Get Played - Gaming on the Road with Zack Mykula

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Nick and Matt are joined by Zack Mykula (PUP) to talk about the band's songs appearing in video games, composing video game music, and gaming on the road! They also talk about Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Tomba!, and more. Check out PUP's video game themed music video for DVP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVuB1ZASrGw Check out PUP's tour dates with Jeff Rosenstock https://www.puptheband.com/#tour Check out PUP's newest album Who Will Look After the Dogs https://puptheband.bandcamp.com/album/who-will-look-after-the-dogs Check out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getplayedpodMusic by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com For ad-free main feed episodes, our complete back catalogue including How Did This Get Played? and our Premium DLC episodes and our exclusive show Get Anime'd where we're currently watching Shin Godzilla 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 [e-mail] Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fmAll of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodEXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/getplayed Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a headgum podcast Nick Sorry, no sorry I'm late I just, I had the craziest day I had the, the craziest day I've ever had And I'm like, I'm shaking, I'm so scared Yeah, you seem like freaked out I was driving home the other night

And I, you know, you know, I'm like a really nice guy Yeah, one of the nicest. I'm so nice. What's maybe your best quality. That, I mean, that and that million dollar smile. Oh, hey, come on now. There it is. I look, I'm seeing it now.

Okay, maybe I'm not having such a bad day. I know, but actually, I'm having it, I'm having it a horrible day. I'm sorry. I'm driving home. I see this guy on the side of the road. He's got his thumb out. Hitchhiker. A hitchhiker.

He's got a familiar silhouette. I pull over and I'm like, holy shit. It's, it's Mario. It's Mario. Mario was hitchhiking. Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom was hitchhiking, okay? Get out of town. That's what I thought he was trying to do.

He was getting a, he had his thumb out. Yeah. I'm like, where are you going, Mario? And he's going, I'm not going to do the accent because I don't think you're supposed to do that anymore. Yeah. I mean, I would do it. Yeah, of course you would do it. I just don't feel like it's appropriate.

Yeah, I understand. He goes, I got some stuff I got to do. Yeah. Well, now you're kind of doing the Pratt Mario so that it works anyway. Yeah, that's right. I'm doing Pratt Mario. So he goes, I got some stuff I got to do. Uh-huh.

And he goes, he hands me, he hands me like a wad of cash. He's like, trying to make some money tonight. What the hell is this interaction? Mario is doing this? Yeah, and I'm like, look, I don't, this is not what I do. I was just offering a ride to a guy, but you know, you don't have, you, for the hours and hours of entertainment you've given me over the years, your money's no good here, Mario. I'll just happily drive you to your destination.

He goes, okay, drive, so he gave me the destination. I drive, he's like, drop me off in this alley real quick. I'm like, okay, yeah, sure, no problem. He goes up to this apartment building, goes up to backway. I'm just kind of sitting in my car I'm just kind of like waiting I was like wow I can't believe I met Mario maybe I'll work up the nerve to ask him to come on the show

yeah well maybe a selfie is a first step and then yeah I guest appearance later on you know I had my phone ready for a selfie I'm always I'm always ready for a selfie so what happens he goes in this apartment building he goes in his apartment building he's up there for a couple of minutes I'm sitting there thinking about this and you know working up the courage to ask for the selfie and then

maybe guests on the show next thing I know a body falls straight into my windshield from up above God. Mario comes down, pulls him off the hood of my car, gets back in the car, goes, all right, next stop. And I go, whoa, whoa, what the hell? I thought somebody, like, something bad happened. Like, somebody fell or jumped onto my car. But Mario, he's covered in blood. Yeah. I think what happened, Matt, is you forgot for a second that Mario's Italian. Oh, my God. I forgot. No, I forgot. Yeah. That's what they do. This whole thing is now it's just sort of making more sense. And I, you know, again, I won't do the accent. I won't do any of this stuff. We go to a bunch of different spots.

We go to, like, a club. Yeah, you went to the Bada Bing probably. We went to the Bada Bing. You hung out with Furio, Polly Walnuts. Oh my God. Christopher was there. I can't believe. Sylvia Dante.

Johnny Sack. This is so embarrassing. Bobby Bacola, Jr. was there. I can't. I can't believe. Jackie Jr. Bito. Who was, who did, um, who did, um, who did, um, who,

Who did Joey Pants play? Ralphie. He was there too. Ralphie was there. The guy. The guy played by Joe, Joe Pantiliano. And we go, basically, we drove all around Los Angeles up until now, basically. Right.

And look, it got to, it got to just a point where, look, we were having a good time. Yeah. He treated me right. He, we, it was scary, it was dangerous, but, you know, we ended up having a nice time, but it can only go so far. No. What, Matt? What is? What happened? I just knew

I could feel it. I just knew it was coming. He just knew I had seen too much. Before he could even try to pull a fast one on me. I freaking jumped on him. And then he got smaller. You jumped on Mario? I jumped on Mario. I had to. I had to squish him down. You did not have to do that.

You smold his ass? I smolled his ass. I had to do it. He was going to find a magic mushroom in our realm. He's going to go back to the Mushroom Kingdom. It was either that or, you know, one in the back of the head from all, Jesus Christ, Mario. I don't think you should be putting this on audio, honestly. You don't think so?

I'm not sure if we should release this, because I think you could find yourself in hot water. Well, I'd like to see any of these little, these little mushroom kingdom Italians do anything about it. I mean, I don't know if there's a challenge you want to issue publicly. What are they going to do? Throw a fireball at me? There he is. Get them, boys. Ow, ow, ow. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, man. Those look, those are painful.

Oh, they're just hitting me. Ow, ow, oh, oh, oh. Like I threw a green shell at you. Oh, doink. Ow, ow, ow. We look for our USB chargers and battle motion sickness as we discuss gaming on the road this week on Get Played. Wow, it's Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm Tiger Weiger, alongside Mr. Games, Matt Apodaca. Hello, everyone. Mr. Games is really stuck.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to get played. I forgot it because Heather's not here. I got to do that part of it. That's right. Yeah, that's the part we always forget when Heather's not here. Yeah. And then the show comes to a screeching halt. Yeah, it kind of loses all momentum, just kind of falls off a cliff.

And then we've got to spend the rest of the time, you know, crawling our ways out of it. Goo-gaguing, filling our diapies, all that stuff. Well, I wasn't going to say, what you said reverting to infancy? That wasn't what I was talking about. Oh, well, I feel like we got to bring it up. It happens. we just go straight to being babies baby mode maybe you do we turn on each other it's part of the issue fucking piece of shit yeah it becomes lord of flies in here real quick yeah then we start

helping each other changing each other's diapers right up and then then it then it comes back to the show you know in love i mentioned that i think on the podcast before that they showed lord of the flies my boy scout troop went on a yeah we'd go on we go on camp outs but for we went of like a weird leadership outing that was at a cabin. And so we stayed at some, I don't remember what, I don't know, we might have been staying at a camp, but it was some place that had a cabin where we had like a TV, VCR combo. And they showed us Lord of the Flies as like some sort of like, hey, this is how, you know, this is the, this is like a leader. This is what happens when there's a vacuum in leadership. This is what the, you know, things happen when people go wild, really.

There needs to be some sort of order. There needs to be some sort of hierarchy and you all need to look out for each other. That was meant to be the message. But instead it just led to all the kids chanting, piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy. That's, yeah, I mean, kids are not equipped. We did not retain any, but to 12-year-olds. It's just fucking psychopaths. They're not equipped for whatever lesson that was going to be.

And also the lesson doesn't work. Just chanting that as a chubby little boy and I'm glad it's not me. Thank God. I wasn't perceived today. I've never seen it, but I just know about it. The book is better. Well, I don't know if there's been more than one movie adaptation. The book is British and has a very British sort of affect to it.

Oi, we lost in the woods, ain't it? That sort of stuff. Oi, bro, wish there was cheeky nandoes out here, that sort of thing. Man, I don't do anything for cheeky nandos, bro. And, or a fit bird. There's a lot of that But I do the silly walk of course Yeah of course right

Austin Powers His dad Michael Kane shows up And he's Austin Powers His dad Michael Kane In the movie Right yes Not Nigel Power Right

Of course not Um Anyway the If I just said Nigel Powers We have We have a guest And we're trying to do a really good job job, actually.

It's, you are. Okay, thanks God. Prodigious powers of bullshitting. You are lying. So he gets, so, like, the book is, the book is very different and the movie, like, is super American, changes a bunch of things, makes it a little bit more agro.

But it is, like, also just some horrific violence you see of children committing against other children, which is just, you know. I know it from the Simpsons, I'm realizing. I think the Simpsons version of it is better than the movie version. Well, it's got the Simpsons in it, first of all. Yeah. That's already a huge leap forward. That's an A-plus already.

I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's. It tastes like burning. At the end, they were rescued by, oh, let's say, Mo. A lot of good jokes in that one. It's like, it's over. All right, we should introduce our guests. Enough nonsense. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Very, very, very excited to have them. From Pup, their new album, Who Will Look After the Dogs is available now. Zach McCool is here. Hi, Zach. What up? How are you guys? Zach, joining us from Toronto, where you reside. Thank you so much for making time for us over in the Eastern Time Zone.

We know it's laid over there. You are a gamer. So what are your primary platforms for gaming? I got, I just got the Switch 2. I got a PlayStation 5. I got a Steam deck. And I got a like a busted ass Game Boy Advance. that I like just cart around all over the world.

So during sound check, when I'm waiting for somebody to stop talking, I basically just play Tetris. Hell yeah. So basically what you experienced at the top of the episode. Yeah, you're like, I saw you looking around, like, where's that fucking Game Boy Advance actually? My attention was waning rapidly. I wish I had one of those square blocks and then one of those Z-looking blocks.

Yeah, but the problem is, when you wish for it, it's like the Murphy's Law scenario. It's just slightly out of reach. You can't get it. What, what I would like, going back in time, what got you into games? Like what, like, what were the first games you remember getting their hooks into you when you were a kid? Um, I got to say like, uh, the Mega Man games or Mega Man X.

Oh, wow. Probably the first. Uh, my stepbrother was very into it. And we sat, I basically just watched him just, uh, own the game. And, uh, I try, I aspired. to his level of skill, which is I didn't realize at the time I was just memorizing the levels. Yeah, sure.

