Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - What Games Are 10/10 To You? - Kinda Funny Gamescast Ep. 8

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

Listen to The Besties free, only on Spotify! Tim, Greg, Blessing, and Fran sit down to discuss what games they think are 10/10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up guys? Welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast. I'm Tim Geddy's joined by one of the coolest dudes in video games. Greg Miller. Side Show Collectibles has sent me an email saying the update on our child from the Mandalorian shipping information and now I got to reset my password. It's a whole ordeal. It's a whole ordeal. We need that little baby Yoda. Such is our code. The best pair in the business, Fran Marabella the 3rd. What's up? Glad to be back. First time back in a while. You left us high and dry. We had you for a, we had you for a, most iconic Nintendo games. Yeah, iconic Nintendo games.

That was a spicy little episode. Super Mario Kart. Yeah. Yeah. We had Sam Claiborne come through. That was a lot of fun. Oh, I didn't get to watch that. He didn't talk too much shit about you.

Yeah, I'm sure he talked. Everybody, that's the way also. That is. That is. Still August to October. Okay. Okay, I'm feeling good about that. And then the new face of video games with the new cut.

Yeah. Fresh cut. Dude. Blessing at A. Oe A. Junior. I've never worked above a barbershop before. and it is an underrated, like, perk to work.

Sure. It is great. Just to be able to pop down there? Yeah, at first, I was like, I'm not going to spend that much money for a barber. But I was like, you know what, man? I'm just going to act like I'm also paying, like, bus fare or whatever. I'm just going to add that in.

Yeah, you got it. I would have done that anyway at home. So, like, you know, considering how good they do. Yeah. They're awesome. It's real good. Yeah. It's damn good.

This is the Kind of Funny Games cast each and every week right here on YouTube. com slash Kind of Funny Games. We get together, talk about video games, all the things we love about them. And this week, it's going to be a lot of love. I can feel it. I feel a lot of love already. You can get the show on YouTube.com slash

Kind of Funny. You can get it on roosterteeth.com. You can get it on podcast services. Just search for Kind of Funny Games cast. You can also get the show ad free with the exclusive post show by going to Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny Games, which also allows you to watch this show live when we record it. Or be a Patreon producer.

Boy, Howdy. There's a ton of you this month. James Davis, David Mantell, Mohamed Mohamed, the nanobiologist, Frankfurter, Talia Floyd, Hesuse Barrio, Eamon Martin, William A. Nance, Billy Leporta, Michael Bradley,

Robin Wilde, Tom Bach, Jordan Luck, Julian, Grudadaria, dope-ass name. Right? Max A. Blair, Cody Banks, Agent Cody Banks himself. Trent Berry, Jacob Plick, the Third, Thomas J. Mehan, Sancho West, Sean I, Evan May,

Stephen Inzler, Elliot Koch, coach, David Norwich, Ben Woth, Adam Bankhurst, Evan Ballard, Keith Lewis, James Hastings, Quaid Burnett, Casey Kern, Luke Pattinson, Travis Ray, and Joseph O. You'll love to see it. You'll love to see it. Greg, we were talking about streaming Fortnite this week. We are. And we were going to do, we were talking about doing like a little nice collab with Sancho West there.

I brought that up to Andy, and then he goes, dude, he's real family friendly. And I was like, oh, man. I can do it not. I can do it not because. I don't believe you. Dude, I've been on all sorts of stuff on that Oakers. WWE programming? Come on. You think WWS smaller potatoes than Sancho?

Motherfucking Wes? See, there we go. There we go, everybody. I love it. You love to see it. Friend, where you been at? Twitch.tv.tv. What you been up to? Naturally. You know, I beat Seciro New Game Plus, and thank you everybody. A lot of best friends stopped by. They wanted to see that. So, again, what happened, right, I picked a path where it ends a bit early.

It's the dark path. That was my first play-through. So I didn't get to see a bunch of stuff. And I said, I got to do it. Boy, it was that tough. But we did it. Hell yeah. Are you ready to throw all that garbage away and get ready for the division two? Warlords of New York.

