Get Played - Subnautica and Water Games with Steven Ray Morris

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Steven Ray Morris (See Jurassic Right, Jordan, Jesse, Go!) joins Heather Nick and Matt to talk Subnautica and water based games! Check out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getplayedpod Music 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 Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story 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.fm All of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a headgum podcast. Hey, guys. Hi, Heather. I got to say I'm pretty pissed off about this week's topic. Oh, man. Oh, shit. Oh, God. I cannot believe that you guys are into this.

I can't believe that you are making me play these things, these games. Okay. Well, at least we know it's not media form. that was last week? No. No, I'm, I'm like, okay, okay. I don't know anything about this topic, so I'll get online and I'll research it and I look up water sports and I'm disgusted because it's just a bunch of people pissing on one another.

But then I'm like, you know what? Maybe I don't get it. Maybe I got to get into the headspace. So I go to this warehouse downtown and I'm just letting people piss all over me. No, stop talking. And I'm like, Heather, stop. What is this? Why is this a, on a video game podcast?

I feel disgusting. Heather, there's not a good way to tell you this. You've made a huge mistake. I bet I have. I'll tell you what a mistake was, was thinking that two of you were friends of mine. But instead, I'm watching 30, 40, 50 hours of let's play water sports video video game. I don't even know what the fuck you call it footage, first person footage. And I'm like, I got to figure out.

why this is so exciting for them. And that fucking warehouse, I wanted to it four times, four times. One time they were like, here, eat all this fucking, drink this milk and eat these mashed potatoes while we fucking piss on you. Why? I hated it. I fucking hated it. No, Heather, I'm glad you said something because I'm going to bite my tongue here.

Matt, I'm so fucking mad at you for this topic. What the heck? I get online because I'm like, I don't play these sorts of things. I'm looking at water sports. I'm just watching video. after video of nuns just pissing, just head-to-toe habits, just pulling them up and just pissing everywhere.

Full view, sometimes directly onto the camera. I was like, this is what Matt wants to talk about in our video game podcast. Then I find myself at a warehouse. I'm like, well, we're talking about water sports video games. I bring my whole game collection, thousands of dollars worth of hardware and software have accumulated over the decades.

And by the way, I'm so proud of you for building up that collection again, Nick, after you've sold so many of your games? I've been putting by savings account into just restocking it. It's all worthless now because everyone pissed all over it. Yeah, what is the point of

this game? This genre. It was, it's, I stunk. Does this get you off, you freak? Does this get you off? Is this what you like? Guys, you both you both misread the text. It wasn't

water sports. okay and I'm actually really I'm pissed off at both of you guys actually why is that oh you be pissed off at us yeah I'm over here getting pissed on I'm sad I guess is what it is that you guys misread in a very simple text and now you guys think I'm some kind of freak and now the this news that that you guys were wrong is going to hurt even more because all I meant was we're talking about like games in or near the the water, not piss, not any sort of pissed stuff. Games in the water.

Games like, you know, you swim around, you splash around. I wish I'd done something besides just exclamation point, react to your text. Oh, I should have asked a follow up question. Maybe I should have stopped at the, after the first time I went to the warehouse. I went to the warehouse three more times trying to crack the code of this game. Well, I mean, let's get this record going. We got a guest here, and then I get a date afterwards at the warehouse. Well, I was going to say, can you give me the address so I know how to avoid it?

I want to make sure I don't go anywhere near there and get pissed on a lot. We refill our oxygen with air bubbles and listen to tranquil synth music as we discuss subnautica and water-based games this week on Get Played. Welcome to Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, HAC, along with my fellow host, Tiger Weiger. That's me, Tiger Wiger, along with Mr. Games, Matt Apodaka. Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone. And welcome back to the premier video game podcast where this week, you demanded it.

You asked for it. You said, why don't they get guests on anymore? And we're giving you a guest. We have a great guest for the premiere podcast. A premier guest for the premier podcast. It's true. Making his premiere and also a premier figure in the world of podcasting. Hosted the Sea Jurassic Right podcast and producer of Jordan Jesse Go,

Stephen Ray Morris is here. Hi, Stephen. Thanks so much for we can time for us. Yay. The Matrix is real because I literally listen to you every Monday morning. And so now this morning, this next Monday morning, I'm going to hear myself on the show. It's a nightmare. This is, no, but this is a podcast producer thing that like I, as someone who doesn't produce podcasts, I think you're able to handle hearing your own voice. I could not listen to a podcast, I guessed it on. Yeah, it's taken many years of grit and training. I call it white knuckle editing where you just listen to yourself one sentence. out of time and then you have to stop and then run out of the room screaming.

No, whenever I guessed on a show that I like, I always skip it and then my day sucks because I don't have one. Yeah, I don't get to listen to. And then I feel like I ruined the thing that I liked because I don't have one today. Yeah, so every the shitty episode of Blank Check everyone that I don't even get to listen to to make everyone mad and then I get to skip one of the favorite podcast. Sorry, y'all hate the C block of comedy bang bang this week. This is great because I don't listen to you guys when you're on podcast either.

Our producer, Rochelle Chen, Ranch. Rochelle, are you able to listen to yourself? You have your own podcast, obviously. We talked about it. It's extremely difficult. It makes me want to kill myself. I mean, there's times where I will literally edit everybody else except myself and I'll save it for last.

Wow. Yeah. Seems extra difficult. It's weird. Well, there's like a biological reason, which is that we don't hear, we can't, are the resonance of our voices inside our head is different than the way it sounds. to other people because we are hearing it inside of a chamber that's a different size and shape. We need a cybernetic implant to fix that.

Yeah. Like it's just in the same way, we need a mirror that shows how our face looks to other people. You know what I mean? You know, you can just put the mirrors like this and then you can see it. No, it's too much work. I want to fucking monitor. Just like a plain right angle. No, come on.

What do you mean? Work. You know how the phones in cyberpunk show the people that you're talking. to. I want that. Well, also, I want a hood, right? So I want a hood. I want a hood that then also has an image of myself, uh, how people see me. And that I can just see myself and I'm walking around. I see how I'm walking around. Okay, again, on Zoom, you can choose to unmirror your, your face. Same with Google video or whatever, you know, Google meets. I'm not talking Zoom. I'm talking just in my house. I want a HUD, Heather. I want to give myself a new voice.

Yeah. I just sound like somebody else. What do you, what do y'all sound like to, when you hear your own voice played back? Like, what is that? Because to me, to me, it sounds like this. Hey, it's me. I'm Nick Wagger. Yeah, how's it going? You sound like that to us, too.

That's crazy. No, that's the, but that's the effect. I sound super nasally to myself. And then when I hear my voice in my own head, it's, uh, it's less ratlike. I think that, I think just then the, I think everyone's nasally. I think everybody's talking Nick the wrong way because I also think I

sound nasally when I hear myself back too And I would argue, no offense Nick has an incredibly pleasant radio voice What a nice thing to say Much better than me and Matt Oh yeah That's not true

And no it is And right Matt Yeah I guess it's true You started it I guess I have to join in as well No offense but you also agree right Our voice sucks Like the two of us, our voice sucks.

Yeah, combined it would be really good. Oh, it would be terrible. What are you talking about? Like layered over the top of each other. Harmonized. Wait, but my question is, have you noticed your voice changed? Because I've heard old things, and I talk like molasses five years. Oh, for sure.

No, I definitely had a different cadence, but also my voices just pitched down. I've been podcasting for 10 plus years now. So eventually it's going to be like... Exactly, exactly. He was like a little bit. boy before I love forks. I love burgers. Oh, man.

Gee, mister, thanks so much, buddy. Uh-oh, okay, I'm scared. You were Mickey, apparently. I wanted to ask, Stephen, there's a thing you texted me a while back, because I know you're fan of the show, but I don't remember what the impetus was or if this was just a thing you found, but there is a SimCity TCG that I... knew nothing about. Yeah.

So I love that you've specifically have gotten back into Magic the Gathering. I got back into Magic the Gathering during lockdown. And as we're coming out, there was people in my building who I'd play with. It was like, ooh, let's play Commander. Like, I don't know. Just a way to like slowly integrate back into society and just get into, you know, the kind of fights and whatever was going on. But I love dead CCGs.

There's like an X-Files one and like a Buffy one. Wow. But the SimCity one is insane. because it came out around the same time as when magic started. So it's like imagine that trying to compete with like original magic. And it is stuff like fire station. It is stuff. Like it's basically Illinois in the 90s or wherever that company is based.

But you also have to have a city council. So it's like Greg and Tina and then you have to like vote on initiatives. Oh, shit. Wow. I got a holographic Tina. Oh my God. Oh no. My open outdoor mall was.

destroyed by your local bureaucratic corner voting station? Totally true. And natural disasters. And like there's even, um, the rare cards were extra long for some reason. They were like, yeah. So all the packs that I have,

they would come bent because they're from the 90s. Yeah, right. But you would get stuff like Sydney Opera House or like the Empire State building. Wow. How does that work though? If you're playing against somebody and you see they have a long card, you're like, oh no.

Yeah, you're like, I know what that is. Before the long card comes out. Yeah. But yeah, you would basically build your independent. I think because you could play by yourself. It was like the Tomb Raider card game where you could build a like a dungeon and then go through it. And then with the SimCity one, you would build your city and then you could like vote on initiatives and stuff. That's great because I doubt there were two people who played the game.

Yeah, it was. I bought a huge dead stock during lockdown. Like there was also the booster boxes were or the starter packs were like Chicago, Atlanta. Oh, cool. I mean, honestly, this does sound like it fucking rules. I found a review, like a review that came out in, God, I guess, 1995 from Pyramid Magazine and has some very low-res screen caps. We can see some of these cards here. Council member, which is just like a stock photo of a businessman.

Civic theater, office center. But that art is really, really good. Like prime Y2K stuff right there. Oh, large hospital. It's kind of gorgeous. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, shit.

Okay. Yeah. Am I going to get into the dead Sim City fucking card game? I'll stop you right there. You're not. It all looks very like the mall aesthetic, you know. Huh. I'm not.

I guess I don't have to do that. I like that you said that it was like the Tomb Raider card game as if we all knew and understood that there was a Tomb Raider card game. Yeah, of course. Right, right. The Tomb Raider card game. I just got it just because I wanted to play. I didn't have anybody to play magic with. What is the most obscure card game that you've heard of?

Like, is SimCity the sort of point on that pyramid? Well, the animorphs, TCG. That's incredible. It wasn't even a TCG because the company failed halfway through. So it's just too, what ended up just becoming a board game, essentially. Right. And it's the horrible Nickelodeon show where it was just that like, it was like the Michael Jackson black or white morphing, you know, but with like, you know, very 90s CGI.

But yeah, they never made like expansion packs. It was really just like two starter decks essentially and that's it. So you're talking about a lot of card games and you're talking about you've gotten back into Magic the Gathering. Are you specifically playing Commander or different formats? I've done Commander a lot especially when I got back into it and then I actually would do draft

like doing like a drafting like the where you know where you're literally because everyone I'm playing with is like different skill sets like I know two of those people were like streaming on Twitch playing and then other people were like me who like basically didn't play since they were 13 and so that was kind of fun to like get back into the rules

and everything and like all the new updates and so you know you'd like open packs and then everyone pick a card and pass it around until you built a deck. And so that ended up being. And then that way, like, you're just playing that one night and you don't have to, like, practice or whatever. 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.