So, yeah, that was the first one. And it's still a great game. Mega Man X rocks. Did you ever play the like the NES Mega Man? Do you ever get back into those eventually? Yeah, I did. They're so much harder. They really are. Yeah.

It's crazy. They did Mega Man 7 for S-N-E-S, and that's a great game too. Yeah. In line with Mega Man X, but yeah, it's a great game. My first Mega Man I finished was Mega Man 2 for NES, and that was tough as nails. And in hindsight, it was just a child's, like, you know, fixation and then amount of free time that allowed me to actually get through that game. But what you were describing with your stepbrother, I realize this is like, I think I haven't talked about as much on this podcast, but that was a big part of my relationship with games growing up via my older brother, my awful older brother Nate, is that he was like, you know, he was five years older than me.

And so just, you know, had a higher degree of motor control and everything. It was also just generally better at games and cooler and, you know, more well-rounded a person. But he, like, he would, a lot of my gaming time was like watching, well, looking over his shoulder, watching him play games when I was young. And so it was like, that's partly how I learned to play games, but that's partly how I got into, like, things like RPGs, which were maybe a little bit over my, you know, comprehension level. as like a seven-year-old but then I could I got into them via him yeah I'm an older brother

and the way you talk about your older brother I just know that my brothers have no reverence for me whatsoever they're always like or maybe it's like the madman meme it's like I don't think about you at all which is worse actually I'd rather than think poorly of me

yeah that is worse you know we used to have Mega Man. Okay. Now we have Maga Man. Oh, my God. Don't remind me. Political.

Zach certainly does need to be hearing about that. I'd rather have Mega Man, is what I'm saying. So what is your primary, like, you got the Steam deck, you obviously got the Game Boy Advance for the Robe, you have the PlayStation 5, what is, you got the Switch 2, what is kind of like your default platform? If I'm going to get a new release, are you playing it on a PlayStation? Yeah, usually I play on, but it's like, I get into these rats. I get like hyper fixated on games

and I just don't get new games and then you know the trends pass me by I just got like Claire Obscure oh yeah yeah but it's yeah my go-to is usually PS5 but like Switch to is to it's just too good to pass up as far as like

a portable system but by my partner is currently addicted to Donkey Kong Bonanza so I can't take that on tour oh banana oh banana indeed yeah I mean like that it's so you're just, you're just splitting one switch two between the two of you. Yeah, basically.

We, we, we, now I tried to think when we got separate switches at a certain point during the pandemic, which was, but like the switch two is so cost prohibitive. It's like, what, I'm going to spend like, what, $1,200? How much is it Canadian? I think I spent, I want to say $700, but that could be wrong. Man, wow. Next thing, you'll know you'll be both wearing monocles. You'll have two monicles in the house as well.

Then you just got a pair of glasses. Yeah. I mean, I think you can get a pretty cheap. monocle. Well, yeah, the healthcare is taking care of, and that falls under it. That's huge. Maybe that's what we need for heads to roll. For people to just start wearing monocles again, some billionaire shows up with a fucking

monocles, like, all right, oh, you know what, fine, it's time. I think powdered wigs, actually, would be the main one, yeah. Because that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, the modern, the modern, the modern fran, is someone showing up with them a monocle. Yeah. What, so you mentioned mega man. is, I mean, I have to imagine that's what that be, because of by virtue

of getting you in a game and that's one of your favorite games of all time, but like, what are some other games that are like some of your all-time favorites, whether you play them recently or years ago, and or games that have influenced you in any way? I mean, the big one, super, I mean, I have a pretty normy taste, but it also runs to like the weirdest shit, but like Super Metroid

and, you know, it's Mario Games and Tommy Hawk and there's this game called they just re-released it they ported it to PS5 called Gex Oh yeah And I love that game as a kid And I played it recently

Like oh this is very inappropriate No wonder My mom was upset when I played this When I was younger Yeah Like that's Final Fantasy 7 is like a big That's one that always shows up for me Hell yeah

Corona Trigger Just like Hell yeah Killer Instinct was a big one too. So it's like tons of stuff. And like for now it's more recent stuff like Skyrim and Ghost of Sashima and Eldon Rain. Yeah. I mean like I you're mentioning some all timers for me there in that that run of things. But I want to go back to Gex. Yeah. So Gex was a Gex was a Gecko with attitude. My memory he was like a I'm not sure if I ever played Gex, but I feel like he was like

a James Bond. Was there was that an element to it or am I thinking or something else? But he was He was in that era when they were trying to come up with other mascot platformers that were cooler than Sonic. Yeah, it was very, like James Bond, as adjacent to James Bond as possible with, like, they're trying to make him Jim Carrey to a degree or like some pastiche of Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, quippy, annoying, like, Ryan Reynoldsy type. I like that to like combat Sonic there. We have to, like, invent a guy and, like, imply he fucks, kind of.

Yes, right. Like, we have to, like, make him, like, sort of, like, suave and horny. Sonic is clearly asexual, which the fan base does not respect. No, no, like, yeah. But, like, the other, we're like, yeah, well, ours will be cooler and horny or a whole swear or whatever. Yeah, yeah. And it's just, it's just not the move. No, it's not, yeah.

Has this ever happened to you? you've been traveling abroad and you want to watch one of your comfort shows or perhaps even a sporting event and then because you're somewhere else in a different country that doesn't have that you can't freaking watch it well I got something for you

NordVPN protect your private data like bank details passwords and online identity NordVPN can switch your virtual location allowing you to save money by purchasing flights hotels and subscriptions from other countries at a cheaper price So look, NordVPN can do all sorts of crazy stuff.

You can make it think you're somewhere else. You're wherever you are. You're not getting the best deal. Switch to somewhere else. They might have a better deal. That's huge. Protecting your data whilst traveling. And yeah, I said whilst.

And using public Wi-Fi, NordVPN protects you wherever you are in the world. I kind of a theory. This is why they haven't been able to apprehend Carmen San Diego. She's using NordVPN. They'll never find her. The NordVPN threat protection feature protects you from viruses, malicious malware, and fishing sites. Unless that fishing site is, fastpro.com.

No protection required there. It's the fastest VPN in the world. No buffering or lagging while streaming and stops your ISP bandwidth throttling. ISP bandwidth throttling, a thing of the past with NordVPN. Premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. Now, that's what I'm talking about. One NordVPN account can be used on up to 10 devices. Your phone, your iPad.

your mom's iPad, your laptop, maybe even your watch. Who could say? That's in, that's not even 10. You surely have some more, perhaps a proprietary browser on a video game console or something. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash get played. Our link will also give you four extra months of the two-year plan. By my estimation, that's 28 months. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee.

The link is in the podcast episode description box. VPN. You heard? Draft King's Casino has your playbook for gaming action all season long. Play thousands of popular slots for a shot at jackpots over 400 million

has already been awarded. New players get 500 spins on huff and more. Puff! Over 10 days! Download the app. Use code, get played, and claim your spins of your first $5 wager. Get in the game.

with Draft King's Casino, home of the largest jackpot win in online casino history. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-7-777 or visit c-cpgg.org. please play responsibly. 21 plus physically present in Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia only,

void in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply new customers only. Non-withdrawable casino spins issued as 50 spins per day for 10 days, valid for feature game only, and expire each day after 24 hours. See terms at casino. Draftkings.com slash promos. ends October 5th, 2025, at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time. Can I ask you about some of your songs appearing in video games, Zach?

Because your band, Pup, one of my favorite bands, I have to say. Huge, huge band of Pupp. I got to, Zach, this is, Matt is, I think, you know, he's saying it. But like, like, and you're saying it directly to you, but like the excitement, the palpable excitement we've gotten both from Matt and from our producer, Michelle Chen Ranch, over your appearance. I cannot convey this enough. A couple of huge pop fans here. That's very flattering. No, this is like, we, you look, I'm going to throw all our guests out of the bus real quick.

This is an all-timer for me. This is huge. Because, like, a lot of the guests that we have on are great, but they're, like, friends of ours. So, like, people we know. So this is, like, just truly very excited. I'm excited to talk to Sean Distant. Oh, yeah. Oh, great.

Amir wants to come on. Someone I don't know that well. Shouldn't roast. So, no, so obviously, Pup, you guys have songs that appear in games. I'll just run through some of these real quick. Reservoir is in Watchdogs, too, in Riders Republic. Lionheart is, you have actually a lot of songs in...

in various NHL hockey games. Lionheart's in NHL 15, sibling rivaling in NHL 20, totally fine in NHL 23. Matilda and Rock Band 4, which is really cool. And then DVP is in Dream Daddy, a dad dating simulator.

That's right. Nick is a love Dream Daddy. Fondness 4. I was going to mention that, but I wasn't sure it's like, depending on what corner of Reddit you're in, it's a controversial game to be a part of. But I'm sure that's just like infighting

between fans. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, anywhere you're on the internet is controversial. Yes. But the video, I guess, because, like, songs in games, like, it happens a lot,

but, like, what was it like for you to have one of your songs actually, like, appear in a video game? Like, what was that, like, experience? It's pretty wild. I think the first one that I was, like, fully aware of might have been Dream Daddy. And I, it's like an indie studio,

So I was like, that's cool. And then it turned out that that brought a lot of, that actually introduced us to a lot of people. Wow. So not only was it cool to like have our song in a game, period, but that's amazing. But just like a lot of people started showing it at our shows, that was like one of the biggest like booms of,

like first booms of fan base that we had was because of that game. That's wild. Dream Daddy. That's fascinating. Yeah, it was cool. I saw this band. I used to love this band, the living end

they're a three-piece band from Australia and I saw them once one of the very few times they played here in the States they don't really come they don't really come over here as I understand it's very far away and they

it is just there you're just there it's quite far and they they played one of their songs End of the World and they were like you might know this song from a fucking video game and it's from

I think Tony Hawk's Underground or Tony Hawk's Underground 2 or something And I was like already aware of them And I thought that was so funny Because people went nuts They're like, we do know it from a video game And they have one of their songs in Guitar Hero Carry Me Homes in Guitar Hero too actually So they were they had they did their little video game chunk which was crazy