We're back, baby. NYC. And I do want to shout out also. Thank you to everybody who's been using that creator code in the epic store, Fran Mirabella. Seriously, it's still been happening. It must be the best friends, man. Thank you guys for the sport. Thank you.

That's good shit. You see that everyone else here is playing Bloodborn? Wait, I saw Andy was. What's everybody else? Oh, I'm also playing Bloodborn. Yeah, really. Yeah, man. Just beat the Blood Star of Beast a few weeks ago.

Is this your first Souls game? Yeah. So I haven't played these other ones yet, so I'm very excited. What's your next step? Are you done with Sekaro? Yeah, yeah. I can't keep playing that right now. It would, yeah.

Are you going to immediately move on to another? So I really want to play Bloodborn. I'm almost certainly going to do that, but I'm like, dang, I know that at some point they're going to announce it's coming, you know, 60 frames, PS5, whatever. You want 240 frames for all I know. You'll have to pay for the PS5. We're about that, Neal 2. So there's a chance of Dark Souls 3, and then, yeah, I know Neo 2 people are excited about, but I'll probably go into a soon. Isn't that like next week?

But let's face it. But Greg Ardy, you know, hit the nail on the head. He doesn't have to worry about next week, because next week's staying care of. Division 2, Warlords in New York. We're back, maybe 10 more levels. You know, the other big news is Trials of Osiris is back in Destiny 2. If you don't know, it is a crazy mode that I used to play insane hours. So there's going to be a lot of that happening in mid-March.

Exciting stuff. Yeah. How is Bloodborne going for you? Oh man, so I've been out the game for like maybe like a week and a half, maybe like two weeks because I got to an area that just was super difficult. And I just had to talk with Andy actually yesterday and he was telling me about how he got to that area. And he was like, hey, you don't have to fight people. Just like run past and you'll be able to like get out of that area. And I was like, wait, really?

And yeah, sure enough, like I started playing. And I was like, oh, yeah. Or I didn't start playing it. I looked at gameplay of it. And I was like, oh, yeah. Like literally I can just like walk past two steps over here and I can get out of the area. And so I plan to go back soon. So far I'm really enjoying it.

Like Bloodborn is it's one of those games where, you know, it's, it's hard. And everybody talks about how difficult these games are. But, I mean, I think like if you, I think anybody can really get into it if they tried. That's what I'm kind of gathering from it. It's also, it's also scary, which is the thing that's getting me. Like, I'm more so being pushed away by the terror of it and the anxiety of playing it rather than the actual difficulty. The difficulty, I'm like, whatever. It's the horror element's where I'm like, oh, shoot.

Oh, really? The horror elements. It's not just the anxiety how tough it is. No, yeah. It's just that it's creepy. Yeah, I can deal with hard boss fights. Like, I feel like for me, I play a lot of fighting games, and so I'm used to, I'm used to losing. Yeah. And having that quality, I'm like, oh yeah, I'll die to a boss all day. From software does weird stuff. I've been wanting to play this game forever. I have, I guess you guys haven't played it, right? So it's actually too bad. I bet you it would have been on somebody's, you know, top 10 out of 10, you know, list.

I've started it, but... A couple times. I know people, it's like adored. It's like a what? Sorry, it's adored by people. Adored, yes. It is on many people's like top 20. Everybody's always like, you got to power through it.

You got to play through the point. I'm good. If I don't like it right away, I'm going to play. You already, Greg, say, I'm not powering through anything. I want to have fun. Today, we are talking about what games are 10 out of tens to us. Big topic. You know what I mean?

A hard thing to think about. I want to start this off by saying, what is a 10 out of 10 to you? I was going to ask this question because that's the thing. Of course, some of the things on here are games I reviewed for I shanda. It did not get 10 out of 10 out of 10. So like, you know what I mean, even with that scenario, maybe I should have gone to give a Peace Walker at 10. Nobody knows. I do know.

I should have. I was a coward. Well, let me ask you. So what to you is a 10 out of 10? And how does that differ from what an 10 out of 10 means when you are reviewing for them? Well, I do regret my Peace Walker score. I should have been 10 out of 10. I did 9 5 and that was a cowardly move and I apologize to everyone.