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saley.com slash get played. That's S-A-I-L-Y.com slash get played. I had a question for you specific to see Jurassic right. There have been a lot of attempts at dinosaur video games or dinosaurs within video. games, the aforementioned Tomb Raider has a famous dinosaur sequence. You got your dino crises, you got your Cadillacs and dinosaurs. You course have Yoshi.

Do you have any notable dynos that you are a fan of or things that you think of have executed the spirit of dinosaurs well? Well, I really, it's called, not dino crisis. What's the, there's the fighting game, the dinosaur. Oh, yeah.

No, no, no, not Turok is the FPS. Primal rage. I used to play that, like, where my grandma live there was like an arcade and I would play so much primal rage because you're just like it's just dinosaurs like drop kicking each other and like biting each other and everything like that and then I grew up playing a lot of I grew up playing the Sega Jurassic Park game um the one where you would like Genesis one yeah the Genesis one yeah and where you would like tranquilize you know everybody and like the like all the dinosaurs you'd be like and then like just fall like fall off a cliff this was a

this was a famous game because you could choose to play either as Alan Gris or as the velociraptor. Whereas in the Old man or dinosaur. Whereas in the Super Nintendo version, you could only play like the main adventure. They were also completely separate developments. It's not like when the Lion King game came out,

it was very similar in both Genesis and Super Nintendo. These were absolutely divergent experiences. There was also a Jurassic Park for Sega CD, which was a point-and-click adventure. with a very brief video segments in it. And that was one of my prisons as a child. So you played that growing up? Oh, yeah.

I've watched some videos of it. I love all that. The actors in it are like stunning, like, low rent versions. Yeah. Yeah. Did you beat, did you have to like, because I watched some playthrues that it feels so inscrutable. It is, it was inscrutable, perhaps was the genesis of my hatred of puzzle games. Oh, my gosh.

But yeah, like it also, I think there were lockouts based on time. Like, if you weren't at a certain place on the island at a certain time, because it was a real-time game, that was it. Wow. As an FPS, I remember that I only played briefly. One of my friends had it. It was Jurassic Park trespasser, which is legendary, notoriously one of the worst games of all time. And if we were still doing our old format, we probably would have come. trespasser at some point.

But the thing I do remember from it, the weirdest thing is that the way you would find out your health in the game, your female player character is you would look down and the character had like a titty tattoo of a heart. And so how filled the heart was on the tattoo was how much health you had left. What a fucking insane design choice.

Is that how you see your health? Yeah, your tattoo. I'm like, oh, cool, I've had lunch today. I feel good. I know it was Mini Driver Like mini driver Like mini drive

And they got They got Sir Richard Attenborough To record like Hundreds of hours Of VO for that And it's just surprising To me that they've never like I don't know

Bought all that Audio to use In like a future movie or something Like it's just sitting there Because it's impossible That everyone's heard All of it I loved the

There was a Jurassic Park Arcade Cabinet game That you get in like a car So far And you can just go around, like, shooting dinosaurs and stuff. It rocked. I can't remember what it's called, but it ruled. Games can be so simple.

That one of the Terminator, just, like, give me a gun and let me aim it at things. Yeah, yeah. I think you'd have to move. Just let me go, you know? But the cool thing about that one was that you had to get in, like, like, oh, you had to get in a whole thing. Right, right. Yeah.

Like, wait in line to crawl into a car, which is crazy. No, I've, I probably spent so much of my, yeah, like, because, yeah, they would still have Jurassic Park Arcade. macabets at places and it is just funny where it like you know loving dinosaurs but then in those games you're just like pulling them down and again they say it's like a tranquilizer yeah it's just yeah it's very silly fucking open a chain gun of tranquilizer darts at this bronosaurus yeah uh that you uh stephen i i i messed around with and i can't remember which one it was if it was drastic world evolution one or two it had to have been one of those but it was on game

pass. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it has like, you know, Goldblum and and Beattie Wong in it. And it's like, but it's like it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a grew up like playing dino park tycoon where it was such the bare minimum whereas this one if your park workers are unhappy they will uh do sabotage like that is how much you have to manage the game is that if your employees aren't happy they will pull a dennis neddry and sabotage your park where i'm like that is such a deep level like i have a friend who's obsessed with those games but for me i'm like wait i and then it's like you don't just dig up the dinosaur bones or DNA. It's like you have to find

the sites around the world. You have to research the sites. You have to send the paleontologists out there. You know, it's so deep. It goes so deep. I had a little too much going on. Yeah. And it's weird because like the Jurassic Park movies are not chill at all. But I did kind of like I don't know. I wouldn't mind having a chill like

let's just build Jurassic Park before everything went on. You know what I mean? One of the worst things that I've learned recently is that the reason the amber technology wouldn't work is that when a bug or a lizard or whatever gets trapped in amber, the inside of it isn't trapped. And so the inside of it just rots away completely.

And so those are effectively shapes. Like they're not something that has stuff inside of them. Wow. They're like hollow shapes that were a thing. Oh, no. Like the bones have dissolved. I knew Jurassic Park was unrealistic. That's crazy.

They just inject that and make some like horrifying monster, you know. You basically make an amber creature. Yeah. Wait, I want to get you on the record on Yoshi. I mean, Answer the question, Stephen. Yoshi and I, we have beef. No, it's really funny.

I had a friend growing up who had a Japanese Nintendo 64. Oh, cool. So to me, I hear the Yoshi story theme song, the 64 one is just stuck in my head, but it's the Japanese version. Oh, no, it's just such, like, so many Saturday mornings throwing eggs at people. They make a lot of eggs. I feel like there's so many eggs They do produce a lot of eggs Too many eggs

I'm glad we finally got that out there Yoshi's making a lot of eggs And he seems to trans-Birdo Yeah I don't know where Burdo's keeping all those eggs My favorite thing I went to a fan nights event at Universal Studios

Where they kind of set up like some mazes Like a D&D thing And a back to the future And I got over my mascot fear I got a photo with Yoshi Which is very fun And then we were going to the Mario Kart ride and I guess there was a blue Yoshi

like in a VIP area and I just literally heard somebody like from far away go oh shit blue Yoshi and I like I think about that every day since then like somebody's so excited to see that specific Yoshi

it's very possible it was one of the three of us I mean Yoshi just there's just something so happy about you know yeah he rocks yeah it's like it's the thing that's amazing about the the Mario franchise specifically is just like their like

sixth most notable character is like still a huge character yeah yeah yeah it's fucking fucking wild but it's crazy too because like he could have just stayed a mount right like he could have just been a mount and like that was it like Ramby's not nobody cares about Ramby

how dare you nobody's showing no one's yelling oh shit blue Ramby nobody's doing it I mean you can be the one I'd be the one to do I'd be confused used as why he was blue. I think if you saw Blue Ramby, you would say that. Because you would be like, oh shit, blue Ramby?

What a choice. Is he sick? Wait, have all of you done the Mario, the Super Nintendo? No, I still haven't been. I've done it. I've done it. I thought it was fine. I didn't think it was like, I wasn't, I was whelmed by it.

I thought the line was cool. Yeah. And then if you walk away from a ride and you thought that the line was cool, like the the rides maybe not that great. Yeah, that's a little. but I've just heard kind of muted reactions all around, although I've heard people very enthusiastic about the Donkey Kong ride at Epic Universe. They might see Ramby and be excited about it.

Probably wouldn't be blue, but if he wasn't, I'd yell something. But that's the thing with the Mario Carine. I feel like the PCR boys have talked about this, where it's like, we love Mario Kart because we get to go fast, and that ride, because you have all the layers and it's all the game part about it, It's never going to be as satisfying as actually playing Mario card. And then because you're wearing this AR level over it, you don't get to actually enjoy all the, like, practical sets. Like, you are going through Rainbow Road.

You're going through, like, Bowser's Dungeon. And it's like, I almost want to just, like, flip up my glasses and just, you know what I mean? And just watch that part. I mean, they won't do this. But it's like, it almost just feels like it needs a reconceptualization to be like, take the game shit out, take the AR thing out. Just have it be like, because, like, I don't know. I don't want to do something. I have video games if I want to do something.

I disagree. I think they should add eating. You get a random Italian meal put on your lap. You have to play the game when you have to finish your meal by the end of the ride. I thought I was going to change your clothes like in the new Mario Kart game. Now Waluigi's wearing a sombrero and it's okay. They make you put on it, not just like a gross like goggles that they like hose down before you. go on, but like a full outfit.

That's honestly the worst part about it to me is that you have to just like wear this. You just have to be like okay with this. Yeah, why did we not like, I thought we were in a different place with hygiene post-pandemic, but I guess not. Yeah, there's like a good percentage. I might never touch a bowling ball again. I'm going to put this on my fucking face. Yeah, and with the food, it would be like if they had the other person hadn't finished,

you did the half-eaten, half-eaten food. Yeah, you got to finish their canaloni. Oh, no. Uh, Stephen, I have one more question for you and for the room. That question is, what are you playing? What are you playing? Hi, it's me the resident evil merchant, and I'm here with a guest and my friends, and I'm asking them what they're playing.

uh thank you so much resident evil it's like christmas oh my god i'm so happy right now thank you for doing it normal what thank you for doing it normal yeah we have a guest here wait well just i like sometimes you pull a little english on it you go a little rogue it's nice for you to just be like have a straightforward way to play in wait i'm english on what you know that's an expression it's more like you'll often add like maybe an unnecessary detail or something about what

about you want to know something that you're got up to just like yeah i don't know it'll be like I saw a potato and we were like, what did that name? Wait, how did you know? Wait, were you there? No, I was just... All right, guys, I'm walking down an alley and in the middle of the alley sitting straight up and down like it was Mr. Potato Head with nothing in it, it's a potato. So you saw like a nude Mr. Potato Head?

Well, aren't they all nude? I guess so, but he wears clothes. Yeah, but I mean, I don't think you, bad, I don't think Resonium Merchant means a Mr. Potato Head shell without the occasions. No, it's a potato. Yeah, in the red, russet potato in the middle of the alley. Yeah. I guess if I saw that, I mean. I would be a little confused, honestly, if I just saw a potato on it.

Yeah. I would say someone put it there. Yeah. It feels like a trap. What is it there? What did it want? I gave it everything I had. I gave it all my money.

I gave it. I gave it. My gum. I gave it my doggy bag, and I couldn't figure it out. I had to go back the way I came. So you just kind of, like, emptied your pockets and laid your stuff down before the potato and then just walked away. Yeah, that was the story I just told. I was just clarifying.

Do you think it was Mr. Potato Head? Because once you turned around, maybe it came back to life. I double checked. I kept looking over my shoulders. stayed there with all my stuff. You didn't like try to touch it. But the crazy thing is the next day it was all gone. Wow.

That is actually, that is the craziest thing. I, my keys. Yeah. The money. The gum. I think he can piece together what happened. Mike, but what? I think probably just a person saw a bunch of stuff lying on the ground and was like,

I'm going to take that. Including the potato. So we got to, we got to help that potato. I think the potato's doing fine. I think the potato's doing fine. I think it's, yeah, the potato's a loss cost. That potato's probably... They kill them.

Oh, no. I mean, I don't know if a potato's still alive when she has produced. I don't have a television right now. Is this on the news? Remarkably, this is not on the news. Yeah, there's some other stuff going on. That's the callousness of Los Angeles. Oh, yeah, you're telling me.