But yeah but it must bring The the awareness that must bring to a band Especially like like a quote unquote like newer band must be must be so huge yeah it was it was cool that was that was quite early on if i remember so yeah yeah we were very grateful that we got that chance and then we got like we got in watchdogs too which i didn't know what it was and then i've since like played and loved i'm sure this will get me uh backlash uh i've played in love watchdog legion since like i love that game it's it's super fun i know not everybody loves that game right it's like i only knew about that because our our song was in

too so yeah yeah it's it's great like yeah that's awesome and then so the the video for dvp obviously is comprised of clips from video games with the the dialogue uh boxes in these games being filled with lyrics of the song how did that uh like what was the the impetus of that like being the video and for people who haven't seen it we could put a we could put a link of the show description but it's basically like it's in my memory entirely uh eight bit games yeah like it's it's and and uh you know so like like like like it's just jumping between a bunch of different frames of a bunch of uh like uh you know punch out and um uh uh you know like uh river city ransom games of that era a lot a lot of nes games and then it will have like

yeah yes what you're saying like within the style of the text the in game text in that same sort of font it will be uh lyrics for the song yeah but yeah i i did uh the to bat's question how did that come about uh that was our um I mean we were always looking to do something a little weird uh you know we're a kooky guys

right we uh we wanted to make a a lyric video that didn't suck and most this is I'm sure this isn't controversial but most lyric videos suck yeah and um so our director friend Jeremy who's done like all of our videos all of our best videos are is Jeremy he did reservoir he did um if this tour doesn't kill you he did all like the like the most graphic ones it's probably Jeremy and so he like he came up in the same era era and he uh he just

pitched this idea and we basically scoured games scoured gifts and videos and just like pull them pulled them together and pulled them apart and then just like he went to work editing forever to add the lyrics in and then it's been on YouTube for however many years now we're just playing chicken with copyright at this point but apparently under I guess it's parody law it's technically legal so you know feels like parody fair used to me yeah and so you guys had say in like what what video games were like selected for the thing was there one that you were like super like this one has to be in there like we're like we're you like super like you get you put you put your foot down at any point i remember um somebody

specifically said battle toads had to be in it it's a good it's a good call yeah there's this like i like i just toss it a bunch of games it's like mega man and like whatever fit whatever frames ended up working because we're not super precious about that yeah he just letting jerry because jeremy again came up in that era so he just let him you know let his imagination go wilds basically that's awesome because you because pup has been in video games

stuff is there like a dream video game that you're like I wish we could be in this one is that like something that you think about at all I mean we kind of in a sort of oblique way we kind of already did somebody I

I think it was somebody on the regionalization team for Paper Mario an origami king nobody's like copy to it, but there's a specific part of the game where they put our song titles

in the dialogue. Oh, wow. And it was, this like came up a while ago when the game initially came out. And like, still a part of me is like, there's no way that's it. But then the sequence of dialogue, it's like clearly our songs. Yeah.

So it's still possible as a coincidence, but it's like... It'd be a huge coincidence. Yeah, a huge coincidence. It's like, it's all like morbid stuff. references so it's it was pretty wild like I was just playing innocently and just like I'm like wait a second and then like two weeks later I saw on I think it was reddit or something so many it's like the lyrics are in the in the video game and it's like that's crazy that must have been so strange to like just be playing it and being like what the hell yeah it's it was wild and it's amazing

like that's kind of like you know I've gotten what I want out of that so yeah yeah it's cool there there also though must have been element of like because that's like the dream scenario for the the fan of pup who's on the localization team who's tight putting those easter eggs in there is that a member of pop organically discovering it while playing the game yeah that's pretty rad truly wild yeah um and then so you also make a lot you make lots of different kinds of music but you had like made original like video game compositions as well correct yeah like i i mean i compose for fun mostly but I'm trying to like

that's a that's a side of the business I'm trying to break into because that's like the dream I mean I've already gotten my dream and being a like being in a band and like being able to live off being in a band which is amazing and being kind of in paper Mario pretty cool yeah that's huge

I could quit now but yeah it's like the next step I feel like I just really want to cut my teeth on on some indie games and so if I did just practicing until then just like binding my time, writing, and just, like, trying to, I don't know, worship at the altar of all these amazing soundtracks that are out there. What do you compose on? I have, like, I have a bunch of

stuff. I have, like, a little, a sequential prophet six here. It's a synthesizer and Juneau 106 and, you know, guitar bass drums. I have, like, you can sort of see the electric kept behind me. Yeah. Awesome. Like, you know, a rate of sense and stuff, and I have a, I just run into logic and, It's, you know, it's just like a lot of, it's kind of where I, this is like my favorite place to be is tinkering. So yeah, that's what I do. Do you have any, any, any notable favorites among game soundtracks, be they indie games or otherwise?

Final Fantasy 7 again. Yeah. Is like, it's, that's like an obvious answer, but. But a good answer. It's, it's like hard to overstate, like when the original came out, the intro, when you see. like the sort of like swooping shot over Midgar and the theme comes on it's like I didn't know like video game music could be this cinematic right and that I think changed my because I mean I was

used to Mega Man X and all those games and those have amazing soundtracks it's like great like succinct amazing compositions that's what I was used to very catchy like very short and then it's like you have the sprawling like orchestral soundtrack I mean at the time it was it was a little more like eight or 16 bit, I think it was 16 bit, but it's still amazing. It's just like evokes the imagination and I don't know if you guys are familiar with the podcast, strong songs. Yeah, yeah, Kirk Cameron's podcast. Yeah, Kirk went in depth. He was talking about like the magic of Final Fantasy 7th soundtrack and what made it magical more magical in the original is that it left to the imagination more like if you fill in the details of the orchestra a little bit more. And the new soundtrack is

great. I agree it's great, but I understand what he's saying. It's just like there's such power in that and being young and hearing that for the first time. For sure. And so like when you're tinkering, when you're just kind of like doing it for fun, are there other soundtracks that you're sort of like, are you making music with like a specific type of game in mind? Is it like a final fantasy type thing? Or you just kind of like whatever the mood strikes type of thing? It's a bit of both. And it's like sometimes I just sometimes the best place to start is like try to make fun of something. And sometimes it's like it's easier to write music when you're making fun of something I find. Wait, what do you mean by that? Well, it's like, I mean, you know,

from playing Mega Man. Yeah, sure. It's a little tropey as far as like the, it's like heavy metal music as filtered through a synthesizer in the 80s. Right. And it's like, or like a MIDI synthesizer in the 80s. It's like, it's like, how can I take that and like translate it to a more modern sensibility and it's just like kind of make a funny like sort of circuitous melody and just like make it ridiculous got it the drums are impossible to play yeah just like all this shit like in mega man who's this unrealistic uh guitar playing so yeah just like doing that kind of stuff and it's still with reverence it's just like it's it was designed to be ridiculous so yeah i think that's kind of the best part about it. That's one thing I love about chip tunes is, and you know far more about

music than me, obviously, but just like that they, that they, the, the composers of that era back when now obviously there's, there's basically no hardware limitations on what you can do musically, but there was a time when you had like, I've got, I've got four channels to work with. I've got eight channels to work with, you know, playing things like chords was, it was difficult. So you'd like turn a lot of things into arpeggios. And then like what you're saying is it's just because it's not a real, because you're just putting a sequence in there. Yeah, you can have these impossibly fast runs, which is part of what's fun about it from, you know, sonically.

Yeah, totally. Yeah. Not Sonic, like, the guy. No, not Sonic the guy. Yeah. No, yeah. And I think of him as a guy, by the way. He's just one of the guys.

I think he is canonically a guy. Yeah, yeah. Like how Hello Kitty is a girl. That's right. A human girl. Yeah. Hey, buddy, is the state of the U.S. making you want to escape? Take the first step and learn the language before you go.

Babel makes it easy. Start speaking a new language with confidence thanks to Babel's conversation-based technique that quickly teaches you useful words and phrases about the things you actually talk about in the real world. There's over a dozen languages available to learn at your own pace so you can achieve your goals with a material tailored to your individual proficiency level, interests and time availability. Me, I've been learning some Spanish or Espaniel using the Babbel app, and I've been having a blast

and making a lot of tangible progress. It is handcrafted by over 200 language experts. Babel's lessons are voiced by real native speakers and built with science-based cognitive tools like space repetition and interactive features to fit any learning style. It's like having a private tutor in your pocket. For me, some of my favorite ways to learn a new language

are personalized review systems based on my progress designed for long-term memorization. There's Babel games which are fun for sentence building and spelling reinforcement and culture bites that deliver content and insider knowledge about the language. Studies from Yale, Michigan State, and other leading universities continue to prove Babel works. One study found that using Babel for 15 hours

is equivalent to a full semester at college. With over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babel's 14 award-winning language courses are backed by a 20-day money-back guarantee. So get talking with Babel. I want you to learn another language, so I'm teaming up with Babel to gift you 55% off subscriptions,

only for our listeners at babble.com slash played. Get up to 55% off at babble.com slash played, spelled babble.com slash played. Rules and restrictions may apply. Here's the thing, guys. I have been traveling recently. I went over to the UK and I'll admit the Wi-Fi speed, the internet speed when you're traveling abroad, those roaming data cap shit, like you have to buy like a 50 quid. I don't know.

It's tough. It's tough when you're abroad and you've badly needed an internet connection with no Wi-Fi spot and site. So you understand what a difference a local SIM card can make. An ESIM provides an internet connection wherever you travel and saves you money on roaming fees. That's where Saley comes in. Saly is a new E-Sim service app brought to you by the creators of NordVPN. Here you can choose from several affordable ESIM plans in over 190 countries and eight regions. With a Saley ESIM, you'll always have a connection when needed.

Download Saly once, and you won't have to install a new ESIM for each country. You can avoid scammers selling fake SIM cards outside train stations and airports, and there are a lot of those guys, believe me. There's no more wandering around looking for a public Wi-Fi spot with a Sali. You're always connected. They provide 24-7 support, and you get a full refund if your device isn't ESIM compatible. Download the Saly app in your app store. Use code Get Played at checkout to get 15% off your first purchase or go to saley.com

slash get played. That's S-A-I-L-Y dot com slash get played. I did want to ask about there's music and video games, but then there's also music games. And I'm always curious on a musician's take on the rock bands, the guitar, heroes, the Samba de Amigos, the Donkey Kong Jungle Beats of the world. Like, like, how do you feel about rhythm games that involve

some sort of, like, you know, a peripheral? It's, uh, it's embarrassing for me to play. That's what I would say. I, I tried, I tried rock band once. I'm like, oh, this it's like, I'm trying to play, I'm trying to listen and play the song, and that's not what you're supposed to do.