Stand by on chart of three. Um, I mean, I think at IGN you're trying to be more, Frank and back me up on this. You're trying to be more objective, critical. You know what I mean? Like, you're not letting fandoms get in the way or how much you like one aspect. Like, can it be that you love the single player aspect so much, but the multiplayer was totally garbage and a cache in?

Like, IGN, I think that affects the overall score. Whereas here, I think you could be like, it's a ton of time. Yeah, I think there's a lot. I think the big difference how I would put it is when you're working in a place like IGN. Well, number one, it was a hundred point scale, which just sort of changes the way that you would... There's going to be very few tense, in my opinion.

If, like, there's a hundred points you can give. Like, why wasn't it just a 99? It did have this little issue, right? Speaking of, what's a 99 to you, friend? People, yeah, people give you a lot of crap for double dash, obviously, being a 7.9. Totally outrageous. But little did they know, the first, the first that was... Wait, was you, the just shy of maybe a perfect score was Majors Mask.

Oh, okay. You're thinking of a J.N. Empire, aren't you? No, I'm thinking of Grants of Otto San Andreas. Oh, no, that wasn't me. Is that Chris Roper or something? Somebody gave that a 9.9. I want to see them. Oh.

So, yeah, you gave Majores Mask. 9.1. Yeah, I mean, they came out, you know, a couple years after Ocarina of Time, and rightly so, I was like, this game's really incredible. I think some people are going to take it. Some people won't, but it's really amazing. And for various reasons, I was like, not a 10. So do you think a 10 out of 10 needs to be enjoyed, be able to be enjoyed by anyone? So, you know, the way I was going to sum this up was like IGN, you think a lot about people's like pocketbooks and like, man, they got to spend money,

and also it was 100 point scale. So different world, I feel like on this show, and hopefully that's what it is. It's like this is our personal. Absolutely. For me, there's this sentimental, personal element of now I'm looking back and I can say, oh, that game's a 10. I can look back on something that I never reviewed and say, oh, that game's a 10. So it's a little less review and more like a personal list of like these perfect games in your mind.

Is Majores Mask a 10 to you now? No, it didn't make my list. It's an incredible game. But I have a huge list, by the way. But that's what happened to me. I'm like, oh, and I can look back. And I'm like, I have this huge list of games that. I now think about as these tens that I actually wouldn't have given a 10 when I reviewed them,

if that makes sense. Yeah. There's sort of this longevity to them as well. Bless. So this was a fun thing for me to think about this week, as we're kind of raving up towards this games cast, because I have an ever-growing and evolving document of games that I have that I just refer to as my favorite games, right? It's a document that's literally called my favorite games in all time. And whenever I play a game where I'm like, this is worthy of that list, I added on.

And it's just like a list of 50 games. I'm like, these are my favorite games. This is like my favorite 50 games. That said, there are games in my top 10 that I wouldn't, yeah, there are games my top 10 that I wouldn't say are 10 out of 10. And there are games that are lower in my list that I would say are 10 out of 10. And I think the reason, I think the differentiator for me is there's a certain, like Greg said there's like a certain objectivity to it.

And I think, you know, that's a word you can use, but I feel like there's also like a certain level of this is an achievement or this is something that individually does something that's amazing. And so I actually wrote down a few definitions. Go for it. Wow. Before you get into the definitions,

you're talking about how there's some games that are on your list, they're not in your top 10, but you'd say that they're 10 out of 10? Do you think that there are games that are on your 10 out of 10 list that aren't on your favorite games list? All these games are in my top 50. But like, spoilers, I have inside on my list. Inside isn't a game that's like in my top 20.

Right, but inside his game that I would say is easily a 10 out of 10 because it is just a supremely polished, amazingly made game, right, that accomplishes every single thing that it does. That makes sense. DK64 is in my top 15, right? Jet 4th, Shev and I is in my top 20. Those games aren't 10 out of tens, right? But, like, I think those games, one, not I have that connection with those games, right? That makes it. No, no, no.