They don't care? They don't care anymore. They used to care. They did. They did. Black Dahlia, everybody knows it. It's been a hundred years. Yeah.

The potato got kidnapped and tortured and killed. Not even on the page of the news. Og grottin at this point. You're sick. I'm just saying. Is that your favorite potato? I think it might be my favorite potato preparation. You like it all grotten.

I would go with, oh. What's that kind? Is that the cheese with slice? Yeah. I like that. I think I'd go fries. I'm fries too. Yeah.

I mean, here's the thing. Fries, yeah. Fries is number one. But, like... Are you saying fries don't count? Because to me, that's a potato preparation. No, of course, it counts. I guess I'm just scared that I didn't want anybody to think I didn't want the fries one to be number one.

Well, you said all grottes. My number one is not fries. My number one is potato skin. Oh. Potato skin, interesting. Love it. I love the potato skin. I'm not raw, like, fucking just shaved it off into a sink and I'm eating it.

I used to love a baked potato when I was younger. And now I kind of, I don't know. That's more of an indulgence, I feel like. Chili potato is good. Chili potato is good. That's like a meal. Full of stuff. Yeah, chili.

But I feel like I'm guessing the people's choice would be mashed. I feel like that's like. I'm guessing just like collectively. That's an award? I think if you, well, it is an award, but that's not how I meant. I may think if you pulled the populace, I feel like mashed would probably be number one. Even over fries. They should, they should revamp the people's choice awards and have it be for

particular thing. So, like, everybody votes on, like, what's the best one? Like, okay, yeah, it's mashed potatoes. It's like, what's your favorite ground being preparation? Hard-shelled tacos. Yeah. That's like what family feud is. Yeah, you're right there.

Ranch you get a favorite potato preparation? Hash frowns. Hashbrowns. That's good. I feel like I already knew this. We must have talked about this at some point. That's a great answer. Krispy.

Oh, yeah. Krispy on the top, I think. but then like soft as you get into it. We just mush in the middle. One time I was at this one time there was a, you know, when you work on a, on a, like a, a film or TV shoot, there will oftentimes be a catering truck that will have like meals. Is that true? It is true, yeah.

And so I was working on this TV show and I just decided to get as my breakfast, just a plate of hash browns. Oh, yeah. Felt like shit. Oh, no. That grease bomb. Grease and starch zero protein. Protein, yeah, you got to put your hash brown with like a layer of egg. And I was like making decisions there.

I was like, oh, man, I'm not in a position to be doing this. Just going to lay down on the floor. Did you eat them dry or you put some ketchup on those bad boys? I'm a bit of a heat seeker, so I certainly doused it with some hot side. Oh, my dog. Oh, she's hot sauce and hash brown. No wonder. Yeah.

That's an insane man's choice. Imagine walking, imagine walking past somebody in there. You got a paper plate full of hash brown and hot shots. Resident Evil 4 Merchant, you have no leg to stand down to this. Everything you do is insane. You can't do that. I've never done that. I've never walked on the street.

Eating Ashbrown off a plate with hot sauce. What about breakfast, Sammy, but it's just hash browns. You know, honestly, I've seen the hash browns as like a bun. It's a little greasy. me, but I like the swing, but I think you could put a hash brown in the middle of a breakfast dando. I love potatoes, especially crispy potatoes inside a breakfast burrito. Yes.

And I would say, I would argue that maybe the best execution of that is tater tots. Yeah, Tater tots, because they keep their shape in the burrito. They're not too pokey on the tortilla. They're perfect. Man, I got a fucking California burrito earlier this week. It was just bean and cheese and fries. It was so fucking good. Yeah, yeah, growing up in Southern California as well.

Yeah. The French fries and a burrito just really just soaks everything in. I like that put a French fries on my cheeseburger. That's fun. That's fun. You're wild. What? Wait, no, I feel like people do that.

No, people do do that. I like to do it. That's cool. Anyway, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, No feathers. Yeah, of course not. Yeah, well, no, nobody was. It's a given.

There's a little poking. Where would they come from? From what? I have no idea. I don't want them on my burger. I feel responsible for this tangent. Resident Evil Merchant, you asked, what are you playing? Stephen, our guest, what are you playing these days?

So I recently got a like a Sega Genesis collection for the Switch. Wow. I had a, like my video game history was a hand-me-down Sega Genesis and then I moved over to Nintendo. But I think because I've been listening to a lot of Sega Genesis music recently, so I got this collection. which I've been playing Vector Man and Vector Man too. Wow. I just love the soundtrack for those games. And there's something that's like so fluid and fun about like those era of platformers where it is just like and then you're dead.

And then you're dead. You know, or at least that's how it's been for me just getting back into like the side scrollers. But I don't know. The the physics and everything of Vector Man are like very pleasant because he's just like a collection of like floating balls. Yeah. I don't know. It's something very fun about it. I'm familiar with Vector Man.

I can't claim to spend any appreciable amount of time with it beyond messing around with it on an emulator out of curiosity, having just known what Vector Man is. But Heather, did you ever have Vector Man in your younger? I did not have Vector Man. Yeah. I rented Vector Man from Blockbuster and got to play. I mean, not me personally. My parents went to have no appreciable income. Please.

But actually, Vectorman would have been down at the floor because it's a V. and they're always alphabetically sorted. Unless they've reset by the, like if it's the bottom of the, is you is down there. Fair, but with the Genesis section, it was only one section. Yeah, got it, got it. But no, I didn't play, I didn't play Vector Man. I did play Flashback, which was not a platformer,

but very similar time in the Genesis life cycle. I mean, it's very gorgeous, the music. I just love the sound of the Sega Genesis. Yeah, that's great. And I was playing that to me, I got like that era of gaming where the opening of Vector Man 2 is just him like rocking out in space and then he gets shot down and that's the start of the game. Yep. Like he's just like partying in his space truck and then it just and then he just crash lands and then you're just in it. Did you ever play Earthworm Gym?

Yes, I did. That's a like looking back on it, it's not as gorgeous as you thought it was when you were a kid. Oh really? But when you were a kid, you were like, I'm playing a cartoon. Yeah, no, totally. And the music was so good. Like, and it felt very, like, just kind of rent and stimpy-like, almost kind of gross. Yep.

You know? The Genesis Downship is so distinct and so, like, you know, it has such a beautiful sound tone as you're saying. Do you have any, any, Beyond Vector Man, do they, any Genesis soundtracks that you really like? Well, I was, I was telling Matt and Ranch that I recently got the Echo the Dolphin soundtrack on vinyl. Oh, yeah, sure. Which is just kind of funny to think about, just like, listening to a Sega Genesis game on vinyl, like the music. but it's so gorgeous. Do you guys have video game soundtracks on vinyl?

I do. I have Sonic CD on vinyl. Because I was so entrenched in the Sega ecosystem, I had Echo on Sega CD. Oh, cool. Which is a totally different soundtrack because they were really, really trying hard to demo how expansive a CD soundtrack can be. So all of my Echo, the Dolphin songs are like very personal because not a lot of people played that version of the game. but it sounded like a new age like radio station

Yeah yeah it's super new agey And the Alien 3 Sega Genesis soundtrack Is also really good too Like just it's like industrial But in a way that like I don't know It just kind of feels like warm And yeah

Kind of gross too at the same time Because it's all just every Like any alien game from that era Just looks and feels gross Yeah Yeah I also have the Disco Elysium soundtrack on Vine Oh, cool.

And I think I have Snatcher on Vinyl also. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it now feels like there's such a market for vinyl as like almost like a souvenir. Yeah. You know? And so, yeah, it has been fun. I think that's the only video game soundtrack I have. I would love the Jurassic Park Sega Genesis.

Like to me, that's just, and then hearing the like crunchy like T-Rex, Shako. Like, to me, like the Jurassic Park Sega Genesis soundtrack sounds nothing like John Williams score but to me it's like just as iconic the like do you like the like arpeggiated like bass and everything it's I don't know it just sounds like nothing else I think I've said this on the show before but for the Sega CD version of hook they just got the John William's score so you were playing the same game as the Genesis hook but the score was the full John Williams soundtrack and it was a very like incongruous experience

incongruent experience because you were like still playing shitty visuals with like a full symphony behind it it was neat uh matt what are you playing right now i'm so i'm bouncing between two big ones of course bonanza dog and con can con bananza which i'm absolutely loving right now man i love donkey con can banza it's so fucking good and so much fun and just like fill with joy it just it's just really really great i'm kind of surprised how long it is it's it's a meaty guy. It's meaty. What am I eating a fucking banana?

This thing's long as hell. It sounds really fun. I don't have a switch to yet, but I truly was like looking last week after you guys were talking about it. Because just that idea, it sounds, maybe one of you were saying

of like the meditativeness of almost just like burrowing or digging sounds really fun. It's really, really wonderful. Love to dig. I'm now in a spot now in in death stranding two where things are really starting to happen.

Ooh. Wow. And there was something in the game that Nick shocked me. I was shocked. Wow. And I can't say anything about it. But it was just unbelievable. And I already sang his praises a couple weeks back at this point maybe.

Troy Baker's performance is unbelievable in this game. It's so fucking good and weird and specific. Yep. And his performance in the moment that I witnessed was insane. It was just so fucking weird and nuts. And I loved it. And everybody's just really firing it on all cylinders, actually. Everybody's doing like a really incredible strange work.

And I'm just still, I got to go. I've taken a break from doing side stuff and like building and like building roads and things like that. but I think I got to get back to it I want to get back to the side stuff because I'm worried about progressing too much further and then running out of I guess you could always go back or whatever

but like I'm having too much I'm enjoying the story so much that I'm like I gotta paste this out just a little bit more yeah my question for you guys because I haven't played too many of like the Kojima games or like games where they do have like an hour long cut scene

are you watching it with the controller? Are you getting up to get a cup of coffee? Are you like on your phone? I'm always so curious about that because I haven't played too many of those games. It hasn't really been an issue in this second one. I feel like they're really well-paced and paste out. So like you're not, I feel like the longest cutscene I've had has been like a few minutes long. It hasn't been too crazy. And generally speaking, unlike say a regular video game, Kojima's cutscenes are so. so often so crazy that you don't want to get up and get coffee or whatever. Yeah. You're locked in because it's like, I literally don't know what could happen at the end of

this, at the end of this cut scene. Yeah, to that point, some of them are like pretty basic and like just, you know, serve whatever moment has occurred or whatever story point. And then some of them will be like, here's 10 of the most insane things you've ever heard. You just never really know. Yeah. But they're really, really great. And that's it for me.

Just like, yeah, just bouncing between those two big ones. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Heather, what are you playing? Well, I'm also playing Death Stranding, too. That's been my main focus. I've been super overstressed and overworked.