Right. So it's, it's just like defies every instinct that I've learned to like sort of believe in as a musician so yeah I'm totally into it like it's cool like I love the um I love the competitive nature of of guitar hero and that that stuff and just like I love the sort of open sourceness that's such a great thing um and people adding songs and like totally getting insane it's like putting a dream theater a dilder skate plan song in guitar hero is amazing. That's so cool and like who knows what that means for exposing kids to like cool

music. But yeah I'm terrible at it and I don't make a habit of playing those games. That's interesting because like yeah you would as a drummer are more used to like listening and playing along but like the game

is obviously so visual that like it's probably just like messing with how it's being processed in your brain like entirely. Well it's I think it's more, it's that, but like, there's also a lot of visual in, in playing on stage. There's, like, a lot of communication. And the number of times, like, Steve has fucked me up from making a face at me, like, while we're playing, and it's just like, we try to fuck each other up.

But it's, there's, there's also, like, a perceptual delay that's part of it. There's also literally, like, it's still a video game. So you should be pressing buttons, not playing music. Right. And it's like, you'd think I could marry those two factors, but it's too. it's like two parts of my brain that couldn't be further apart so it's yeah

it just doesn't work you know I'm not sure if you are familiar with this Zach but they I imagine you've seen this at some point but you know

Canadian rock legends Rush RIP Neil Purt they play there was a there's a video they made of playing rock band attempting to play rock band

back in the day have you ever seen this before no I heard about it but I am watched it yeah I think it was on on Colbert Report where they did it and they like

they failed and they failed partway in and then the quote from Alex Lifeson the guitarist says because they failed at 31% 31% they hate us They're mad at the game is mad at them

That's so that's It's got to be so strange Because like I mean I like to play The rock band drums In a scenario where like We're playing rock band with like a squad or whatever like you know at a friend's party but like even listening to like

the isolated like just hits of the the the video game drum pads it doesn't sound like it doesn't sound like music it doesn't it just sounds like you're hitting or like pressing buttons really is what it sounds like but it doesn't it doesn't sound like anything yeah you really got to like lean into the video gaminess of it yeah right i'm also bad at it so it doesn't sound like it Yeah, that's always going to be a little bit of a roadblock. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's going to sound a little bit worse. I guess, I mean, that's all, that's all, bye. No, that's all my questions for this part of the show.

Well, actually, there is one more question that we tend to ask on this podcast, Sack to you and to really to everyone in the studio, that question is, what are you playing? What are you pawing? Oh, no. Hey, it's me, Bubsy Bobcat. It's Bubsy Bringing some

positive catitude to this hysterical podcast I'm sorry I should say podicast

Okay thank you First of all Thank you for correcting yourself Bubsy You're on thin fucking ice As it is

Second Zach I'm so sorry This is Bubsy The Cat of course Um If the camera I wasn't on

I would guess that it was Nick But No it's for sure Bubsy It's really It's just starstruck Yeah

I'm here I think I think maybe you're just, yeah. Yeah, Nick is crying. He's so excited that Bubsy's here. It's me in the flesh. Stop saying that. Litter, litter only here.

Bubsy, you have a new game coming out. That's right, Bubsy 4D. I hear the difficulty is impossible. So, okay, this is what I think so far about your whole thing, Bubsy. You've got one pun. One pun? I think I've got nine lives. You know what?

I take it back. Bubsy's good. Bubsy, how can you guarantee that this new Bubsy, Bubsy 4D, isn't going to suck shit like all the other bubsies? Of course, you know, some of the previous Bubsy games

have been Cat Astrophic, but this one, I think, is going to be a positively received by the gaming press. Okay, Bubsy, the Resident Evil 4 merchant usually is here. I don't know who that is.

You don't know the Resident Evil I don't I don't listen this podcast I don't know who that is I would assume

you guys know each other just from the circuit from being in video games Oh I'm not invited on the

circuit oh God so everybody hates you it brings a real outsider energy to

could you persuade Resident Evil merchant to invite me into the circuit look he's

in tough not to crack I got to say but he's always looking for a new friend I'll tell

him that that he's that you're that you're interested, but he usually does a little bit of business up top, and then he kind of gets to the essential question of the show. Oh, right, the essential question of the show. I'll get to it, Matt, or should I say cat? I'm not even mad at it. That's pretty good. Cats good. I like that. I have actually, of my tattoos, I was realizing this the other day. Obviously, I have a tattoo right

here that commemorates my two dead cats, but I also have this other cat tattooed on me. I have three cats on my body. Is it me? Bubsy? It might as well be you. Wow. You know what? What an honor. It's you now. What an honor. Yeah. That's perfection as far as I'm concerned. Oh, wait. I have two more real quick and then we'll get out of your way. Oh, hey, okay. Wait, so you had a run and count? I have two more. One, I think your guest is from Pup. You know, my favorite band, Kit. That's one. Pretty good. That's really, that's really good. I'm actually surprised you weren't scared to be here. So would Bubzy have another one? Yeah, have one more. Yeah. What's the other one? Uh, you know what I use for, uh, as my large language model?

No. Kat GPT. Christ. That's, that was the best one. What are you playing? Wow, thank you so much, Bubsy. Zach, are you playing any games currently right now? I know you mentioned bonanza up top.

Uh, yeah. I tried to, it made me really dizzy, but I think I was hung over. Sure. I mean, as you can tell, I have a very, like, I have a very big personality. So the game that I'm playing more recently reflects that I'm playing Bellatro. Oh, hell yeah. It's just like the only thing I have energy for, like mental energy for. Yeah.

It's just like you can jump in or jump out. And it's like that's also good for touring. It's just like games like Vampire Survivor or like Forger. those like he's just like pick them up and play them and then you could just turn them off immediately yeah um but also i just like i always just go i always go back to elden ring i've like been at six times at this point so it's like six times are you someone who obsessed with do you new game plus it what it like are you just keep run keep rerunning it yeah i'm afraid of like losing the success that i've had with it's a little bit like entertainment um but yeah yeah i just love

that game and it's easy to go back now and I wouldn't have called it a comfort game before because it's so fucking annoying but I love that game so I just go back to it again what is the build of your you know character or do you have a favorite build that you've that you found um I do like my guy is mostly like intelligence and dexterity got it um but I also like I constantly go back to um what's her face to respect and just like try out different stuff I like arcane a lot arcane's really good and it's uh what's it called it's the prisoner is my my guy I made him look like a Croatian plumber yeah and that being a of slavic descent it made me feel close close to him yeah so have you messed with um elden ring night rain at all uh no that kind

of scares me that I feel I feel like that'll lay my skill level to bear yeah it is I will say it's because it's run based it sort of is like a great equalizer kind of so like you're always kind of starting starting from zero but it is you do sort of need a good squad going so you need like two other two other pals that are as into it that you can get you can get going you can do it with randoms it's easy to do with randoms i've done it with randoms but you got you got to just be if you're going to play with randoms you got to just be submissive and just like let the other guys uh just follow the other guys and i just do what they're doing and then uh i don't have any problems

Yeah, like I couldn't get, I mean, I know it's not the same because it's co-op, but it's, I, I, I couldn't get into like the online stuff because I, you always, it's just like, like some Gen Z kids. Yeah. Just come in and just like annihilate you. Right. And then you're like, all right. Well, this is not a community spirit that I'm looking for in the most annoying game ever created. I want to ask about Balaccharo because that's a game I put a lot of time into. It's been in particular recently.

I played it at launch and then I was like, I got to get this off of my. I have to delete this from my Steam store because it's just, it's too, my Steam library is just too addictive. Then I got on my phone, same process, had to get it off my phone. Lately, then it came, when it came to Game Pass, I installed off Game Pass and I started playing it. And that's what it like most got its hooks into me because of the, the achievements for whatever reason that the Game Pass achievements are really motivating for me. But I, it's such an incredible design. And it's so playable. Do you have a particular deck or

or build you glom onto or do you have a particular goal as you're playing the game or you just riffing? I was thinking about this earlier to make it sound romantic. I would say that I have a very Buddhist approach to Bellatro and that I'm, I move through it

with curiosity and I try to see what I can do with whatever disaster I'm handed. So it's just like try to get as many polychromes as possible. that's basically my whole thing and just like I'm not I can't say I'm the smartest person ever

so I really rely on any buff that I possibly can get and I mean you're right it's like it is a wonder of game design it's like it's so addictive it's crazy like and it just turning it's like turning poker and solitaire into a rogue

like who like what twisted mind thought of that that's wild totally ingenious yeah the polygram Polychrome jokers are that they're basically bonus cards it's a bonus that can be on an existing joker that puts a 1.5x multiplier on it

so if you stack a few of those but there's also cards that give X multipliers and the whole thing is balancing because you get like the plus chips the plus molt but then ultimately once you get into the late game stages of your run when you're trying to finish around the times molt is what's going to really give you those

exponentially larger scores so it is I will say that as great as the game is there is kind of a narrowing of strategies as you get deeper into it because you just need so many points and talking about video game music that one track that plays the whole time

playing is incredible what a track. I mean by design catchy because you have to listen to it yeah do you ever hear a song like that that doesn't have any drums and think I could really add something to this there's nothing my drumming does that

improves any sort. Not true. Is what I've learned. Matt, what are you playing? Well, I have a big announcement.

Wow. And that announcement is I finished Death Stranding 2 on the beach. Wow. And now let me just tell you something about this. I didn't mean to.

I just didn't mean to. I didn't want it to be over. Yeah. I've been playing this game so patiently and so just measured and just like doing a bunch of side things and things like that. And last week

when we talked about Benanza, I talked about how that game overstated it's welcomed for me a little bit, but I still ultimately really enjoyed it. This game, this could be, you could play this game forever. Yeah. I think, I mean, here's the thing. I think I played it for like 80 hours. I played a lot of it. I didn't want it to be

over. Like the story, the story that moves through the chapters, if you didn't have any of the other stuff in it. The story's not that long. Like, it's not, there's not that much story in it, I think, compared to the experience of playing the game, right?