Don't get ahead of yourself and put DK64 in the non-10 out of 10 list, bless. It's like a 9.8. 9.8, y'all motherfuckers. It's a similar thing where I went through Game of the Year lists, right? Making sure I was, am I forgetting something, am I going? And I was surprised to see games I put on this 10. 10 list weren't my games of the year.

Like, they weren't getting my number one nod for the best game that year was. Interesting. Yeah. And so, like, I have three definitions of what makes, for me, a masterpiece or 10 out of 10, right? Number one, games that display

an exceptional amount of excellence and polish across multiple fields, i.e. story, gameplay design, level design, music, technical performance, etc., right? So something like that, for me, is God of War or Laswis, right? These are games that across all fields achieve what they're trying to do and, you know, have an exceptional level of polish, an exceptional level of like, oh, yeah, the story is amazing, the gameplay is amazing, the camera work is amazing. Like, every single, like, all these different facets of these games are polished in just pristine, right? That makes a 10 out of 10 game to me. The second definition I have, is games that exceptionally innovate on a mechanic system or feature in a way that will go on to influence a large number of games to come after, i.e. Mario 64 or Breath of Wild, right? Where Mario 64 is an easier one to use as an example because, like, that's a game where we can see how that game influenced other games, right? Like, Mario 64 might not be like a perfect game. Mario Odyssey, for example, like, it's just Mario 64, but, you know, it's more modern, more polished, more mechanics,

more all these things, right? But I think Mario 64 is more of a 10 out of 10 games. You because it went on to then influence how 3D games will work and 3D games will exist, right? Like that game figured out the camera, that game figured out analog movement, that game figured out 3D level design for platformers, figured out all these different things. And so that game's a 10 out of 10 for me

because of how well it innovates and defines what's going to, what games are going to be moving forward. And then my third definition is games that are uniquely special as a work of art. This can be due to a touching story that transcends what other games have aspired, gameplay design that is uniquely fresh

in captivating and engaging beyond engaging beyond anything else within its genre or other qualities or a combination of qualities that set the game apart. So I'm thinking of games like Undertale, Neurotamada, Hellblade, which, right, like, it's gonna differ from person to person, like what makes that game a 10 out of 10. But for me, like, you know, Undertale is a game

that I think touches a lot of people because of how well-written that story is and how unique that game is. And the unique facets of that game for a lot of people make that game a 10 out of 10 in a way that it's kind of hard to limit to, this game is amazingly polished, or this game is innovative, right?

Like, that game is going to touch people differently. But for the people that I really touch it, it's going to, like, be up there, if that makes sense. So, like, for all the games that I have on my list, I kind of attribute them to, like, one of those qualities. Yeah. And I think, yeah, like, you touch on it there at the end, right, of, like, what's a 10 out of 10 to you is what you define this podcast as?

And so I think there are games that touch you, right? Like, I think that there's games that I would look at and talk about, obviously, on a different scale level, systems that this is a 10 out of 10. Something at IG and I would give it a 10, right? But on my 10 out of 10 list, I don't think I'm going to put that there. You're speaking to something that's incredibly personal

and it tells you, and for somehow resonates with you in a way that I don't think would shine through necessarily in review. Yeah. Yeah, for me, it's difficult. Like, I try to just make my list of not limiting it all and just like any game that I thought of that I'm like, is that a 10? Let's just put it on the list. My list is very long.

And I'm kind of like, Fran, where I'm surprised at how many games I put here. But then it's an interesting thing. thing where I start looking at the list and I'm like well compared to each other are these all equal are all these all tens and that's where it gets complicated for me especially because like what you're talking about Greg with it like needing to connect with you and the objectivity of it like it's funny for me there's multiple franchises that come up a couple times like Mario being an example and when I really look at my what Mario games do I consider a 10 and why that to me starts to

define what is a 10 out of 10 to me because it they aren't necessarily my favorite ones and it's not necessarily the one that took it the furthest, like in innovation, but it's the ones that like do all these other things. And it's going to be, yeah, like, there's, yeah, for me, there's a 10 out of 10 on my list that is like easily for me, I think, is a better game than all the rest of the 10 out of 10s. And it's like a hard thing to kind of pull together because I'm like, okay, does that make it, does that mean that this game's a 10 out of 10 and all these other games really aren't 10 out of 10s or is it just like, well, really it's an 11 situation. Yeah, it's funny. Go for it. Oh, I was just because say, and then sort of like a weird

bizarre oh Fran world. I'm like, more on the same page with you. I'm like, it's just freestyle solin as I'm looking through like this list of like all these iconic games in the past and like maybe more specifically too. Like I was more like the 10 point scale on this one. It was like