So this weekend, I took off my watch and put down my phone and gave myself a full stress break because, like, my literal metrics were, like, o'er ring and my watch were like, something is wrong with your body. And it was just stress. So I took off my watch and my ring and put down my phone and played Death Stranding 2. I am not as far as Apodaca is because we'll text each other off chain because we don't want to spoil anything for Nick. But I do want to talk about how there is a level of customizing Sam, which goes slightly beyond the outfit you can wear. like you can wear like a different you know camo that will have like different upgrades or you can choose different charms for your backpacks that will have slightly different upgrades you can choose his hat but there is i think you can make him into a real fucking weirdo and a loser if you give him like the particular um sets of glasses and right now i'm wearing a hat that i was given to me by a vtuber in the

game a v-tuber who exists in our world and also in death stranding and so my sam is walking like his it redefines his because the hat and the glasses are present in the cutscenes so it also redefines his relationship to other people there's already an awkwardness to sam because he just got over his like inability to touch other people which was like a huge through line of the first game. But my Sam now, when you put on the hat, he just says to himself constantly, constantly, Pecco, which is her, like, catchphrase. Like, the way that some of these anime characters will be like, they'll say meow at the end of their sentences or whatever. She says Pecco. Um, and I, I got a, uh, I've got a clip here, I think that's, that's loaded. Because I wanted to show how

often he is saying peco and how that affects my play through of this game um here can i hold it up to the here let's see if i can hold it up to the mike and we can hear how often he's saying peco so he's constantly saying peco while I am playing while I'm playing the game which makes it a different game for me because it means

something's happening with Sam oh no like he is he is like and I feel like I'm allowed to use this language because of the amount of personal testing I've done but he's definitely now on the spectrum and when he's

When he is punching or shooting people with that hat on, he's saying with each punch, Paco. Instead of him saying, I'm Sam. He'll now go, Ots Pecco or Peco Corro. Like, he's just, all of his language is gone. And when he's in these cutscenes, he's wearing this fucking bunny hat. And he looks lost, and the cutscene ends in him. Immediately goes, Paco, Paco.

Since I got the hat, I have not taken it off. I have fought bosses. And the whole time, he's like, Paco, Paco, Paco, Paco. And he's recorded also, Norman Reed has recorded it with so many different intonations that when you, like, fucking deliver a kill shot, he'll go, Paco. It is so insane. And it has transformed my personal experience of death straining. too in a very, very different game.

When I put down the controller, I'm walking around my house, just going peco, peco. Because I've heard it a thousand times in the last 10 minutes. I mean, that was all of us during lockdown. I feel like I started talking to myself so much during lockdown. Peco, peco. We're talking to my cat, you know what I mean? It's so funny to think about Kojima giving a specific direction. And on how to say it's so funny.

Okay, you've just knocked a guy out. Yeah. How do you say it now? And he's like, pack up. Like I also, I'm always nervous that the guys are going to get back up after I've like sedated them. So I'll give them a kick. And when I kick them, he'll go, pack up. It's just, it's, I'm going to wear it all the way through to the end of the, end of the game.

My Death Stranding 2 experience. Wow. Nick, what do you play? Heather, thank you. you so much for asking. You're welcome. What I'm playing is Twisted Metal Season 2 on Peacock. Wow. Wow. So, yeah, I watched all the season one when it launched and I

really, really enjoyed it. And I admittedly much more than I expected. As like, holy shit, they actually they did an awesome job with this. The show is funny and compelling. Season two is like even better. They're so locked in on how to make the show now. They seem to also have like a higher budget but it's it's so jam packed with characters is the thing like there's just there's just so much going on in this show and the runtime is closer to a half hour show than an hour long show you know it's like we know we know it's at these this in the streaming world run times

are flexible but it's like I feel like a lot of streaming shows it's it's like it's like okay it feels like we've had to stretch things out a little bit to hit the you know this is maybe a little bit bloated. But this one, it's closer to the pace of a, and run time of a comedy, which makes it so watchable and so digestible. And again, just so dense with content. But I think I mentioned the action. And the action is so much better than action you'll generally see on television. That's what's really impressive about it to me. It's like, it's like a movie level of production value that they're doing on a TV budget. The car combat in particular, which is what you're going twisted metal to see is so well staged and so well shot.

There's a particular one sequence where it's sweet tooth and stew and Harold, of course, chasing and firing missiles at Mr. Grimm from the ice cream truck, Mr. Grimm on a motorcycle. And it's so fucking, it's so fucking kinetic and cool. It's just like this feels like a movie. This feels like cinema. And I feel like, you know, you don't see as much of that, that specific type of action on on on on on streaming shows the other thing i like about is it is it's just like it's just fun and funny and i i i kind of feel like a with a lot of video game adaptations there's been this

kind of i don't know if it if it comes from a place of insecurity yeah where it's like almost like we have to apply a little bit of self-seriousness to this we have to treat this like this is you know prestige uh you certainly see that with the the last of us adaptation and um and follow but fallout similarly had like a sense of fun it's it's it's it's i think that's part of why i like it is it is it evokes the same sorts of things that follow out did or rather fallout evokes the same sort of things that twisted metal did depending on when they release but it's it's really really great and i i hope people you know i of course have a of a dog in this a bit of a dog in this fight just because my my dope boys co-host mike mitchell plays stew

and he's so good in the show um and of course pass get played guest and our good friend Sean Diston is a writer for the show. But, like, I, I'm, I'm not advocating for people to watch it because of that. I just like, I think it's a genuinely good show that I think, you know, if you're a fan of the video games or just a fan of video games in general, you'll, you'll really enjoy it. And I know not everyone has Peacock, but get the Peacock trial if you don't. And if you do already have Peacock, definitely check it out. Season 2 is really, really fun.

And it's centered on this, this tournament, which. which is kind of at the core of it, which features Anthony Kerrigan playing Calypso, which is just really cool casting. But anyway, like, the cast is great. The writing is great and the direction, especially the action is really, really great. I also want to shout out the showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith,

who I know is a get played listener. So, but yeah, I just, I'm really, again, just enjoying it so much. It's just nice for a TV show to exist as something that's fun and engaging. It's so frustrating when having a dog in the fight is like any kind of a damper on your ability to be believed. Right.

Sure. Because like there are so many things that we have, you know, some friends or pass guess or whatever that they've made and you, it's legitimately good. Yeah. And you always feel like, oh, yeah, nobody's going to fucking buy it because, oh, I'm on a show with Mitch. But like that it, I, I, I, I, hearing you say. I know that it sounds like I have

It made me want to watch a show more I mean I think you I think you'd like it It's it's it's genuinely very very funny And again the action is great and I know you like that I do I love I love action and violence I want to know how they handle the I forget what his name is Axel yeah I want to because it made me so nervous as a kid When because the I didn't have a PlayStation where my step brother did and we would

Because the only two player game we had was twisted metal Yeah And I'm like you're so excited That's so terrifying to have your hands locked in. The tragedy of really of Twisted Metal, the TV show is the naming of the app. It's Peacock. Peacock. Yeah, because like you never remember like peak, like I wish it was called, you know, Universal Studios or so like some kind of like a bigger, like Peacock is a strange name for an app.

Call it the twisted metal app as far as I'm concerned. That's what I'm using it for. So the Axel, the actor Michael James Shub. plays axel and he's just absolutely fucking jack and he's great but like the reveal of it is so for for people who don't know twisted metal it is a it is like a big dude like a huge like fucking stud just holding basically you know a giant truck tires yeah um like like with his hands like like using them basically as arms and so basically he is uh he is the the axle of this vehicle uh but the reveal is so so funny when he rolls out yeah i got i got to see it

And it's a good effect. They did a great job with it. Peacock, if you're listening, this is what I want. This is my only demand. Oh, here we go. Twisted metal icons for the profile. That'd be fun. Because I got Mitch on my Amazon Prime and I wanted him on my peacock.

I want a Stephanie Beatrice on mine. It's funny to have a friend be your profile icon on a streaming service. And they add loved ones too for Netflix while we're at it. I'm getting the Mitch universe. the Mitch collection for my profile icons. I'm just trying to get Henry Cavill on every platform. Honestly? Yeah, you know what?

If they add Henry Cavill to all of them, sorry, Mitch. I think that Pedro's really easy to lock in on the whole platforms. Yeah, for sure. For sure. But he's a little over-exposed at the moment. Don't need to see it. Ranch, I wanted to give you a second because I know you've been playing some. We were talking Magic the Gathering earlier.

You've been playing some MTG Arena. You have. I have. I downloaded it a few days ago since you made, or you gave us those... Final Fantasy packs and I'm kind of feel myself falling into a deep hole. Really? So I have tried to play it a few times when I was like, because the people I played magic with play arena and so when I would show up like when we'd play like once a month,

they would be like, I feel like I was starting to fall behind. But you feel like it's like easy to just pick up and play? It's been, I've been like doing tutorials and practicing against like computers. and stuff. There's a pretty extensive tutorial system in an arena, just sort of like, and it is, because magic is a dense rule set. But I think it does a good job of, like, trickling it out in stages. You haven't played magic much before.

No, never before. I think it's done a really good job, but every time I, like, move up to the next level, it becomes extremely overwhelming again. Yeah. So I'm scared to see, I'm scared to really open up the can of where it was because everything seems really complicated. Have you messed around with any other

digital card games like a like a Marvel snap or a Heartstone or anything? Or a Pokemon TGC pocket? I was playing that for a little bit

the Pokemon Pocket. Yes, that's kind of so yeah at least I have a kind of a base knowledge of how a card game works in that sense but yeah

magic just seems like it's I feel like it's going to consume my life if I let it. Just learning the rules there's just so many rules. Yeah, a lot of rules.

Yeah. Well, let us know how your journey continues. I will. Thank you. What a pleasant exchange. What did you happen in this fucking podcast? What was it? And we're weird.

And I'm out. Tell me how that's going. I will. Thanks. Back to you. Let's talk about water games. Subnautica was kind of the, we asked you, Stephen, I was like, Like, like, what do we want to, is there anything you want to talk about in particular?

And you basically were like, sub-Nodica is my favorite, my favorite video game of all time. It has. I mean, I will credit this show with getting me back into video games as an adult when I started listening. Because there was that layer of, you know, like, you know, playing video games. And then I kind of fell off around the GameCube era. I just didn't bring some. I mean, I got whacked in the head with a Wemo in college and maybe that spoiled it for me. Oh, my God.

Wait, what happened? You know, because we're in a dorm just trying to play the Wii with my roommate swing and we ball. What game? I think it was like we bowling or something or Wii baseball. And then if you're like standing next to somebody watching, you're all crammed into a dorm room just, you know, and somebody wasn't paying attention. And I just got hit in the head. But it wasn't the like they were still holding it. It wasn't the incident like it flew off.

No, no, no. I just, I was too close. I was in the strike zone. Wow. But then, yeah, like, yeah, when you guys started the show, I started listening. And it was just like, oh, yeah, like, I used to spend, you know, game informer Nintendo Power. Like, I, when I first moved to L.A., I worked for a company that did, like, the motion graphics for one of the Transformers games. And I got to go to E3.

And that felt like a childhood dream come true. But it really wasn't. And then when the lockdown happened, it was like, all right, I'm getting a switch. Like, what are we doing? And I got Animal Crossing, of course. But I was, I sometimes watch Let's play as well. like editing podcast because I can just kind of have it up and I saw this game Subnotica just it was I like love ocean stuff anyway I grew up near the beach like and so it to me

subnotica is like if Animal Crossing was set in an alien ocean world where all the villagers want to eat you but it has the like it and it was my first open world game and it was all that sort of thing where oh wow like I you know again as an adult getting back into video games like oh my gosh, I just get to go anywhere and I get to touch anything and fight anything and like do all that stuff and resource management and, you know, oxygen, food and health. And then just, yeah, again, because I just love the ocean so much, it had that element of like just getting to do the thing that like, I mean, I don't know how you guys feel about the sea, but like, you know, getting to do the thing where you're like, I'm James Cameroning it like

going, you know, miles under the ocean. My thought about the sea, she's an angry mistress. I think that the... I have a bit... You just made Matt throw up on his sister. I have a bit of a touch of the lasophobia, which when it comes to underwater games, lasophobia, like, fear of deep bodies of water.