So, like... Well, and also, it sounds like, if you're saying there's, I mean, because Death Stranding 1 had so much story. Yes. And you're saying that, like, this is comparatively not as robust, or... I don't mean to say that. You don't mean to say that. No. Because the... Similarly to the first

game, a lot of the story stuff is on the back end you get a lot more of the like reveals and and in story proper story beats toward the end of the game and i was just in such a spot where i was so compelled by what was going on i just had to then mainline the rest of the story missions and keep going and my wife walked in on me crying. I was crying, playing the game. And, like, in the middle of, I'll say, a long cut scene. But it was, and she was like, are you okay? We had somewhere to go. Yeah. Like afterwards. And then, like, when we went out, when we went out, I was in a bad mood. I was like not a good mood because I had just been crying. But it's a stellar, incredible game. I'm going to

be thinking about it for a while. It's going to be tough to beat for game of the year for me so fall. Wow. And then... How many times have you and your wife have that same interaction, but it's you playing Kingdom Hearts? I mean, look, more than one. The answer is not zero. She's just like,

what the fuck is this? You're crying over Donald Duck? What's going on? He didn't heal me. He doesn't heal. I've already moved on to something else. Look, I'm still chipping away at Hollenite. I'll just update you on my Hollenite progress real quick. Silk Song comes out when this episode drops in a couple of days.

Yeah. I don't think I'm finishing it before the drop date. But I'm in, I'm at an encounter with Hornet in the Kingdom's Edge area. And I'm getting my fucking ass kick because I've had months and months off of Hollow Night. Yeah. But I've re-learned how to play. Rochelle Chen, ranch, our producer, did you, do you remember this fight in Hollow Night? Yeah, that was a really tough fight.

Yeah. Yes. And because she, it's a small area where you're fighting in the, And she has this now, she's faster and more aggressive in this area. You're talking about ranch? Yeah, ranch. Yeah, that's why I prefer, I prefer Studio G. Yeah.

But then she also is able to sort of string these barbs in the play area. And so while you're jumping and dashing around, they can get in your way and damage you also. But I've gotten close, so I know I can do it. So I'm still doing that. But since I was loving Death Stranding 2 so much, I was like, I have. I got to go back to the original Metal Gear Solid 1. I've never played that one before. Messed around with a little bit of that on my Vita. And then I was like, I want to play this, but I know Diston, Sean Diston, big Metal Gear Solid 5 guy, has been haranguing the three of us,

specifically, me for a long time. Yeah. To be playing Metal Gear Solid 5. And I think he wants to come on an episode. He wants to come on an episode and talk about it. It's his favorite. It's his, it might be his favorite piece of media he loves it so much and so I played I played Metal Gear Solid 5 ground zeros rolled credits on that

which is the it's a separate game but it's basically a single level of a game in long cutscenes and then I started Metal Gear Solid 5 but then something happened Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta Snake Eater comes out

and Snake Eater is my favorite It's my third favorite video game of all time. Right. I think those top three are maybe all tied for one depending on the day, right? And which is, of course, Kingdom Hearts 2, Pokemon Gold, Metal Girl Solid, Three Snake Eater. Yeah. I had to see what was going on. I had to see if they massacred my boy or not.

And let me tell you something. It's good. It's like, it's just exactly the same shit. It just looks better and plays a little bit better. Yeah. It plays more modernly, certainly. And there's some quality of life to it. But they didn't change anything.

it's exactly the same game and now it's probably like the way I'll replay it as I've replayed it over the years I've played this game so many times it's nice to have a new way to just replay an old game and I'm playing it right now and look my wife caught me

pressing R1 to get a closer look at something if you know what I mean she says you can do that in this game and I was like they practically make you do it Virginia's a freak that's right but also Snake is unapologetically horny

in some of these games too he's just straight up he's straight up a horny character I mean in Metal Gear Solid 2 it's implied that he's beating off in a locker looking at poster of the one bikini That's amazing Yeah it's amazing

That's a Marvel of video gaming I know look what the art form can do but I'm playing Delta right now and it does not start with the credit a Hideo-Kajima game it says based on Metal Gear Solid 3 sneak eater but his name is in the credits several times in the opening in the intro

and then the last credit created by Hideo Kojima is still intact which is cool and I just love the game it's like I mean it's not it's unfortunately I think the real thing about it is why did they do this if they didn't make it newer like or if they didn't like change anything it's almost it's just it's inert kind of it's not really anything it's just like a fresh cone of paint on already a good game but maybe that's enough yeah uh and like there is like the new mode which is

it plays over the shoulder third third person versus uh slightly above right and you can do either one You can play either way. But it rocks, and I hope to finish it pretty soon so I can move on to some of these other Metal Gear Solid games. I love the swing of ingenuity. Like, I don't think this is a spoiler at this point. Yeah, in one to beat the last boss or whatever is the controller thing. Yeah, Psychomantis.

Psychomantis, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the swing of ingenuity from that to you have to jerk off. Well, you don't have to. It's more of an Easter egg. But you can sort of tell that, like, you can sort of tell that he had to do it. Yeah, you have. If you had to progress through the game. He started shaking.

Nick, what are you playing? Matt, thank you so much for asking. I'll talk real quick about Tomba, special edition. Matt, I believe you played Tomba back in the day. Is that correct? I did play Tomba back in the day. On PlayStation 1, released in 1997. It was on sale on Steam, this remaster.

And it holds up really well. I'm pleased to report. It's super fun. You get to jump on and throw pigs. it's got, you know, it's the side-scrolling Metroidvania platformer with just sort of like this cave boy sort of character, the titular Tomba

and these evil pigs that you're fighting against and it has the expected kind of quality of life improvements like rewind and save anywhere. It's just a remarkably still like very, very solid game that I think is semi-forgotten because it was a side-scroller that came out for the

PlayStation 1 in the era of early 3D platformers and also just no one was really paying attention to side-scrollers on, you know, on PlayStation at the time. I feel like that that was everything that was like, you know, all those games that were impactful were on, you know, Nintendo and Sega, and now there's obviously like a big market for these as as throwbacks, but, but, you know, it kind of reached it, it, it was kind of ill-timed in terms of when it, when it emerged.

But it's a great game. It was directed by Capcom veteran Tokuro Fujiwara after he left the studio and joined Whoopi Camp, which Fujiwara, a legendary designer directed a commando, ghosts and goblins and ghouls and ghosts, Bionic Commando, also Sweet Home, which has been called the original Survivor Horror Game. Anyway, I was looking for some more context on Fujiwara, and I found this Polygon piece, how Resident Evil 2 fell apart that became one of Capcom's biggest hits by Alex Aniel. I'm just a real quick bit of this. that pertains to Tomba.

The first change was the departure of Tokuro Fujiwara from Capcom in late 1995 before the original game, Resident Evil, was even released. Having been the grandmaster of Capcom's console game since 1983 and a mentor to younger creators of the company, his departure marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. Fujiwara's decision to leave came down to his desire to make new and original games, something he says he never would have been able to do within Capcom. quote, outside of Resident Evil, Capcom wanted to continue making franchise titles like Street Fighter. Meanwhile, I'd have to develop original games, but didn't look like there'd be any opportunity to do so in the foreseeable future, Fujiwara says. Officially he resigned from Capcom immediately after the release of Resident Evil, although in practice, he had stopped coming into the office in December 1995 in order to use up his accumulated vacation days, of which there were plenty given his 13-year tenure, which encompassed thousands of years of amassed overtime and unused days off, a pattern that was prevalent in Capcom during these years. This dude just cashed in all his PTO at the end of his contract.

He, like, went, like, full George Costanza at the end. That's fucking awesome. That's alpha's hell. Unfortunately, Fujiwara did not achieve the same level of success of Whoopi Camp is in Capcom. Neither Tomba nor the sequel sold well enough to sustain the cost of operating the company. And as a result, Fujiwara plays Quippy Camp in a dormancy. The company continued to exist, but was effectively inactive.

So, it's, anyway, I'm glad this game exists. and even though it was not it was kind of a commercial flop I think it's cool that he got to go off and make his own game and it's this cool weird game that is this cult fandom and has a remake

you know almost 30 years later they keep bringing back these little guys they brought back they brought back Tomba they brought back Gex they brought back Bubsy I think we're good

everybody stop we don't need we don't need Arrow the Acrobat yeah let's talk about road trip games or I guess just games on the road in general

How do you want to think of this, Matt? Yeah, I think games on the road. Gaming on the road. I like it. Yeah. I like it because I've done, I've certainly done, I mean, my favorite travel. I haven't certainly been on a tour of any kind. Yeah.

I know, obviously, Zach has been on many tours and is getting ready to kick off another leg of it here in the States. You've toured quite a bit. I've done some touring for Doe Boys by podcast, though nothing as extensive as a band might do. But yes, I've certainly done some of that. But I feel like I see, I've seen like crazy travel rigs on, like, on, like, various, like, tour buses and stuff. And obviously, not every, not in every band is going to be doing this, like, a crazy rig like that or whatever. But, like, Zach, what's your, what's your typical setup on the road? Are you guys, like, gaming together ever?

It's, like, it's usually pretty ambitious to expect us to all get together. We don't want to spend that much time. At a certain point with each other. Yeah. Like I, at first, so like on tour buses, sometimes you get like, you know, an H-DMI input and you can like hook stuff up. But that's, yeah, nobody wants to do that. So I end up just like bringing a switch or something. We play Mario Kart or like that kind of stuff.

So it's not an extensive rig. It's just like a switch on a table and you just break out the left or right. So you guys don't all have, you don't live in a single big apartment with four separate doors for each other. we wish this band would be over so much sooner uh no I didn't answer to your question it wasn't a serious question

so you guys played a little bit of Mario car in the road so like I guess yeah you're bringing you're bringing switch is it ever like do you guys ever do any like is it does it get competitive what's the what's the vibe when you guys are playing games with each other if you do it usually one of us is knowingly like the lame duck so we just like admit defeat early on so it's not

really it's like a bunch of self-deprecating musicians so there's not a lot competition nobody's trying to alpha anybody yeah no no one's the alpha we're all whatever is below delta is that below beta but yeah no there's not not much like competition it's like whatever we can do to get away from each other and just like i get in my bunk and play the thousand thrice of Breath of the Wild or whatever. Yeah. Wait, when you say bunk,

you're talking, so you're on a tour bus. Yeah. So you're all in close, close proximity. You got to show, you're performing together, a lot of meals together.

