Matt has three. Ranch and Ryan each have four. This is a fucking embarrassing. Wow.
Starting point is 01:43:48 This is my show. What? What? Next up, I'm the villainous, so I'm taming the final boss. I'm the villainous, so I'm taming the final boss. I'm the villainous, so I'm taming the final boss. Issaquay or is a guy? I'm going to swing first on Isakai.
Starting point is 01:44:15 I'm going to say, is a guy. Is a guy. Isakai. Heather and Ranch take it. Huh? Wait, we have two different things. Didn't you both say Isakai? No, I said Isakai.
Starting point is 01:44:31 Oh, I'm sorry, Heather and Ryan take it. Yes. I apologize. It is an Isikai anime. Wow, this is a tough game. This is really tough. This is sort of like one of my crazy ones. In part because the titles for these things are fucking insane.
Starting point is 01:44:43 I love the convention. Heather's in lead with six. Next up, the villainous trapped me in a maze with false promises. Issaqai or is a guy? Trapped me in a maze. With false promises. Is a guy? Heather says is a guy.
Starting point is 01:45:06 I think I have to say Isakai. Matt says Isakai. Is a guy? Is a guy. Is a guy? Buzzin to guess the game. Heather. Portal.
Starting point is 01:45:22 It is portal. Holy shit. That's good. Heather's in the lead with eight. Next up. Even though I'm losing, I'm still having fun. Yeah, it's pretty good game. It's still anyone's game.
Starting point is 01:45:32 But it's better when you're winning. What the hell? Next up. I shall survive using potions. Isakai. There says Isakai. Yeah, I think that has to be an Isakai, I think. Isakai.
Starting point is 01:45:49 Isakai. It is a guy. It is a guy. anime. I thought it was Fortnite. It could honestly be so many games. That could be Diablo. Next up, help. I lost my memory and I can't find my weapon. I lost my memory and I can't find... Issa guy.
Starting point is 01:46:09 You say Issa guy? Issa guy. Is a guy? I lost my memory and I can't find my weapon. Is a guy. Matt confidently chimes in with Isagai. I'll go with Isagai. Is a guy? Ryan.
Starting point is 01:46:25 I heard Ryan. Oh, wait, but you didn't say if it was first. Sorry. I'll let you have it. Is a guy. You are your... Breath of the Wild? It's not Breath of the Wild.
Starting point is 01:46:33 Oh. Matt. Disco Elysium. It is Disco Elysium. Matt gets a bonus point. Three left. Damn it. Who's back?
Starting point is 01:46:42 Back again. He lost the Master's sword. He did. It's technically true. But the answer is incorrect. Breath of the Wild had already been used for in another world. I know you're young, you're going to learn that there's a lot of disappointments in your life. It was already used.
Starting point is 01:46:56 But a valid argument. I need to listen to my... You never need to listen to this show. Next up. The magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady. The magical revolution of the... What? The magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady.
Starting point is 01:47:17 Isakai or is a guy? What the fuck? this is to me and this is how I avoid being incorrect because I'm like this is what it is to me
Starting point is 01:47:29 yeah sure I think it's an Isakai Matt says Isakai and the genius young The magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady Genius young lady
Starting point is 01:47:44 I'm going to go with Issaquai just so I don't have to guess the game Yeah. Well, you don't have to. Ranch Ryan. Isakai. Is it a guy.
Starting point is 01:47:57 It is an Isakai anime. What the hell? Heather's in the lead with 11. I don't know if Heather can be caught. There's two left, I guess, maybe with enough bonus points. Next up. The world got destroyed and now I'm a delivery boy. Okay. Is a guy. Is a guy. Is a guy.
Starting point is 01:48:15 Is a guy is all around. Everyone gets a point. Buzz in if you want to guess the... I'll let you have a guy. haven't met. Death Stranding. There it is. It is death stranding. It would have funny if you're like, actually it's death stranding too on the B.
Starting point is 01:48:29 I would have accepted either. Finally, reborn as a teenager to race with my twin. Wait. Reborn as a teenager. To race with my twin. Reborn as a teenager to race with my twin. Paradoxically, I'm having a hard time with this because you're, Teenage, your twin would also be a teen.
Starting point is 01:48:52 Like, it's just like, why I mention it? Uh-huh. To race? To race. With my twin. It, it, it, I can't imagine that as a game. So I'm going to say, Issaqai. Even though the title is insane.
Starting point is 01:49:06 I do like it. Um, I'm going to have to say is a guy, but I just don't know what it would be. Matt says, is a guy. Uh, Rochelle, Ryan. Is a guy. Is a guy. Is a guy is correct. Anyone want to buzz in with a game?
Starting point is 01:49:24 Say it again. Reborn as a teenager to race with my twin. F-0? Or Ryan, F-0? It's not F-0. Good guess, though. I don't know what the plot of F-0 is. No, it's a racing game.
Starting point is 01:49:35 To race with my twin. Reincarnated? Reincarnated as a teenager. To race with my twin. No idea. Anyone? I don't know. I don't got it.
Starting point is 01:49:47 This is, of course, a reference to Ranch's favorite game. Mary Kate and Ashley's sweet-sick. team license to drive. I'm going to know. I'm calling to police. There's reincrimination in that? No, there's no reincoration. That was Issa Kair is a guy, and that's this week's get played.
Starting point is 01:50:09 Our producers, Rochelle Chen, Ranch, Yard underscore underscore Sard. Ranch is streaming lately? Yeah, maybe. Silent LF. Silent LF. Thanks to Ryan, our interview. turn for helping out. Ryan, I watched your shorts. Small Cowboy. Really enjoyed it. Yeah. People can find that on YouTube. Cool Ryan films on YouTube. Yeah, I make shorts and small
Starting point is 01:50:34 cowboy is one of them. Yeah. Hey, shirts. I said short. Short, yeah. I also make shorts, guys. Good. Good. Thanks for watching it. Of course. Our music by Ben Preti, Ben Prutteam our art by Duck Brigade Design, DuckBrigate.com, Merchantkinshipgoods.com. And over on our Patreon, we got Get Played, DLC, a bonus episode every Wednesday, get animated, has been sunset. Get Played DLC is rising. Matt, what's up this week? This week, I think, is the episode we did where Heather and I built an arcade. Wow. Wow. Yeah, Dream Arcade. Dream Arcade. I love it. Dreamcade. Yeah, had a lot of fun doing that. It was so fun. I thought about it all night. We had so much fun that We were, like, sad that you weren't there, actually, because we were like, Nick would have had great pitches for the arcade.
Starting point is 01:51:20 I wish I could have been there. Did anyone include time crisis? Yeah, but I think we're going to take it out. Patreon.com slash get played. And hey, Zelda, for 40 years, you have been played. And thank you. Thank you. That was a headgum podcast.
Starting point is 01:51:45 Hi, I'm Drew Offiwalo. And I'm Jason Offiwalo. And we host the Headgum podcast, Two Idiot Girls. Each episode, we're discussing plenty of topics that you would be giggling at at a sleepover with your weird cousins. We talk about all kinds of things like weird dating horror stories, maybe a really bad wedgy you had once, or even a show you're loving, and anything in between. So you can listen to Two Idiot Girls on your favorite podcast app or watch full video episodes on YouTube. New episodes will be posted every Tuesday.

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