Yeah. So, like... Yeah. I thought it was a fear of rope. Hmm. All right. I've The lasso

Yeah Okay Or or Fear of an American Teaching coaching a English football team The lasso

The lasso The lasso Yeah I'm following now No no it's not that Matt It is Fear of Deep Bodies Are you sure it's not either thing No I don't think it's either of those things

Is my understanding But like like there's something about a 3D space Being underwater that I find very claustrophobic Oh no I love it But I've heard this is very like a very tranquil experience. Well, yeah, that's what's so weird about the game is that it is equally soothing and terrifying. Yeah, I, I'm knowing that you were going to be the gas

I bought the game for my PlayStation and played a few hours of it. I am, I really don't, crafting games are hard for me to connect with. Sure. But what I did like about this was the setting made me feel like, because I don't know if you've investigated, you crash in a fucking spaceship on a water planet, right? And you've got your escape pod is afloat and off in the distance is the crashed ship. And in terms of motivating me to want to make shit, perfect.

Yeah. Like if I open up Minecraft, I don't give a fuck about anything in there. I don't, like, there's no, like, there's no tidal wave of pressure behind me to make me make choices in that world. Whereas in Subnotica, I was like, oh, shit, okay, I got to figure out how to make a repair kit. And what does that mean?

I guess I'm going to jump in the water. Yeah, yeah. And you're like, this is impossible to what are you going to find fit. And then the first time you see like a piece of debris, you're like, oh, shit, I get it. Yeah. Okay, I got to get some debris. And then you're like, the way that the puzzles of crafting revealed

themselves to you is very, very organic and very pleasant. Like, you know that there's a cave near your initial drop zone, but you're like, how the fuck am I ever going to get a rock to move? And then later, you see like jellyfish that have

caused a rock to float because they're like full of air. And you're like, oh, shit. And with the game, you can grab basically anything. So you're like, oh, I'll grab those jellyfish and I'll move the rock and then I can go into the cave and get hurt. it's a i don't know is in terms of crafting games super compelling yeah because it's it's pretty

simple and i feel like that again that was my intro to open world games so it it had a layer of like it didn't seem too overwhelming so when i finally played like breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom like that felt like a step up in terms of the amount of things that you could do and the things that you could craft it's still you know you're building bases that are like there's maybe like 20 pieces total so it's not and then again the goals are very it is one of these games where you are reading tons there's just tablets strewn across this one being like help i was being eaten by you know like yeah and then you go to the next one and you learn a little bit more about the story but there is just so many times like i've spent over 500 hours in the first

simnotica game wow since 2021 and it's just one of those things where it's like some days i'll just swim around and explore. Some days I'll just work on my base. But that experience also getting that game was very weird for me because I was watching people play it on like PC or like PlayStation 4 or whatever. And so I was like watching people play the game for like a year just because the ocean part was soothing. And then I saw release for the switch right when I got it.

So the fact that it was like a game, I was like, oh, you know, if I decide to get another system, maybe I'll play it. And then just, then I just got the, and I had the switch. And then I was like, oh, great. Now I can actually play the game. And then that's when I, like, truly just spent so much, like, so much of my lockdown experience was, like, actually in that world. Like, I would have dreams that I was in Synodica.

Yeah. Like, so surreal. Man, video game dreams are really something. For me, my most vivid ones are Diablo dreams. Really? Yeah. I don't know why. I think it's just, like, kind of, I think just spending so much time in the exact same,

like isometric camera and then just like a really simple game but engaging gameplay loop that I just have basically like a honestly a dream where I was playing Diablo it was like in the game no not in the game I'm just playing it I had so many questions I thought I was going to ask you if the dream was in isometric kind of you that would have been interesting I have had dream this is I think I've said before that I think people they I guess is not common I have had dreams where I step out of my physical form and look back at myself, and that's really unnerving. No, my dreams are in third person. Yeah.

Yeah, I dream Fortnite dreams, and I will be in Fortnite, but my point of view will be the over the shoulder of me, Heather, running around in Fortnite. That's wild. You should be a skin in Fortnite. Talked about it enough. Okay. We're in your oasis jersey. Yeah, actually, you're really cool.

I'll do it. I guess we didn't realize that the thing was. This is the clip. Put me in the game And put me in Kingdom Hearts while we're at it. There are no Oasis tracks in Fortnite and it's stunning to me

because it is such a big moment for them. Are they like skittish about licensing? I mean, I have heard that. Okay. I have heard that it is very, very hard to get them to agree to using their music in anything else, which makes the Rick and Morty montage

like a real shock because I have tried other times and they say no but yeah but I would think it was different for Fortnite because it's just the music it's not the two of them as skins

although if it was I'm done they should be in the game God damn it should be in it before they gotta be in the game that's gonna be so funny it'd be great Matt, did you get to spend some time

with Subnotica? I did actually, so I got in there and one of the first things I decided to try to do was go toward the wrecked ship and it immediately tells you to not do that because it's radio after. But like, I will say like, I typically don't

there's like very limited there's a very few games where I enjoy the fact that it's in first person and I do think that like for this for me, this was not one of them only because I get so sick if it's barely

like too fast or something and I felt like the movement in this was just so that I was like oh I feel like I can feel myself starting to get a little sick I mean I couldn't imagine playing this they have it in VR yeah oh it'd be a nightmare oh my god you described a nightmare to me I'm in! No I really

I have a MetaQuest 2 and I don't think they ever released it for that but wow that was my only thought was I wish this was in VR. I think that you can play it on PSVR. I think you can. Oh, man. Can you grab this stuff with your hands?

I think so. What? Yeah, because there's something super tactile about it. Like, you know, just the idea that you're like underwater just like hitting rocks.

I'm like trying to break things. Yeah, but that's what I did like about it though because like I think in the same thing with like Powell World even when we messed around with that for a little bit like the because this is like it's a it's a survival type game too where you're like you have to

craft that's like the main thing that you're doing in the game um and like just like finding things i don't know like finding stuff is fun i do like to find i like to find stuff and like so like that stuff was great so like that was a good enough loop and then you see some you see a lot of little freaky little guys in this thing and that was actually really working for me i was like there's because also and you get to eat them yes well that was crazy too but in the in the in the in the in the in the in the in the in i crashed a little pod uh because i'd go back to the pot a lot but uh i guess the thing that I didn't know about this game before I started it

was that it was, I thought it was just like a submarine game and you're just like in the regular ocean. I didn't know it was like a freaky ocean. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that was like a fun thing to learn that it was actually freakier than I had thought. Yeah.

So I enjoyed that aspect of it quite a bit. It reminded me of, and it's a game I've brought up on the show before, this DS game that wasn't a huge hit. I did get a sequel, but it wasn't like a massive DS game called Lost in Blue,

which is a game where you're a little kid who gets crashed on an island and every day the only goal is survive. And you have the same sort of food meter, water meter in the corner and all you can get is like fucking shit from the ocean, but you can't swim into the ocean. It's not like an underwater game. It's like, oh, thank God I found a shell with a thing in it.

I can eat this and live for five more minutes. I'm like, it's a child death simulator because of how often you die in the game. But like, that I, that's another thing that I find pleasurable in a craft, in this particular crafting game was I don't know that I need larger goals. Yeah. If my goal is just find something and eat it or find something and drink it. Yeah. Like I didn't really, like I wasn't, I didn't feel a lot of pressure to be like, oh, I, I'm. I have to build a gun soon, which was my first need, personally, but not in the game.

Because you just grab, like, you grab the little guys. And I was like, oh, do I hit something with this little guy? No, it's a boomerang fish, but you don't actually hit anybody with it as far as I knew. And then you go cook it and then you eat it. And then I was like, that's great. Yeah. There are days where it's just like, I'm just going to do this thing. I'm just going to, like, go around and find teeth from the,

the stalkers because like basically you can you can either feed them to like pacify them or you can they're basically I don't they just kind of look like eel shark type things and you can get them to drop teeth that you can use to build basically like a specific type of glass to build an observatory but the way that you do it is like you throw metal like debris at them and then when they bite it it makes a tooth fall out that's great and so it's it's like super fun in that regard. But yeah, there's days where it's like, I'm just going around reading the tablets. Like, I'm going on the island.

I'm going, like right now, the one at the, I'm replaying right now. I'm just hanging out in the lava zone. Because that's the other thing, too, is I love building bases near where the dangerous creatures, the Leviathans are. Because I think in a maybe more advanced open world game, they could destroy your base. Yeah. But instead it becomes this fun game of where you, like, the moment you're in that area, they're trying to hunt you down

but then you go in your base and then you're safe so then you like can I just go back out there like go back like you're like you're like trying to like almost ding dong ditch the monster because the game was originally made like how there were

technically they didn't want you to kill any of like the big creatures they wanted you to almost be like to teach you to be afraid of them but of course there is ways to kill them people have like so many ways to kill them basically but yeah it was like that idea

that you're on this planet it to survive so you're not necessarily supposed to conquer it and so in a weird way it's like it's like one of the first games I've ever played where I'm like oh I don't go to that area like I'm afraid to go to that area and I find myself like

playing like almost like hunched over like white knuckling it like when I'm trying to get through this territory to get a specific like gold or ruby or like other elements. It reminds me of what you're describing of 28 years later how there's the alpha zombie with a huge hog who they're just sort of like

They're not killing this zombie. They're just sort of like, we've got to coexist with this alpha predator who lives in this area. This zombie has a huge hog. We have to let him live. We can't do this anymore. Have you seen the movie? I haven't seen it yet. It's a big dick.

I got to see this thing. I know we talked about titles a couple episodes back. It's distracting. Chicken jockey where you're like, he's a zombie penis, you know. I think Subnotica is a great title for a movie. It's a really good. Yeah, really good. It conveys exactly.

It conveys everything. And it's also distinct and memorable. One word, too. Yeah. But I don't know. I feel like it could be called subnotica phasers requiem. I mean, below zero is the, is the, below zero. Below zero, though, it works as a good subtitle.

Below zero. Yeah, I mean, but we're talking about like not the, when we're talking about a sequel. Like I add like, or I guess, I guess spin off slash DLC, you know, it's kind of like, I feel like you kind of a subtitle's invited. And we should shout out a get played composer, Ben Prunty, for a composer of music for Subnotica Below Zero as well. Yes, that was when you guys changed over the themes. The Ben, like, Subnotica Below Zero is not very good in the way that, like, Subnotica encouraged open exploration,

whereas Subnotica Below Zero is, you're kind of just swimming through underwater caves and tunnels, and it's very suffocating. But his score, it is in my, like, top five video game scores about that. Wow. I love, like, that's awesome. Just that, because you guys have done episodes about, like, the ice music and, like, water music. And it's just, like, it is the, like, full fidelity version of the stuff of, like, aquatic ambiance and dire, dire, dachs and all that.

It's like, the, for the new generation, it's so good. That's really cool. It was, like, he was, like, my most listen to Spotify artist, like, I think either last year or the year before, along with, like, Taylor Swift and, like, Beyonce. And it was, like, Ben Prunty. Like, I, like, the below zero score I listen. to you like all the time that's awesome yeah do you you like was there a point when you're playing subnotica where you're where it really click for you like oh this is my favorite game this is everything i want from a video game well so the point of the game is like besides you know

just punch rocks and grab fish by the throat is like you're eventually supposed to get off the planet and obviously like that's you know spoilers but you know you're supposed to get off the planet the first time i played the game again like coming out of lockdown it's like one of my first trips. I'm going to Hawaii. So I'm finishing the game while I'm flying over the ocean. While in the game, I'm flying off the

planet over the ocean. And I like started crying. It was one of the most like beautiful adult video game. It is like you know, yeah, one of those beautiful video game experiences I've ever had where you're like, it was like when I finally beat Shadows of the Empire. I was like, ah!