You're spending a lot of time with you, you're saying that those are points when you kind of want some alone time, even though you're in the same space. And if you're gaming, there were times when you might all, all game together,

but a lot of times it's like a solo venture for you. Yeah, most of the time it is. And like, Nestor, our base player, he brings a switch sometimes, Um, and it's solo usually and, but we like, yeah, we talk about games and trade tips on stuff because we, he and I play a lot of the same games. So it is usually solo. It is like a lot of, uh, touring, especially for us at this age is like a lot of, uh, recuperating.

Right. Yeah. Whatever you can do to like regain the energy that you've lost through like, it's very intense play on stage. It's like, and I've, I've talked, uh, I like on other podcasts about like my performance anxiety. So that adds a layer too. it and just like all that stuff whatever we can do to like sort of recuperate mostly so that ends up being a lot of attempted time alone yeah that makes total sense yeah would that then like dictate what type of game that you would necessarily like gravitate to like if if i was stressed out i wouldn't necessarily want to be starting a new run in uh in elden ring or something you know i wouldn't want to face off against the godskin duo yeah if i was having having a hard time you know yeah but it's like sometimes you just

go to the hills of Magwin Palace and you just commit genocide on the Elvin Arix and it just takes the edge off. It's like going outside for a cigarette. I've never smoked, but I assume it's like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I assume it.

Freaking rules. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, like, it's like comfort games like Breath of the Wild and like that kind of stuff. Forger is another great game that I've gone back to and another, it's very addictive, rogue-like. And yeah, just,

that stuff. Anything that can, like, absorb you into something and take you out of the world around you. So tell us about Forger, because this is a game that I'm familiar with, but I've never actually spent any real time with. Yeah, it's like, I want to say it's kind of Minecrafty, but it's like you're gathering materials and building, um, but it's like a very 2D top down aesthetic and it's a rogue like, so like constantly collecting and upgrading. so super addictive and just leading to each like to new worlds

based on your power level and it's like a bullet hell if it wasn't violent almost it is a little violent but it's like it's not you're not constantly shooting in every direction you're like

you're just hacking away and collecting stuff and it has like a rhythm to it that's that can be pretty soothing in its way speaking of bullet hell or I guess bullet heaven you mentioned vampire survivors

you spent some real time with that yeah love that game that's actually Jeff Rosenstock turned me on to that yeah it's it's so stupid that was the first bullet all that I played and I yeah this is wild it's like uh just absurdity I didn't know that would ever be a trajectory for games that just like constantly fun but I also played um what's that game the the with the bananas my friend Pedro oh yeah that game rocks yeah I love that game that's a great game and that's like another just like fantastic it's like I never knew it just like aimlessly shooting of things

could be that fun. I thought I needed a more intellectual pursuit but turns out I'm not I'm not that smart so the more I've like and you know when I realize that like oh I I'm less depressed if I take a walk you know what I mean like things like that and then I'm playing vampire survivors and I'm like this is fun I'm enjoying myself I'm just like I just have a dog brain

you know I mean like I just like this is this is that's all it is because like it is the it is as simple as gameplay could possibly be like you're your your your level of interaction is like walking and then occasional decision making in terms of what your upgrade is going to be what your boon is going to be but like that's pretty much it but it's more than enough and it's such a compelling design like that's that's like that game like belatro another one that came from an indie dev a solo dev like kind of out of nowhere and just like completely changed gaming yeah it's like and if you want something more intellectual than that than like vampire survivor just play like something more intuitive

or more intentional just like play hades or something yeah for sure it's that's a that's a great game too like that kind almost does a similar thing but yeah it's such a great game 80 is an all timer for me yeah speaking of the kind of auto shooters the one that the you know and the one i got really into and early access is deep rock galactic survivor uh which is super fun and add some new wrinkles top of the vampire survivor's formula. It also has a completely different aesthetic. Yeah, I messed with that a little bit too. A lot of fun.

Fucking great. Yeah, I'm writing that down because that sounds sick. Are they like, what are the creatures? Are they like big bugs? They're like, there's like nasty bugs and stuff. It's like, it's pretty cool. A lot of bugs. And then you're like mining stuff.

A lot of mining. Yeah, it rips. I think the thing about. It's still, still technically in early access. Yes. The thing for me when I'm like packing a bag for, for travel of any kind of I'm often thinking about what's coming with me for gaming, and it's going to depend on the situation, right?

You're going out for longer stretches. I might go on, like, a long vacation every now and then, but if I'm going on a vacation or something, you're obviously going to these destinations, Zach, with something to do in mind. So you're not necessarily like, I have so much time to be... There's a lot of time. A lot of time.

I guess, yeah, what the shows are like, you're playing for an hour or night and each... Well, it's a lot of... There's a lot of unstructured, well, it's structured and unstructured, but there's like a lot, it's mostly you have to wait and be in a place and wait. Okay. Yeah. So you are, you're doing something, but you're, you have to be there. So it's still, I guess, working, but I guess it's like working in an office, but it's like you're waiting and what do you do while you're waiting is the thing.

So it would be funny if, if it was similar to working in an office where people, everybody had said type me at a computer, they are playing the drums. but I guess what I'm getting to is that like for me I don't like to have like a huge game going if I'm going on like a big trip right like I'll probably be in the middle of a big game as I often am but if I'm traveling with games I'm probably playing a lot of stuff not unlike a vampire survivors or a balatro or a Hades I'm packing smaller experiences that are easy to pick up and put back down and I think that's probably a good recipe for travel and in general. Although I will say I took my steam deck with me on a vacation when I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 on the steam deck. And I mean, that's like an all-time experience. That's great. Yeah. You're on an airplane seeing what these teethlings are up to. Good shit. Some people bring like, I don't know if you're familiar with a palacum like a travel case for like you can put like cameras in a or like musical instruments and stuff

some people can bring one for their PS5 on tour like so you know really depends on the scale but I find that a little excessive I think I've seen one of those that Mark Hopp is from Blinklin 82 has that has like a TV monitor and like PS5 and like controllers and games and stuff and they just like wheel that they just wheel that

around on tour because they're they're I mean they're it's Blinquent 82 they're gonna have something like that that's crazy I'd be friends with someone who does that I wouldn't bring it myself It seems like a lot It seems like a lot of work I also I remembered something

When I went to Italy Maybe like the one huge trip I've actually ever done Yeah I brought the only thing I brought with me Was the switch light And it wasn't like for like every day It was just basically like for the flight To like there and back

But before I left Italy I was like I think I'm gonna miss it here And the Assassin's Creed Etsio collection was on sale And they you can see the the Vatican like in the game and I was my hotel window was

overlooking the Vatican and I was like I got to get this I'm gonna miss the Vatican and like downloaded it and played it on the plane because I didn't want to leave Italy do you get a quest from the Pope yeah I think you can fight the Pope in that one wait really I think you can

fight and kill a Pope wow that's wild hopefully they just regenerate it's like what's the point they become stronger Yeah, but I always pack a couple of things when I'm traveling. I'll pack like the big one, which is like the switch or the steam deck. I have a PlayStation portal, and that is not great for flights. That's great for, I'm dry.

Nick is laughing at me because he thinks it's bad. No, I don't think it's bad. Nick doesn't like the, Nick's a portal skeptic. I'm not a portal skeptic. It's just, it's an intro, you know, you choose to spend whatever you want to spend your money on. And see, there it is. You know. It's a veiled criticism.

It might not be a purchase I'd make, but, you know, it's your life. It's your... Well, it's the thing. If you bought it, you would have really thrown it away. But the thing that I love about it is that it works for me in several use cases. One, I only have the one TV in the house, so sometimes I'll be watching a show with my wife. But it's good for, like, a weekend trip if I'm getting the car, going in the Palm Springs, where it's too hot to be outside. I was sitting in the AC.

I'm playing Death Strand 2 and then the AC on my car. portal, having a nice time with that. But I also like to take something small with me, be at a Game Boy Advance. I have this Ambernik RG-34 that's like a Game Boy Advance form factor emulator and that thing has been going with me quite a few places. And it's, it's awesome. I really love that thing. Zach, you mentioned your Game Boy Advance. Is that something that's also like a staple of your touring experience? Yeah, just lives in my backpack, basically. And what are you playing on that? Usually, I mean, Tetris is the easiest go-to, but like,

Metroid Zero Mission. Oh, hell, yeah. And I bring my Pokemon yellow from, like, when I was in grade school. Yeah. Still have a game saved from back then. And another good one, the Zelda, the Minish cap. Oh, yeah. I love that game.

It's a great game. So, yeah, I carry those, all four of those with me and everywhere. The Minish, like, diminish, because you get small. I was self-conscious about how I was saying it, and now that you said that, I feel, I feel justified. Better than justified, I feel edified. I got, I, um, I have an analog pocket, but also this, this Ambernick thing doesn't take cartridges,

but I have an analog pocket that then does take cartridges. But for that, I have a flash cart that has a bunch of, uh, games on it. And that's always so great because I'm not, I'm always afraid to lose cartridges. I think cartridges, especially these switch cartridges, they're at an all-time size deficit. These things are small. They're too small.

You could really lose them. I'd hate to lose a cart. I know I'm going to lose something, so I'm obsessive about where I put things. And then, of course, I'm too clever, so I'm like, oh, I lost. I put it somewhere stupid, thinking it was smart. You put it in the ultimate safe space,

and then it's outside of your mind-tallity. What kind of game? What kind of Game Boy Advance do you have? It's the like clamshell black. Oh, black has P-9. And do you have, is the Tetris you play on Game Boy Advancees at Tetris Worlds? Which one was it? It's Tetris DX.

Oh, Tetris DX. Oh, so you're plugging a Game Boy cart into your Game Boy Advance. Yeah, it's real awkward stuff. It's sticking out there a little bit. But you are playing the game, you're playing the Game Boy version, which is like the better version. Yeah. It's so, like, maybe this is a musician thing, but I tried playing Tetris World on Switch, and the reaction is not the same. There's something about the digital, like, commands that don't, it's not as fast. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if I'm crazy, but that's, yeah, it's like the original Game Boy is probably the only one that I play. I don't think you're crazy at all. I think the fan consensus is the Game Boy version and the NES Tetris are like the kind of the definitive Tetris is. And, and, And I know in competitive play that they still use the NES Tetris because the Tetris company has like a control over how like the games that are licensed now and they have a lot more, you know, like like things like like like the like next being a certain number of blocks. You're like that's something that's dictated by the Tetris company or the existence of floor spinning is another thing that the Tetris company is like that.