I get to allow to look back and I'm allowed to you know and as someone who used to review and so I'm like I can now just say yeah that's 10 and I'd have to worry about it with the pressure. So it's weird. That's where I'm coming from. It feels like maybe that's where you were coming from. Yeah, kind of.

It's to a point, but I also feel then once I'm looking at the list, I become a lot more critical. Like an example of that for me is Smash Brothers, undeniably my favorite franchise of all time. And I think that it's undeniable that Ultimate is the best. Like when you look at it, especially now in terms of playability in terms of the balance, in terms of the roster, it's still growing all this stuff. But there were issues with it. When I compare it to other Smash games, it's like the single player was lacking. The spirits were not as engaging as trophies. Like there were so many things I kind of ding it for that they should have got right.

That I look back and I'm like, melee is a 10. Like smash melee is a 10 and it is one of my least favorite smash games. Yeah. But it's a 10. Yeah. It's funny. And it's a 10, but it's a 10 to me. Yeah.

Like that's the thing. That exact example I have on my list and it's like Super Smash Brothers Melee, Super Smash Brother melee. I didn't even hesitate that I'm like, that's 10. And then I like, I was like, oh wait. And in parenthesis I was like, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Question. mark and like that's exactly what happened to me but you know my pick was melee just for a variety of reasons i think it gets hard because i feel like with smash brothers i at a certain point and i know

like these are all these are numbers right but are we being too mathematic with it whereas like is is mainly it being a 10 out of 10 you know because it doesn't have because it didn't have like a world of light there to kind of bring it down even though i had adventure mode and that adventure mode was dope when you look back on it compared to you know things that happen after it's not as dope but at the time and I feel like as a full package of melee of like what that game had you do and the the way that it like kind of like led you to get the trophies and stuff like via playing those modes over and over and over all those elements remained a 10 out of 10 for me throughout the entire experience you know yeah yeah I'm definitely not you know full disclosure I'm not gonna

compare my list with each other that's me personally I'm like I then then in my whole list would be screwed up like saying well which one of these is truly a 10 but my thing so I don't know if you guys are coming from there, but I'm not. Each one of us come from a different place, but for me, I definitely am comparing them, but that doesn't mean that they both can't be tens. I think that when I'm looking at smash, it's not just that, oh, melee is a 10 over ultimate.

It's that when I look at them, I'm like, melee is a 10 and the others aren't. Yeah, and maybe more specifically there, it's like, well, you get into, like, wait, if you put smash on your list, are you, and am I then saying that melee is the absolute best of them, because it's the only one on my list, that's a 10. And again, personally, I'm like, I didn't really go to that depth here. This is more about my tens Yeah Let's start doing the last year

Before we do we do have breaking news I'd like to go back to October 25th 2004 At 3.30 p.m. IGN posted their review of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas With the subhead

The Best PlayStation 2 game ever And it was written by the one and only Jeremy Dunham Of course the man who gave me My start in the industry Co-founder of a podcast Beyond alongside of me A million other things now over at Syonox, a big way to there.

Never playing Rocket League ever again. I did what I do at best, Tim, and hit up Jeremy Dunham on text message. And I said, are you available for a phone call? We have an emergency. And he said, I am not. I am a very important person now at a video game company. I'm in a meeting. And I'm like, I got you.