Like it was that last level, Prince Caesar's thing was like so hard. I would like cry because I couldn't beat it and it felt like a certain level of achievement but then also to like do the thing in the game that you're doing in real life was very surreal that's really this made me want to circle back to something that I wanted to ask earlier because you said you like to get in the ocean you like the ocean yes you ever snorkel in that bad boy I I did the the the mistress you call it the angry mistress this this this year I got to swim the Great Barrier Reef oh wow wow so and I

think after what one of the last chances to do so. I know, right. Honestly, I mean, it was really great. I did with this more like ethical, like they give back to the reef and stuff. But they do kind of take you to a bad neighborhood of the reef because they're like, yeah, you don't want to go to the nice part. We'll take you to the like, you know, we're really going to like, it's going to be full. Oh my God, what's the movie? Not my neighbor Totero, but the great, it's like a real grave of the fireflies kind of experience where you're just like haunted by the, you know. What man has done. Yes, exactly. But it is to me like being underwater is like the most peaceful experience in the world.

Like, I want to get scuba certified now. Man, that's amazing. My relationship to water is so different. Like, I've snorkeled a bunch, and every time I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack, in part because I feel like I'm high up in the air, but I'm not afraid of heights. But my brain is registering the ground of the water as something I could fall into. Yeah. That makes sense.

Which is also my relationship to swimming games. Like Subnotica feels like. a flying game to me. It doesn't feel like I'm swimming. It feels like I'm flying through very slow air. And like I wish that I've also done some reef snorkeling and it's so like it's a transformative experience. Yeah. But I kept having to look up so that I could remind my body that I wasn't about to fall. Oh. Which is a very weird like trigger. Yeah. No, totally. That's like when you go to Vegas and there's like places where the

where the roof is the sky and your lizard brain is like it's a trap. You know what I mean? Like you're just like this doesn't make sense because we've been around for so long without these sorts of things. Yeah.

Yeah. That's very surreal. Yeah. That's got to be yeah. Indoors, in my opinion, should not look like outside. That is so it's it's too confusing. Yeah. They shouldn't be able to do that. What about Rainforest Cafe?

Yeah. I was going to have a counter like that, but go on. Rainforest Cafe? I'll allow it. Because I'm not going there. I'm not going to the actual rainforest. I'm not going to go to actual rainforest.

Yeah, sure. What was your counter? No, I mean, I was going to say Rainforest Cafe. Without the Rainforest Cafe, we don't get Chachah the frog. Yeah. I think the what? The little frog from the restaurant. He's got a name?

His name's Chacha. Okay. All right. I love this lore. That's like during, because the only one left in California, is in Ontario and during COVID somebody just like took care of all the fish that were at the at the restaurant whoa like a security guard would just come every day and like feed the fish because the everything was closed what the fuck did they think was going on yeah where the hell

is everybody it's what you're ordering some fucking buffalo wings it's so quiet here yeah yeah nobody's getting a kid's meal with chips instead of fried I am uh typically terrified by the giants moving past my prison, and they're all gone now. Where's the hourly thunderstorm? I'll say this just because it came up, but Rainforest Cafe, my dad and my stepmom told my sister and I that they were getting a divorce at Rainforest Cafe when I was like 13. My mom's worst food poisoning of her life was from a Rainforest Cafe.

I mean, yeah. They're focused on the show, not, you know. That was the distraction, you know. It's a restaurant second. They serve food there, but it's for the show. I believe I'll look it up to be sure, but I believe it's part of the Landry group of restaurants, which is owned by Tillman Fertita, who also owns Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company. So a lot of their properties are like these big installation restaurants.

I think they also have a dinosaur restaurant. I could be wrong. I don't look this up right now. They bring your big ramp that you tip over your car. We've got to go to dinosaur restaurant. I mean, Bubba Gumbs at CityWalk was the first post. locked down restaurant I went to yeah yeah it's I mean it's wow it's a great one to break the seal it was just like what's close you know I was living in North

Hollywood at the time it was either that or Bukadaboh and I was like you know it's a little more festive yeah yeah I guess given the options I'm going I'm going Bubba Gump I guess wait did you guys go what did you guys go to first lockdown gosh which first lockdown it honestly probably wasn't much better it was probably something similar because it was like one of the things that was open probably yeah yeah because these ones those The desperate restaurants were the ones to open first. Yeah, yes, exactly.

We have to open Bubba. Yeah, yeah. We, uh, Mary and I went to the restaurant we met at. Um, and, uh, it is no longer open. Um, it was a Dave and Busters on Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah. It's just the food area of a bowling alley. It's the arc like food, food bar.

We broke in. Bruce the Lance was there. But we ate outside and it was devastating because in, I mean, they had replaced the fucking chef and the menu was like 10 times more expensive and worse and we were like what the fuck happened like what why you can't be the same

it hasn't even been that long yeah yeah uh landry does indeed own both rainforest cafe and bubble gump shrimp company among their dozens of properties they also own some fine dining concepts like del friscoes and mortons the steakhouse and the palm

which are all doing very similar things but uh they also own claim jumper heather which you may remember you reviewed on doughboys back in like 2017. I do remember, claim jumper. Joe's Crab Shack, McCormick, and Schmick, and they do own the T-Rex Cafe. Wow.

This is one of my favorite things about Nick, actually, if I could just gas you up for a second, my friend. He calls his shot, says, I think this is this piece of information is true. I'm going to look it up, and guess what? It was true. That's good shit. Where is the T-Rex Cafe? Lake Buena Fista, Florida.

All right, let's go. A hands-on prehistoric experience. Do you want me to open up the dino shop? Wait, where is Lake Bonavista, Florida? Is that in Disneyland? Is that in Orlando? I don't know. I mean, like the...

It was named after Buena Vista Street here. Right. I would think so. I would think for a big theme thing, it would make sense for it to not be like hundreds of miles away from all the theme parks. Can you tell me when it was opened? Boy, I'll see if I can find that history for you. Because there is a chance I have been to T-Rex Cafe.

A chance. What are you at a restaurant and a dinosaur was your server? You might have been at the dinosaur cafe. I have, I have a vague memory in my childhood of eating at a dinosaur themed restaurants. Yeah, that's cool. Okay. It is in a downtown Disney and Disney World, which makes sense. October 17th, 2008, it opened.

Oh, then I have not been there. No. And it was founded in Kansas City originally in 2006. Is it possible you're remembering a past life? I was eating in a din- Yes Yeah No, I was a dinosaur

We had a restaurant Okay appetizers Super Soros sampler The Colosso Beef nachos So this is the thing This pisses me off

About these sorts of places Oh boy Super Soros Sampler they're starting there Great Colosso beef nachos I'll give you this Then you have

Mozarella sticks Make an effort Call them the Veloceraptor mozzarella sticks Something. I mean, Phala sticks. There you go.

That's really good. There you go. That's really good. I think in like fifth grade English, we had to come up with a menu for a restaurant, and I did a Star Wars themed restaurant. Nice. Nice. And I remember there was like Chewbacca tenders or something like that. Buffalo chicken dip, cheesy skillet meatballs.

They're not even trying here. The salads, they have a Jurassic salad, which is fun. I appreciate that. That's barely a. Anything. Just ferns. Dinosaur fries. But again, at least they're trying.

Like, it doesn't even have to be good. I just want to see some effort. Caesar salad. That's right. That's good. Omnivore's delight. That's pretty good. That's like an obliate dinosaur reference.

I got one, I think. I got one. Yeah. The Big Bang Burger. Let's see if the Big Bang burger is on here. Show me Big Bang burger. No, you're getting an X, unfortunately. It is the Bronto Burger.

Oh. That's actually better. It's pretty good. That's pretty good. playing family feud right now. We should get back to the water real quick. What are you talking about?

We're talking about dinosaur restaurants. You don't want to talk about the abrictosaurus apple crisp? Abricnosaurus, that's a bit of a deep cut. I know, I love that, yeah, that's great. I guess I'm thinking about it, not particularly. The window for me caring about the dinosaur food has closed.

Like they have Meteor meatloaf, great. Yeah. But then just Tuscan chicken? Like Tuscan Raiders? Maybe there was a fight between like two people. One of them was like everything on the menu should be dinosaur themed. And the other person was like, it's going to disorient old people. Yeah, yeah.

We need to just have some things that they can order. Some of the food has to be nice. So the old person is like they see Paleozoic chicken sandwich. I don't know what the fuck that is. But then they see chicken fried chicken, an actual menu item. And they're like, okay, I give me that. I know what that is. Yeah, I really think that's part of the negotiation happening behind the scenes.

Is what is a chicken to Caesar, Jurassic Caesar, what is that? I need a salad. My grandson will have the crustacean trio and I will have the Cobb salad. Burma, no. Order like the rest of us. I wanted to ask if there were any other water-based games that you were like... I know you mentioned Echo the Dolphin earlier. Did you have a particular affection for that?

That was something more, in a way, the soundtrack more than anything. But, I mean, I was one of the people who bought the Nintendo Switch Super Mario... Combo pack? Yeah, and the Mario 64, Mario Sunshine. And the galaxy. And so, yeah, since I got that, like, I will just dip into Mario 64 or Sunshine. Because I think, yeah, Mario 64 was definitely the one I played the most. But I really did love Mario Sunshine.

I loved, like, the water pack. I loved, like, sliding on the water. Yeah, flood. Like, I loved cleaning up, you know, Delphino Plaza. Like, I really enjoy it. I don't know. That, to me, because, like, Mario 64. It was, like, young enough that definitely, like, I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know. Mario Sunshine was one where I just love the aesthetic, the tropical vibes. You're throwing fruit around. Yoshi is, like, barfing up, like, spraying everywhere. Like, yeah, I loved Mario Sunshine growing up. When we revisited on the podcast, and I finally beat it, it was the Mario game, Mainline Mario game I'd never finished, and I finally beat it when we did it on Get Played, is,

I like, it's, it's got a lot of great ideas. But I feel like, and I think Flood is fun conceptually. But, like, it feels like the game just hits it, like, it just takes a step up when you get into those levels that you, where you lose Flood. And it's just like, you just get to be Mario sort of running around. You just get to experience the Mario locomotion and the classic Nintendo platforming, a refined version of what's in 64. So, yeah, I don't know. but it's also like I don't know

how clear your memory is of the end game of that but the end game is so messy and unfinished it feels like they just ran out of time or budget or both well yeah it's one of those things where any time games

introduce new mechanics especially like yeah we know what Mario feels like especially after Mario 64 where like going back into that game you know 20 30 years later like it really I like you just shuddered as you said that

because right It'll be 30 next year. No, it's already been 30 years. What? Mario 64. 96, I think. Almost. So it would be 30 years next year.