That is the rules of Tetris that has to be in there. but it's not necessarily how Tetris feels to a lot of people. And also, just separately, from what I remember, Tetris Worlds was not like a well-received version of Tetris in general. So, yeah, I'm just like, I honestly think that's fucking rad. You're bringing the, you're bringing the original version and sticking it out the end of your cart. Yeah, I love it. It's such a good game.

Yeah. It's crazy. Just like this one of the best, the smartest games ever, really. Because the Game Boy, because the advance, like, it's like the carts for people who didn't have it, The carts are like half the size or like half the, I guess, height of a Game Boy cart. So if you put one of those into the cart into the slot, it fits all snug. But if you put a Game Boy advanced, a game boy right, sorry, a regular Game Boy or Game Boy Color one in there, it sticks out the back real awkwardly. It does, but there's something about doing it where you kind of like, you kind of feel like tough shit kind of.

Yeah, sure. You're kind of like, I'm actually, I don't need any of these fucking new games. I'm OG. Yeah. Exactly. No, that's awesome. Me and my boy Alexi Pajitnav are out here. Reping.

Have you messed with Tetris effect at all? No, I have, but I'm not very adventurous with Tetris games. Is that a recommendation? Should I get into that? This one, if you're not adventurous, if you're not adventurous of it, this one might be a bridge too far. This one is, I think, it's very adventurous. It's very, it's very trippy looking, but it's got some great music. music in it, though, too. I think that's... Okay, yeah, I'm into that. I'll take some mushrooms,

a whole pile of them, and then try to play. Maybe not with this. It might, you might get, you might get trapped in the game forever. That's all right. This world is not great, so let's... And you know, you know your way around the blocks, so you might be, you might be all right in there. Nick, what do you do when you're, when you're traveling with game? So I was really into traveling with a switch light for a time. It's so good. Yeah, the switch, because the switch light, the unibody, you know, construction and it's it is actually lighter

I was I was enjoying that now if I am going to travel with the switch I will take the my OLED switch yeah because it's just such a better screen although I'm always like I treat it like a Faberge egg I'm so worried about like losing it or damaging it you know it's just like well you cradle it like a baby I do cradle it like a baby give a little kisses yeah tuck it in at night

breastfeed it yeah I was gonna say you put it right up to the tea anyway the a lot of times it'll be like whatever switch game I've been playing, I would just continue playing, you know, even if that was something a little bit meatier, although I do agree that in general, I like a game like, you know, vampire survivors, the afore, which was mentioned, or like into the breach, which is like a roguelight that is a tactical game that you can like, you can basically stop playing at any point and then resume later. It's great for any sort of run-based game are kind of good.

but like I also try to travel light especially when I'm touring now and so sometimes I'll be like how much time am I really going to have to play a switch and is a better use of packing space like one book and then if I want to if I want to play games I that will be the time I will deploy Bellatra on my phone again I mean I like I will load that back up I will say there was a game I think it was civilization revolution and I can't remember if I was playing this on switch or on my phone, but it was a sieve game that was a lot more mobile friendly that was like a simplified rule set that he got really, really into. And that was something that I was playing on the road a lot. It was like perfect for playing on a game and passing some time. I just remembered something that I did when I was a shitty teenager. We went on a family trip and where we went completely escapes me and you'll understand why in a second. I don't remember where we went for this trip. Because I brought my PlayStation two with me in my brand new copy

of Prince of Persia Warrior Within the second in the Sands of Time series and I just remember playing that the entire time we were on this family vacation it was like some like golf trip from my stepdad it was just like we all just went

it wasn't like a like let's all spend some time together type of thing which it probably should have been but I remember two things from that trip one playing that game the whole time and then also watching the unrated Anchorman DVD as a family we did that as a family of course and then I remember on a flight

in the last couple of years I was playing Street Fighter 2 with my wife on my switch and our neighbor across the aisle saw us playing Street Fighter and asked if she could get in on it and we just passed her a JoyCon and then also we just made a friend on the plane

it was really fun Wait, so you're each holding one JoyCon playing on the same switch? Is that how it's working? Or it's like it's two, it's multiplayer, right? It's multiplayer, yeah. You're using the JoyCon as a single controller. And then you're just, you know, I'm M. Bison and my wife is, who does she like to pick? She likes to pick, was she playing Blanca at this time?

She goes, she likes the freaky characters in these fighting games. She doesn't like a single, like, man or like woman character or anything like that. I cannot imagine playing a game against my wife. Really? Me playing a fighting game against my wife. First off, she'd kick my ass. Yeah. Sometimes I'm just like, I have to just show my wife that I'm better at something.

Dominate. Yeah, at anything. But for me, for me, that like couples gaming is like, like, let's, well, we'll do something, co-op. You know, not necessarily one-on-one. But, you know, every marriage is different. I know. Some people thrive on conflict. Yeah.

My wife gets in there, though. She's very good at, she likes, she can beat me at fighting games, for sure. And she'll win at Mario Kart if I'm not careful. You know, keeps it interesting. Keeps the spark going. But then I just thought it was such a funny move of this complete stranger on the plane to be like, can I play? And we were just like, yeah, I guess. Like, sure.

And then we had a nice time She'll have us borrow a pen When we needed a pen on the plane It all worked out The old uh the forums That they give you Yeah they make you fill out these freaking forms I guess for me

I always bring like a switch or like a big one And I bring like I've been What's become sort of an everyday carry For me is my 2DS My 2DS XL Because that's just pocketable And I sometimes wish

That that was my phone instead I wish that the 2DS was my phone because I like it more than my phone. It makes me happier than my phone does. It is pretty cool. And I had a cool form factor if I remember it correctly. Do we think there's got to be a switch to light coming down the pike? I don't.

Yeah. I wonder if the first upgrade will be an OLED version, an OLED screen. But yeah, I bet there will be a light at some point. They did such a, they made such a big deal about the magnetic joycons and the in the mouse mode. I almost wonder if they just, like, would skip doing it. Oh, because how could you do the mouse mode with that? Like, if that's going to support is going to be required for some games. Yeah, that's a good point.

Maybe it's, I mean, that was, like, I played origami or, you know, Paper Mario Origami King on Switchlight a lot. And there's, like, stuff in that game that you, like, it's, like, then annoying to do. Because in, in Origami King, you need to, like, move the joycon to, like, and you just can't, I can't remember. It's like a screen tap in the, uh, or something. You can get to press some button or whatever,

but it was not as fun to play on the Switch Light, I remember. Breath of the Wild had a couple of puzzles like that, too. Yeah. It just drove me. I'm so impatient, so it just drove me nuts. Yeah. The Switch is tough with gameplay.

Like, gameplay like that is tough if you're traveling, because you don't want to be wiggling your arms. Right. In front of anybody. That's for private. It keeps people away from you, is what I'll say. Something's blowing under my microphone. Weird mechanic

I did want to shout out This is not a game I played on a road trip But a game that's about road trips That I played this year Came out this year And I talked about our only podcast But keep driving Which is just like this cool

Like chill like sort of You know pixel art game And you just you pick your car And you just get on the road And you go to different places You pick up hitchhikers And you just It's just very open road, like, just sort of, like, kind of had this aimless feel to it.

But I really did enjoy my time with it. I remember wanting to check that out. It seemed really cool. It's also, like, kind of like, an early 2000s element to it, which is, like, part of the, like, a little bit of that nostalgia hit. I was just thinking about that time. Yeah. Like, very recently. And how, God, we had it all.

It's interesting because we didn't even have it all. Like, it was, like, things were still bad, but it was just, like, less bad. And it's just like, you've got to go back even, like, further to where, like, things were like, like, I guess maybe the 90s was the closest to things being kind of okay all around maybe. Because, you know, like, like, but like a little bit before that, it's like, ah, shit was still, shit was fucking bad. I would go back as far as, like, the third guy on the, um, like the evolutionary chart. I think that's, like, probably, like, the third guy is starting to stand up. Yeah, he like, that's when actually all his problems started. I think maybe one before that is probably the sweet spot.

Go back in time and push that guy over a little bit. Yeah, yeah, no, you don't. The chart just goes back down to monkey. Yeah. The world ecology is not wrecked. Actually, but then it becomes an alternate world where it's like monkey capitalism and it sucks. Oh, sure, right. That said, I mean, gaming on the road, a big thing for me is,

get motion sick if I'm staring at screens and particularly on and and Zach I imagine the sensation on a bus is a little bit different than being in a car but that that's such that's such a roadblock for me as far as far as gaming on the go man he's good yeah depending on uh again how much I've had to drink the night previous definitely get emotion sick playing video games on the road but yeah like a bus is more stable so it tends to not sway too much but right there is the existential terror of being locked in a lightless box and you're trying to play a game and things are happening and you don't know what it is

so it's yeah that's another thing to think about I guess Ranch you I know you travel I don't know if you'd say frequently but I feel like you've logged a lot of miles do you have a you're someone I know I know is taking your steam deck on the road you'll sometimes play something on the go yeah that's like my only handheld at this point and it is like quite beefy yeah yeah it's a big boy yeah I've been always making room for it for sure what a way to describe the steam deck beefy it's beefy it's beefy it's not

incorrect after holding it for a while yeah yeah I it has to be put down I get this ad I get this ad on Instagram for this like fucking pillow I've seen it's like a pillow it's like a pillow that then has like an arm on it that then you can attach like a steam deck or a PlayStation portal or you know any sort of handheld like PC type thing and you put the pillow on your lap and then you're holding onto the thing and it's like you're like you're not holding it it's just like the most wally future uh thing i've ever seen which is like i'm thinking of like the evolution of humankind like we're going to evolve to not up pinky fingers but with that thing it's like we have no need for elbows or shoulders yeah it's just like

that thing will be part of the evolution of man chart in a certain guy holding that Corso with gaming apparatus Yeah, yeah Well, I'll have the dent From wearing headphones on our head

And then we'll have no Strength in our In our forearms Ranch what was that Well, I'll have plenty strike Ranch what was your Ranch what was the last thing You played on that Steam deck

On the road On the road I think that That was the Blueprints Day That's what you're playing Blueprints area Yeah, yeah, yeah It's trying to remember

I've been playing this amazing game recently on the theme deck, and it's called the Rack coin, and it's basically... Rat coin? Rat coin, like raccoon, but like coin. Okay. And it's like a roguelike coin pusher, and they, like, seem to have basically taken Volantro and then made this, like, coin pusher, roguelike game, and it's so much fun. How did you find this game? Someone in the Discord recommended it. I'm looking at this on Steam.