Stop listening to your meeting. Blessing wants to throw hands. And he's like, what about? I'm like, San Andreas. He can't believe you gave it a 9.9. right to which Jeremy responds you can tell my stand by that rating what now hold on here it's going to take a turn it's going to take a very interesting turn he started getting into it was almost 20 years ago the scope of it the feel the ambition was unmatched plus I was a teen and I'm like

no no no no he's not saying you overrated it he's saying it deserves to be a 10 perfect here's where it gets very spicy as we start oh oh I couldn't give it a 10 because our definition for ratings was different back then it has changed multiple times since then and since I have OCD I was a stickler for definitions. And I was like, oh man, do you even remember? He's like, no, it was 16 years ago. I don't know off the top of my head remember what one thing. But I think that was still when it's masterpiece now.

It used to be masterful when I started in 2007. Yeah, I forgot. So I don't even know what it was what a 10, 10, if it would have been masterful, if it would have been something different. I think it was masterful, but it was like similar to the definitions you're talking about. I think it was like it was perfect. And frankly, it's like we know that whatever, the camera had problems in San Andreas. And it's like you had some glitches.

Sure. And it had actual... There you go. There you can't use the deep... But that was it. I hated that. Yeah. It had enough, like, things going on, you know, that it just wasn't perfect technically, maybe. Before we actually get into the list, because this is fun here, these words that IGN would describe, and I feel like IGN will use as kind of a standard, obviously, because we were all there,

but also just they have a good review scale. Yeah. The words, masterful, masterpiece. They're obviously evolving and changing based on, you know, how this whole process works. But a perfect 10, like the word perfect. right? I feel like a lot of critics can kind of like and be like, well, nothing's perfect. That's why it wasn't, the word wasn't perfect. In fact, I think we had a meeting about that where it's like, well, we can't call it perfect.

I'm throwing out there. I just want you guys to be thinking about this as we start doing the, our list ourselves. Are any of these games? Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great thing.

And before then, I'd like to read you an email that I got that I have now been put into a very special club. But I think it's going to speak to you, Tim Getty's as a game player, and me, Greg Miller, as a fat guy. Hi Greg I'm reaching out to you on behalf of my client Butterfinger And we wanted to see if you would be open Receiving a special gaming related mailer from us You exemplify what it means to game better with Butterfinger We're proud to share that we have partnered with Square Inix

in promotion of Final Fantasy 7 remake The mailer we're sending you exemplifies our shared love of gaming Fuck yeah And starting March 3rd with the purchase of any two Butterfingers Baby Ruth or Crunch bars Final Fantasy 7 remake players can register online to receive a dynamic theme for their PlayStation 4,

featuring fan favorite character Tifa Lockhart. Participative players can also earn and redeem codes to download items that enhance characters in the game when it releases on April 10th, up to five different pieces of in-game armor and accessories that boost stats and abilities that will be available

with more powerful items awarded after every code redemption in-game content offer supplies last. I love the world. When you think follow fancy, you think Butterfingers. I do. Look at that.

Unlock your DLC. Look at Cloud with a Crunch. Oh my God. I mean, that is very... Fahmsy 15 with the Robin. That is like a very Final Fantasy thing, right? Didn't Final Fantasy 7 have a partnership with, like, Pizza Hut? Probably.

They probably. Pizza Hut disc. Yeah, I think that's what I was thinking of. Yeah, the demo. So that's kind of up there out. Nestle Crunch part of this too, though? Oh, yeah. That's all part of this.

It's Nestle, yeah, because it's Ferreiro USA Incorporate, part of the global confectionery company Ferreiro Group. today announced a partnership with Square Enix to bring Final Fantasy 7 remake players dynamo quote quote Square Enix is the perfect partner to help us get gamers excited about our delicious products said Sylvia Borla

vice president of marketing at Farrow Chocolate Brands This partnership is an important next step in connecting Farrow to the world of gaming And it worked here we are And I love Nestle Crunch Yeah Greg Miller That's my opinion of those What's a 10 out of 10 game?

Now I think I know you're going to call this 10 out of 10 What's it mean to you? kind of funny games cast and blah blah blah blah you also could have called this hashtag hard truth part two all right because there's going to be some hard truths in here pills people got to swallow all right and i understand how people feel about games certain games the biases that are carried with them the popular opinion of certain things your first hard truth is simple what is a 10 out of 10 to 10 to your egg miller it is a game that i would say and i don't say this lightly and i will defend it

as we argue today is a perfect game. Whoa. Is a revolutionary game. Has changed video games in our lifetime in the past few years and will continue to be reverberated throughout time. Fortnite. Oh. Fortnite is a 10 out of 10.