And so, like, I even played it a little bit earlier this week because I just wanted to live, again, live in Dyer Dardox again. Are you guys okay? I just wonder he's going to tie news first. I've never made that much eye contact with Nick. Yeah. What are we doing? it's okay everybody it came out when I was six years old if I live in there forever time doesn't pass

I'm just you know but but yeah the Mario 64 I feel like is just so easy to I mean besides the camera being still wonky like going back into that feels more natural than sunshine because yeah like I just there's so many times where I would fall off a cliff or something in Mario Sunshine because I'm just spinning helplessly when flood has like in the rocket boost and like yeah that stuff hasn't held up as much. But I wasn't trying to yuck your yuma.

I mean, I do think the game is really, like, cool, and it's, like, you're right that belly sliding in the water is super fun. Also, just filling up flood is really satisfying. It's like, they've got, like, a really nice sound design to that. It's just like, it's... Throwing foot around. I love it conceptually, and I feel like if that wasn't a Mario game, if that was just, like, whatever, that was just, like, you know, a Joey...

A bobsy. Yeah, it was a bubsy. If it was a bubsy, it'd be the best bubsy. But people would have, like, I think instead of being, comparing it to another mainline Mario's, and what, it's sandwiched by, like, Mario 64 and, like, Mario Galaxy, right? It's like, instead of that, people would just be like, this weird game that came out for the GameCube,

that's so fucking, that's like my favorite, you know, game of that era. Yeah, no, it's, I mean, it is to, yeah, it wasn't that game, it wasn't it rushed to or something? That's what it definitely feels, yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's, the reputation of it and that's definitely what it feels like by the time you get to the

end of it it is it is weird that games then or or again just you know being a fan of the podcast and when you hear just the differences between like a game that was made by one person like in the 70s or the 80s or or something like um i forget her name who like adapted doom by herself for like the jaguar you know right and it's i mean the gaming industry now where you just have hundreds of people. It is just weird that like a game could just like run out of money and be like, all right, we're done. Yeah.

Like, really? Like, wow. It's also very out of character for, for Nintendo in their first party, you know, stuff, which they tend to just take as much time as they, they need to as, as in that apocryphal, a, uh, a, uh, a, a, a delayed game is late, as late once a, a, a, uh, a rush game is bad forever or whatever the fuck. I've totally mangled it, but you can get the idea.

Yeah. Um, it's a, uh, it's a, a, uh, a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a idea. They also, like, complete games and then hold on to them for as long as they need them until they're like hidden. Yeah, they're just like, they're just like, I'm convinced that they're the remasters of Metroid Prime 2 and 3 are just on a shelf for any time. Wait, when does the new Metroid come out? It comes out, quote, this year. Okay, okay. And I sort of don't buy it.

I don't believe it at all for some reason. You know, there's some significant water in Donkey Kong Bonanza. Really? Yeah, there's some water There's some water I mean look, I'm not trying to pressure you or nothing The game's got some water The game's got some water There's some different biomes

It's not all water But yeah, there's definitely some But there's some water There's some chunky bit of water Is there a thing where you could Dig and water would start to like fill in a space You could definitely dig to water Yeah, okay

We're like you might be digging on top of something You know something might be on top of water And if you dig deep enough You get in the water Oh cool You can't dig in the water Oh okay But

That's water, it's not diggable. It's just swimming. You're just the head. You're right. You know, if you're just digging in the water, you're swimming. I'm noticing that your shirt. D.K., stop. You're upsetting me.

Your shirt is Jaws. Did you play Jaws Unleashed at all? No. Did you get to be Jaws? Has anybody played this? No, I've seen people play this where you were literally, it's almost like you're Tony Hawk. You're like jumping over boats and grabbing men

off of them as you're flying into the water. It's not. I didn't play it, but I remember seeing it when I was a kid. But we played a game for this show many years back called Man Eater. Oh, that's what I'm thinking of. Man Eater was less satisfying. Man Eater was not as fun as it promised to be. And also we were, I think if I remember correctly, we were all bummed out that the water

was all, like, dirty. Like, it just kind of see gross. Yeah, yeah. There's, I feel like, it would be like one of those things, like, after I played Subnotica, or I was still playing Subnotica, where I would try. and find similar games so it just be like like in the switch online so like water aquarium ocean like i tried playing i don't know if it's raft or it's the other one where it's like that game you were describing on the ds where you you're on an island and then you build a little raft and you can sail

to another one but the crafting in that is like brutally complicated where you are like collecting like twigs and leaves like the forest yeah like that game too where you where you are like it's so uh like Subnotica is so basic in comparison where you're like, ah, here's some titanium and here's some ruby and some like, you know, here's a couple of fishes or whatever. Whereas like some of these other crafting games

yeah, it's like so granular that it feels like, I don't know, it just is like, I need to collect a hundred leaves and 20 twigs and five rocks to like make a tent or something. I do like when the craft, I mean I also don't love crafting in general, but if they're going to make me

craft, I like when it's easy. where it's just like a couple of things. You just need this, this, and this, and then you're done or whatever. Yeah, if you want, like, a simulation of actual crafting, that should be its own kind of game. Yes. But if you're playing a game where it's like the goal is to get away from your radioactive spaceship, maybe I don't need to, like, craft a bolt before I can craft a, you know, like it, like, it's, I like the level of complexity in subnotica. Is what about the crafting and last of us?

I like the sound of when picking up, like, the pills. Like, that's a very satisfying sound. It's just the sound of the crafting and The Last of Us that's great. Like, when you make a bomb, you can hear it filling with, like, shrapnel. Yeah. And it's like, oh, man, that's so good. The sound design is, I mean, it's naughty dog. It's just they're so good at all that stuff.

But the production price is so high. But I like the thing that always blew my, that blew my mind about, Last of Us part two is just having a bespoke animation for every single weapon upgrade. Yeah. It was just like, like, you know, if you're adding a scope to wherever, it's like, it's specifically, it's not seeming, most games would be someone like, you, you know, the shot would be them tinkering over their shoulder and then you'd have your new weapon. But like, you actually can see that component being mounted onto it and attached.

Yeah. It's like there's so much additional labor for that for an animation that you will see one time. Yeah. Like filing something down. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, all that shit is so, so impressive. As far as water games were concerned, I mean, I did have the Uncharted series, as we're talking

naughty dogs as water games. There's a lot of great water in those. A lot of those are really, really oceanic. Yeah. But we've certainly talked about Dave the dive where we did a whole episode about it. We've talked about Legend of Zelda Wind Waker. What I wanted a shout out that I haven't, I don't think ever talked about on the podcast, and it's one of the few mobile games that got its hooks in me, where's my water, which

is like a physics game for children that it was came out it was it came out in 2011 it was developed by creature feet and published by disney but it's just got really great water physics puzzle design and basically all you're doing is you're guiding um you know a pool of water by virtue of of you know making some uh alterations to the terrain uh you're you're changing how the water flows uh to hit a destination um and to avoid like goop that will poison your water supply and It's very straightforward. They're all just single screen encounters, but it's just like really well developed,

or really well designed and conceptualized, rather. And it predates the pay-to-win mobile design philosophy that's just like as basically ruined pretty much every mobile game that's not Balatro. And so, like, I really enjoyed it from that standpoint. I play the shit of it. Oh, go ahead. Oh, no, I was going to ask, can you play that now?

Yeah, you can still get the, well, shit. Actually, I'm not sure. Because it might be an angry bird situation Because I think they came out with the Where's My Water 2 that was pay to win? I never played it Which is the same thing that happened with angry birds They've now sunset the original

Angry Birds Because they only want you to buy the pay to win version Hopefully it's not a flappy bird situation And it's just gone forever Yeah and the fucking creator Like went into a horrible depression Yeah I would hate that

Is, okay Is Bioshock a water game? Yeah I think it is The first two certainly are The third one, decidedly not. Third one is an air game. Yeah, third one's air and racism. Yeah, yes, yeah.

I want to shout out the only other Assassin's Creed game I've put any serious amount of time into Beyond Shadows or Valhalla, which Valhalla could be a water game. Could be a water game. He spent a lot of time on land, but you do. Raid from the water. You get out there. You get there on the water.

Assassin's Creed black flag, though. you got a fire chip in that goddamn thing and that's good stuff that's just that's fun do you have to row uh you don't have to row or you make other people row for you basically just like you kind of just like drive a big boat

it's like doesn't you're not really it's not as specific as it like could be and as they probably will get as they go forward because I feel like they get more and more specific with things like that but in this one you're sort of like I just got a big boat and I'm just driving around on the water pretty fun pretty good

you talked about Mario Sunshine earlier I do like it when a franchise is like we got a water entry So Metal Gear Solid 2 That's a water game You're a big shell is in the fucking water That's a Metal Gear Solid 2 is a water game It's a sneaky water game

And also Final Fantasy 10 That's a water game Blitzball takes place in the water Is that the cover where the person's like standing In like on the beach or something Yeah they're like in the water They're in the water It's a fucking water game

You kind of present at this point You're sort of like I don't think anyone's going to have my back on this Full agreement 100% You're 100% correct Is is Kingdom Hearts 1 With the Little Mermaid level A water game

Well see I thought about this You start on an island Surrounded by water Yeah yeah yeah You spend a significant part of your time Trapped in a hellish nightmare water level Yeah And in the second game

You do go back to it And it's just like all songs mini games so it's they've made a bad level worse it's not fun in the second one so many things Kingdom Hearts 2 my favorite video game of all time if you gave me all day I can name a million things about it that I don't like

pretty much and one of them is the Little Mermaid level but gosh I guess it could be a water game could be part water I guess it yeah that's the whole thing is like because there's certainly a water level or a water biome is a convention of, I mean, most games.

I do feel like most story-based narrative games have some sort of aquatic section. But I feel like water needs to be more omnipresent like it is in Bioshock for it to be a water game. And obviously you get like your water racers, like your Wave Race 64s or whatever the fuck. Love Wave Race. Because I played it on the Switch Online also recently.

But what was the name? It wasn't there was the, you were on these like big speedboats. Hydro Thunder? Hydro thunder. Hydro thunder was sick. Yeah, that was really fun. I was really good. I was trying to bring it up the other day

because I couldn't remember the name of it because I'm playing Fast Fusion on Switch 2 and Fast Fusion is a Hydro Thunder. Fast Fusion is a Hydro Thunder. Fast Fusion is a Hydro Thunder. You get that boost and you like, because yeah, they used to have him at Dave and Busters. Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, yeah, because there was that other car game. I feel like it was part of the same. Right, yeah, like a Daytona or gosh, what's the other one called? There's like the San Francisco one. Cruising. Not cruising, it's like the other one. But you could like go do, I just remember doing like. San Francisco Rush?

Yes, that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, like the hydro thunder is like that where you like. Hydro thunder. You're just like, where are these levels? Everywhere has a Grand Canyon basically to like race through, you know. Stephen, as a Jaws enthusiast in addition to being a Jurassic Park enthusiast, Did you ever mess around with the N.E.S. Jaws game?

No. Were you aware of it? No. So this was one, God, I can't remember if an... Like, E.T. Yeah, I didn't have, I didn't have this game. I think a friend had it, or maybe I'm just remembering playing it on an emulator later out of curiosity. This game, I don't remember being very, as very good.

But, like... What's the, like, are you on a boat and, like, is it... Stephen, you are the boat? The Jaws game is just like you want the power fantasy oh I get to be Jaws even though Jaws is the bad guy in the Jaws franchise You're just like I just want to swim around as a big ass shark and be able to eat but no it's like you're a boat going around and then there's sections where you find Jaws and then you're you go into the water as an even more vulnerable diver oh wow we play it for how did this get played did we cover Jaws? I can't remember but I feel like I've played Jaws and why would I have played Jaws and why would I have played Jaws? If we did it, do we do it with Matt Goorley? No. No.