It has no user reviews. I believe that it's just a play test right now. Okay, got it. Oh, so this is the play test. I see it, yeah. You can request access to it. It's so fun. But I also love coinfishers in general.

Yeah. This looks rad. Has a cool aesthetic to it. Yeah, you have to get that. That sounds cool. It's a perfect game. It is a little embarrassing to play a deck in public. Like, it is beefy, but it's,

It's like you have your headphones on and also the fan is so loud. Yeah. It's like you're landing a jet. Like, what is that guy doing? I feel like when I take the steam deck and now like the switch to the battery life on these things isn't so hot. So like if I'm on an airplane for a long time, I have to have either an adequate power source of some kind or like some sort of portable battery to then plug it into. And then that becomes just a whole thing. Should we do a segment?

Let's do a segment. I didn't know what to title this, everybody. Basically, what I'm going to do is I'm going to name some video game characters, and you're going to tell me what kind of instrument they play. Okay. I don't know what to title it. What were they playing? What were they playing?

Here's a thing. That's really good. Yeah, that's pretty good. Now he's just saying his own shit's good. it's called this segment's called what were they playing and i'm going to name some video game characters and you have to tell me what musical instrument they play okay great so some of these are easier than other ones here we go ellie and joel from the last of us uh wiger so as zach i think we're going to probably buzz in with our names i would guess yeah buzzing with your name and it's like

it's like it's like it's a it's a game but it's not like it doesn't matter we're not keeping so is oh is this so there's a right answer we're not just picking like What stupid shit do we think? Yeah. All right. Yeah, it's not like, uh, uh, he plays theremin because he's annoying. Yeah, I think Cloud would play the didgeridoo, yeah, uh, which is actually maybe a better game, but. That might be fun.

Yeah. I, I, they, they both play the guitar, of course. They do both play the guitar. How about Link from the Legend of Zelda series? Oh, I mean, here's the thing. There's, uh, I think there's a few different answers here. So I, like, I will, I will throw out one of them a whistle. I have a very specific instrument listed.

The Ocarina. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, he has a baton as well, you know. He's a musical guy. Yeah. And we don't really talk about it. It's pretty cool, actually, not to get too serious.

But, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the whole series, just like the things that revolve around music, like, even before Ocreen of Time, it's pretty sweet. Yeah. I do remember playing on Nintendo 64, and where I realized you could pitch up or down the ocarina when you're playing to make like half steps so you could play like different like

you had you could expand the amount of notes you could play was like oh man this is so cool I had no idea that's crazy I should trailer that's cool how about this one Mr. Bones Mr. Bones from the game Mr. Bones

so you're going from the last of us to the Legend of Zelda to Mr. Bones that's the progression Mr. Bones okay I just saw it and was like I was not aware of Mr.

Bones and I like I like him now I like Mr. Bones Zach is it a a ribcage xylophone Pretty good guess I wish I wish that was the answer because he is Mr. Bones after all

I'll take another guess based off of the name a trombone uh no but that's all two great guesses he plays just like an electric guitar what the fuck is this game what is Mr. Bones Mr. Bones, he's just like a guy. I don't know what kind of game was.

How did you, how did you find Mr. Bones? I typed in video game characters that play instruments. Mr. Bones for the Sega Saturn. Heather would know Mr. Bones. She might know Mr. Bones. Yes, she probably would. This was a multi, I'm just reading for the Wikipedia here, because Mr. Bones, a 1996 multi-genre video game conceptualized by Ed Anusiatta.

The soundtrack to Mr. Bones is compiled entirely and performed by Ronnie Montrose with cutscenes and art as it's done by Angel Studios. The player takes on the role of reanimated skeleton working to prevent the magician who revived him from using his undead army to ravage the world. Oh. Got it. That's a lot for a skeleton. He is

on the cover. I imagine you can't see this where you are Zach. But it is a guy, it is a skeleton with a guitar just absolutely fucking shredding. Yeah, exactly as described. He looks really cool. you just like it like the

again just like it's like question number one is on the godfather question number two is on Jurassic Park question number three is on you can count on me you know it's just like my dinner with Andre yeah exactly just just completely jumping to something

a lot way more obscure I just I just you know I didn't want them all be so easy no yeah I like that one I like learning about Mr. Bones we all learned about Mr. Bones we all learned about Mr. Bones today and I think our life is like better. He looks great.

I like knowing about Mr. Bones. Yeah. How about this one? I believe they're pronounced. I don't I don't know if this is the correct pronunciation. So this is going to give us some trouble. Ico from Final Fantasy 9. E.I.O. I should know this. It's like one of my favorite games ever. E.I.K.O. I think it's AICO actually. Boy, I can't remember. Yeah. I do love Final

Fantasy 9. What the fuck does Ako play? Why, girl? I'll say a loot. Nick, you're very close. And not the instrument, but perhaps the word. That was a hate down podcast. Blute. ECHO plays a flute. Specifically, the angel flute.

Okay, Ako is a, because I, like, I was trying to place which character it was. Aiko has the, is the little girl with the bow. I don't want to be that guy, but that was in my head. Yeah. That was flute, but. I think, I think that gets a point. No, I don't think so. You should take two points away.

No, no, no, no. Okay, how about Cass, the traveling Rito from Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild? The game that's come up quite a bit today. Zach, that's the accordion. It's an accordion, that's right. Cash plays an accordion. You know, you always hear him playing the music. I love it.

Cass is really cool. Yeah. Cass is a really cool guy. How about this? Steph Gingrich from The Life is Strange series. I haven't played The Life is Strange series. I haven't played The Life is Strange games, so just a wild guess from me, I will just say the keyboards. Incorrect.

Zach, you want to guess any instrument? Perhaps maybe one that you're acutely familiar with? For Christ's sake. I'm going to try to think of something stupid, but I guess drums. Steph Gingrich from the Life of Strange series plays the drums. She related to Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House. so funny if in the game he's like, I got to go

visit my uncle new he's my dad's brother he always stops in an out burger when he lands at LAX tweets about it honestly he's just like me for real that's the best

quality about him. Yeah you guys are not going to get this one so I'm just going to say it Demick's from Kingdom Hearts plays the sitar their weapon is a you're not a Kingdom Hearts guy at all Never played it. Yeah, I mean neither. I never really got this.

Might I sell you on Kingdom Hearts 2 for a second? It's simply my favorite video game of all time, and it's incredible. It's just good shit. Is it where can I play it? You can play it on pretty much every platform. You can't play it. I would not recommend playing it on a Switch because it's a cloud version, but every other platform you can play it. It's just good JRP nonsense, and there's fun Disney stuff in it.

It's just an all-time great game to me. And finally, Donkey Kong Um Wiger I mean Bongo's He does play the Bongos

Is the game balanced No But we had fun Learned along the way Didn't we That was What were they playing? Can I

Can I toss one more On here that I expect To be on the list Yeah Umjamer Lammy Oh what does Umjamer Lammy play From the Prap of the Rapper

sequel Yeah I was gonna say What does Perava the rapper play it certainly is a beast on the mic what is um what is she um jemmer lemmy plays guitar oh yeah it was a guitar a guitar playing lamb she shreds um a game that did not have anywhere near the cultural impact of the first

the first game of the rapper but a very good game and honestly maybe a better music game overall wow i'm not messed with that one i should i should give it a try it's rad uh hey that's this week's get played our producers of Shell Chen, Ranch, Yard underscore, underscore, underscore, oh, sorry, Zach wins, kinetically. We'll just see that.

Zach wins for sure. Yeah, but the exchange rate, it's probably a tie. Our music company, Ben Prunty, Ben Prunty Music.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design, duck brigade. Dot Brigade.com.

Get played merch, kinshipgoods.com, and get animated at our sister show on Patreon. Matt, what are we watching this week? This week we're talking Shin Godzilla. And, man, if you haven't seen that shit, it's fucking good as hell. And we had a great time talking about it.

Great movie. A lot of fun. We took a break from anime to talk about a live action film directed by Hideyakiano of Evangelion, and it is just so singular and it's such a joy. And I also enjoy Zach McCoola

having you on the podcast. What a thrill. Thank you so much for giving us so much your time. Pup is the band. People know Pup. They should check you all out. Anything in particular you would like to plug? Just our records, which I think you already did, so who cares? And

we have a tour coming up to the United States will be everywhere. So come to a show. Yeah, if they're rolling through your city, first of all, go to their website, check out their great website, check out those tour dates. They're touring with, it's a co-headlining tour with Jeff Rosenstock, and then Echo Astral is also on the tour. Pup is one of my favorite bands to see live,

and you will not be disappointed if you go see them in your town. So go get some tickets and have the fucking night of your life. That's very nice. Thank you. And Zach, like that Tetris DX cart sticking out of the back of your Game Boy Advance. You, my friend, got played. Thank you so much. Sorry, man.

Thank you. That was a hate gum podcast. What's up, everybody? I'm Kyle Mooney. And what's up, everybody? I'm back back. And, man, ooh, we got something to tell. Oh, yeah, we definitely do.

Yes, it's a brand new podcast. headgum. That's right. And it's called What's our podcast? Yep. And that's because we don't have a single idea what our podcast you'd be about. Yeah, we don't. So we actually have guests come on and they tell us what they think our podcast should be about and then

we try it. Yep. Guests like Mark Merrin, Jack Black, Bernie Brooskey, Caper Lan, Bobby Moynihan, Meg Stalter and Tim Balls. Landon Axler. Jony McGreeze. And Dender. And Dender. New episodes release every Wednesday.

day. So subscribe to what's our podcast. On YouTube or any of your favorite podcast platforms. Yeah. I'm gonna go do it right now. Hi, I'm Alana Hope Levinson. And I'm Dan O'Sullivan. And this is the outfit, the new podcast from Higher Ground and Headgum. We're two journalists who are slightly obsessed with the mob and organized crime and other nefarious stuff like that. Every week, we're going to bring you a story about a mobster. Some you've heard of. Some you definitely haven't. But all of them are going to help explain why America is like this. See, the mob explains all sorts of things, from milk expiration dates to why we got into Cuba to Las Vegas.

Gay bars. Who knew? Who knew? The mob's involved. All that and more. Subscribe to the outfit wherever you get your podcasts and watch video episodes on YouTube. New episodes every Thursday.