Battle Royale, of course. I'm not talking about Save the World. Andrew Renee, get the fuck out of here. We're talking about Battle Royale, right? And just this past week with season two for Chapter 2 starting, I was like, oh, yeah, I'll jump back in. I didn't play any of Chapter 2. so far. And I haven't played since December

2018, right? Oh wow. Yeah, because I got addicted to it during that time. It was kind of like my DC universe and stuff where I'm like in and out, in and out. Ab the flow. And jumping back in this past week in a time where I'm super excited for Animal Crossing and I'm super excited for Division 2 and I'm super excited for

all these things that are close but not here. And so it's that the games I have I jump into for a while. I'm like that's not what I'm feeling, right? Fortnite is perfect in the way that Fortnite is designed to either eat up all of your time or as one match, as much time as you want to give it. You know, playing this thing, I cannot not be amazed by it. The technical achievement this game is playing on my PlayStation 4. Then, you know, we woke up the next day to start washing Love is blind.

And I was like, you know what, I'll try it on the iPad. Sunk my dual shock four to it. Played it on the iPad. The next day we were still doing it, I was like, I'm going to use that thing and put on my phone. Did it on the phone. Played it. All my progress is carried over. I never been the frame-countin fran over here.

You know what I mean? Doing all these different things. I'm on great Wi-Fi. I'm on the newest iPhone and the newest iPad. It is running flawlessly. It is running to the point that if I didn't know better, you know, I somehow... You're on a newer iPad or whatever? Brand-new iPad, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's more powerful than Switch by a long shot. Exactly. I mean, like, they're so good. And the carryover of my progress and the one-sinked account and the one-sinked friends list and the ability to drop in, drop out, do all these different things. Every story you've heard about it being a community gathering place for kids or whatever, where that's what they're doing now rather than to go to the malt shop or the mall, right? There's jumping into Fortnite and fucking around and I'm worrying about winning.

Like, I see that. Like I was playing this weekend and our friend Rishi, his kids popped on and they play Fortnite all the time. They saw me, invited me. I joined their group. We did one real squads match. And then they're like, you want to just go to creative? I'm like, I'll do whatever. And we just went to creative and ran around and screwed around shot shit.

And one of their friends joined. And it was like, wow, this is happening. All that aside, like the personal, again, you know, it is my personal, why I think it's a 10 out of 10. I think the gameplay is just so good. And I know that Fortnite loves to get shit on. And they don't, I guess. People love to shit on Fortnite. And it's, you know, become so popular and so huge that you just take it for granted that it is that popular and it is that huge.

And it is an easy punchline. And when I tweet out an image of it, I get shit for playing it or whatever. And it's like such a gamer throwing their nose up at something that's doing something insane. And then on top of everything, I just said, reinventing itself nearly every week, definitely every cycle. You know what I mean? In terms of what their battle pass is going to be doing all these different things. The fact that it's fucking free. Like, I think we get so caught up in it.

It was two years ago or whatever. I was back in Chicago for Christmas. And Jen was running around doing something in a Walmart. And me and my dad were there. I don't forget. She needed something very specific. I forget. So she's off.

And me and my dad are just wandering video game aisle. And he's like, so what is the biggest game? And I started doing the thing of like, oh, well, you know, Call of Duty selling really well. And I was like, wait, you see this? And I play out of Fortnite. I'm like, that game is free.