I have no idea if we've played Josh. That was James Pond. That was James Pond and Friday of the 13th. James Pond probably too good to have been covered in that format for in all fairness. Was this like a top down of the boat? Yeah, I think it was, I think the way it worked, because there were like sections where you kind of like, you know, behind, like kind of almost like a third person, like pseudo 3D view. But I think you were just kind of going around in like a, yeah, like an isometric sort of top. down boat and then you would find the shark and then you go down it would turn to a side scrolling

and you'd be like a diver going around um just trying to avoid like swordfish or whatever the fuck yeah i did like poking uh in donkey kong country where you what's the what's the name of the swordfish on guard i yeah yes i always like that when you get the little rush move and you go you know you take out this is impale people you're naturally gonna gonna gonna you know i i mean like have more affinity for rambi i'm not sure what the canonical canonical pronunciation is if it's ever been established but on guard being able to put first off great name a guy with a sword fish on guard

that's really clever a little bit of an A to C but then also yeah the poke is very fun that that yeah I mean again aquatic ambience is doing the heavy lifting but you are much more mobile in that like that's the other thing because the thing that happens I think the reason a lot of people

until fairly recent video game history I feel like that a lot of people like oh water What is the worst? Yeah. But a lot of them, because the physics of being underwater was not particularly fun. That's largely a solved problem and usually swimming. You have a good level of mobility.

But yeah, and like, Junky Gun Country is something. You get an on guard part of the fun. It's like getting the frog suit in Mario 3. It's like, oh, I can actually move around down here. Yeah, you're not drowning. I feel like I drowned so much in Sonic growing up. Yes. Yeah.

With the scariest music possible. Yes. Yes. A nightmare. Yeah. Sometimes, sometimes I think that if I, I don't have trouble waking up in the morning

but if I did that would be my alarm clock Oh on your Nintendo alarm You would put that You could deal break it And put that in I was terrifying I was I mentioned I'm an adult piano student

I was in a piano lesson And I just like I just figured out The Sonic Drowning thing Like dun dun dun dun dun dun dun And I said to my piano Like is that Sonic Drowning? She was like yeah

Wow Do you go to a place or you do this like online or something? I do by my previous piano teacher had a studio and then I have a newish teacher because that teacher no longer lives in the area. Not related to me.

That teacher comes to our apartment. Oh, cool. That's cool. Yeah. So you'll have one guest with a specific task. Well, yeah, they get something to do. They go one room they're going in. This is where you go and this is all we're talking about

and all we're doing. See, he's just a puzzle game. You just have to figure out how to get into your place. You have to be able to teach him something. It's very blueprints. Yeah. I don't think we cover Jaws ever.

I think the only thing I see of Jaws NES is when we, as us talking about it on our Man Eater episode. Then I must have played it on my own and why would I have done that? Well, I do think this is a like, I mean like when when emulators were a novelty,

even now I feel like I was just like, oh, what's this game? I'll mess around with this for 10, 15 minutes. You know, I think there's certainly a lot of games. I've spent time in just because of curiosity. Yeah, for Jordan Jesse Go, last year when I joined producing the show, Jesse's daughter, Gracie, had a thing where she just made them play Jordan and Jesse play bad video games.

So it was like Superman 64, Dragons Lair, Shack Fu. So then I would play, like, try the emulator. And it was like, that Dragon. layer first level is truly like of wonder oh yeah like everything you just explode every second a bat uh the bridge like every frame tries to kill you are you talking about the the uh you know laser disc uh don bluth dragons layer or the nes s one it's like a side scrolling dragon's layer it's like completely removed from the source material yeah but i feel like it's one of those games where it's like people just never get past the first level right if you don't make it over

the bridge. Kind of a water game. Matt, well said. Should we do a segment? Let's do a segment. I got a new one for us here. Just a little fun thing I put together called sink or swim.

And so basically what I'm going to do is I'm going to name some video game characters and you're going to tell me if they can safely enter water and swim. Wow. Or if they die when entering the water. Sink for death, swim for swim. We got it?

I love this air name, or do we say... Yeah, buzz in for your name. Okay, great. Okay, here we go. John Marston from Red Dead Redemption. Does he sink or does he swim? Stephen. Think.

He sinks. That is correct. Stephen's on the board with one. Wow. Here we go. What the hell is this? It's thicker. But his animation also, he like grabs his chest.

Oh, no. It goes into like immediate cardiac cardiac. Giacarrest when entering the water. It just immediately inhales. CJ from Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas. Weiger. I believe in previous Grand Theft Auto's, you sank, but this was the one where they added swimming. I'll say swim.

Nick's on the board. Two, one each. Weiger and Stephen But it kind of tricky, right? Because the next game after that, I guess it goes Gotts a 4. Yeah. John can't swim. Rockstar game? What the heck's going on? They undid it?

They undid it. Wow. Well, cowboys wouldn't be able to swim. Cowboys don't swim. They just go in like mud holes to bathe on the range. We don't do that. That's city folk stuff. Man, remember you used to clean yourself by getting in a big wood tub with a brush? fuck was going on. Let's bring

that bag. They did, I'll say everything wrong. It was so stupid. They didn't even have phones. They didn't have phones. Well, I'll build a shed around a hole. I'm going to go take a shit in it. What? What are you talking about? I'm not even going to bury it. What? Every time I get off my horse, I kill it. Yeah. My wife's my first cousin. What are you

talking about? All the worst things in the past. Spiro the Dragon. Heather. Sink That is correct Spiral cannot He can fly

Yeah Man you should see this guy by the way He can fly He's fire based though I think he would sink Yeah he's fire base Yeah he goes out Could be Charmander rules

He could die Oh no Yep Kratos from God of War Ooh It's anybody's game Is there a specific Or like

Which god of war are we talking I'll throw out The franchise oh boy there's because there's boat there is boat and there's boy there is boat and there is boy uh wiger boy I will say

sink Nick I'm sorry he can he can swim there's a couple of levels in the first ones where he can like you have to like traverse water oh that's right you're like walking through water It's like, yeah, fuck, all right. That's okay. That was a tricky one.

How about this? Master Chief from Halo, the Halo series. Master Chief, Heather says, Heather Ding, Ding, ding, ding. Okay. Master Chief sinks, but is fine. Because he's in his, he's in the suit. Well, I mean, that's a, but is fine isn't part of it. Well, no, I mean, like, he's fine.

He doesn't die when he's in the water because he's fine because he's in the suit. I do think you get a game. over for getting in the water though but I'll still you get you get you you get sink he does sink he doesn't he doesn't he does swim he can't swim no but if you're saying that he gets a game over and then just exists peacefully at the bottom of the ocean then I'm retired yeah leave this life behind all right all right Heather has two points now wait that counts yeah you said sink that's fine okay crash bandicoot oh whyger I think I think that some bitch sinks he does sink

That is correct. So it's tied up at two right here. Astrobot. I am astrobot. I am astrobot. Does astrobot sink or swim? I am astrobot. He's a little robot.

Yeah, he is a little. He gets wet. Sink. I'm sorry, Heather. This little motherfucker can swim. When is he's he swimming in the game? There's some water levels I think I don't know if it's like a full water level

But in rescue mission he can swim Oh okay okay How about how about Okay I'm glad he can swim Good job little guy Enjoyed the shit out of that game Cannot remember swimming

He can get wet too Yeah Sly Cooper Who cares Who cares? Who dare you Steven swim He can swim

But he does take damage He does take damage Interesting It's tied up He just He'd go in the beach The way it hits you knocked you over You can swim for like a little bit

But you gotta get out of the water So this We got a tiebreaker right here Wow Is anybody's game Wow Pikachu Oh Pikachu

Pikachu Oh Pikachu Weiger Immediately burnt to a crisp Steven When he's on a surfboard Well here's the thing I have to give it to Stephen

Because he can't swim Because Pikachu in more recent entries Because of the surfing Pikachu animation He can learn surf and you can't use him To traverse water So Stephen is the winner of sink or swim Wow Well played

I've been training my whole life for this That's this week's get played Our producers Rochelle Chen Ranch Yard underscore Sard You're still streaming Silent Hill, too? I am. Do you have any plans to shake it up?

Or you're going to just plug Blaze the Head towards the end game? I want to finish it so bad. How close do you think you are? I think I'm three quarters of the way. Okay, all right. As people have told me. That's great. Check that out over at twitch.tv slash yard underscore underscore sard.

Our music is by Ben Prunty. Ben Pruntymuse.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design, Duck Brigade.com. Get played merch at kinshipgoods.com. And get animated over on Patreon. Matt, what are we watching? We're watching Birdie Wing, baby, and four. Birdie Wing Golf Girl Story over at patreon.com slash get played.

Does Heather like it? No. Subscribe and find out. Stephen Ray Morris, see Jurassic Wright is the podcast. Of course, the great Jordan Jesse Go podcast, which you produced. But I know you wanted to plug some awesome stuff you have coming up on Sea Jurassic, right. Please tell everyone about it. Yeah, I'm very excited.

I did this in 2020. were all, you know, at home. And so I invited a bunch of scientists on paleontologists and a woman who studies diseases and fossils, science communicators. So I'm doing that series again this fall, the back-to-school series, and I'm interviewing like a whole bunch of new scientists, also our pali Ward, who does ologies, which I worked on for many years. I'm talking to disease ecologists, paleontologists, like all kinds of awesome people, just

because, you know, right now in our country. It's a little bit anti-science. And so I just wanted, you know, on Sea Jurassic, right, I not only talk about the movies, but, you know, dinosaurs and paleontology and stuff. So I just wanted to do that again and just hear from all these really cool people, like, doing cool shit. Like, one person, Yara Haridi, literally, you know, in their work as a vertebrate paleontologist, like, found out where teeth came from because there was these these arthropods that, like, lived 450 million years ago that were covered in dentine which would become our teeth and that sensitivity is what allowed them to survive in like the murky you know gross waters of the sea what the fuck and like they they've literally spent like the last four years just like making all

these connections and finally they had a paper published this year so I had a conversation with them it's like like the idea that this little creature is like literally covered in what would be become our teeth Yeah, I don't like knowing that when I bite into a cassidia, I'm using, like, the exoskeleton of a sea slug. It's a little disturbing. That's where they, that's where it came from. Wow. It's like, do you think they'd like to know that, too?

Like, this is what I become. I'm chopping on a damn casidia. I'm mouth. I'm mouth. But, yeah, so that's coming out starting in September, but the original series you can check out. But, yeah, it's just, it's so much, getting to talk to these people who literally spend, like, every waking. our, you know, trying to change the world in a way through their work is really cool and fascinating.

So, yeah. That's awesome. Check it out. See Jurassic right wherever you get podcasts. Do you have a favorite water-based dino? Ooh, well, they're marine reptile. Have to be pedantic about that. Fuck.

Holy shit. I mean, you got to go with the pleesiosaur. It's classic. It's basically like, you know, like a brachiosaur or, you know, a podosaurus, but it's got flippers. Do you know the crazy thing about Nessi? is that Nessie was the Loch Ness monster, got super famous in the 80s. If Nessie was real, it's dead now. Oh, no.

Wow. Because it's been so long. Rest and peace. Nessie, you got played. That was a Hidgum podcast. 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. You know, 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.

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