I mean, I pulled my dad's brand new phone. I'm like, you could play it on here right now, and download it right now. It'd be end of the game and going. And it was like explaining to him this thing that's juggernaut, this. And I know so far my wise of a 10 out of 10 is that it's popular and is that it's like,

don't know these things, but that is part of its core, right? And the fact that it's changed how we all see games. It made the battle pass, the battle pass. It took, I remember, when me and Andrea started Kind of Funny Games Daily talking about PubG

every fucking day. Oh man, new concurrent record on Steam. Oh my God. This thing's insane. This is changing everything. And then when Fortnite totally ape them

and came out and just ran away with it, it changed streaming, it changed this. But again, throw all that out of the gate. Playing it is fun. Playing it is great. The systems they've installed

in this, me, Greg Miller, trophy horn number one, who talks about playing games and feeling like, oh man, I'm wasting my time because I'm never going to platinum this and I'm never going to get it.

right no trophies in battle reall i'm still motivated to go in there i still want to see my level increase i still want to unlock the next thing in the battle pass they're so great at you know here are your daily challenges here are your challenges for just in general all the stuff that's free that'll give you the bonus xp that'll get the stuff for free never put a dollar into this fucking game and they do it so well that you have people like me that are when a costume i do want to have pops up i'm like oh here's take the money like you've earned this money i've gotten the fun out of this already and like even during this like you're doing this like you're year off pretty much, right?

It was like, oh, Batman skins? I'll buy it. I have no intention of playing Fortnite anytime soon, but I'm going to get back to it. Because again, you're going to, even if I don't love buy planes or whatever, you're going to reinvent this thing and put something into it I really do like. And it's amazing the different ecosystems that exist. You know, playing on the phone this weekend right has been so great for me of jumping back in and PlayStation 4 was just getting the shit kicked out of me, as you'd expect.

And I was never great on PS4. I was always better on Switch. again, we got into Switch because it was a new audience you were able to grow with it. Being on mobile and playing it on iPad and iPhone right,

it's giving me that chance to catch my breath and remember like when I get shot at to build and stuff and so when I switched back to PlayStation 4 last night because I'd been winning a bunch on mobile

and it was that thing of like how much of it is bots, how much of it is I'm playing with a controller and whoever's playing with our iPad is not. And I'm sure there's a good amount of that right.

But it did change the way I play and teach me how to play better that when I went to PlayStation 4 last night I was fucking cleaning up. And then, you know, my last match before better, whatever, I still ended up at number two, but it was close. And it was me building, and it was me making up, you know, my little tower to get to and understand trajectories on it.

And, you know, Scott Lowe hit me up, and we joined and ran and did squads for a little bit. And it's just like, that game is so good at what it does mechanically. You know, shooting feels good. I think it does, you know, I think when we talk about game design, which isn't as often as you'd expect, I think. But I remember a long time ago talking to somebody about it, They were talking about Mario, right?

And like, probably Jerry Petty, actually. Now that I started to say this, it's Jared Petty. But of what poetry the opening screens of Super Mario Brothers are, right? Because you start going and the, you know, the goomba comes at you and you touch the goomba and you learn, oh, that kills me. You know, you jump on the goomba, okay, I can kill him. You hit the blocks for the first time. Oh, I can smell.

Oh, this one has, question marks. You know what I mean? Like you start doing it. Fortnite does the same thing of like if you're paying attention to the cues it's giving you, right? of you're running and your crosshairs are super wide, but then you stop and they get closer, and then you crouch and they go right on top of each other.

And it's teaching you these little things that I think, even obviously other games have done that. I'm not, you know, accuracy wasn't invented by Fortnite. But the poetry in which this game tells you how to play it and what it does to it of even when we first started, right, and we're screwing around and you'd be smashing into a wall and those bullseye pops up. You're like, why?

Oh, you hit it and it goes faster, right? You do these things that it goes faster. You're making less noise if you do this, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like all that said, it's still just fun to run and shoot things. It is still fun to team up with your friends and run around and try to win. It is still fun for me to camp and hide. And I do it way less and in a different way than when we first started playing. I use it more as a tactic and I know I need to build and all these different stuff.

But like, Fortnite last night, I lose shirt number two. But I put down the controller and I was like, I haven't been this energized since I came home. It was a long day of shooting yesterday, right? And we did a bunch of stuff. And so I got home and I was exhausted. but like I felt my heart in my chest and it's a game that I get no trophies for it's a game that you know

when this season's over the progress will get wiped but like it is that good as core gameplay that your heart is still pounding at the end when you get there yeah I was gonna say I agree with a lot of what you said and it's easy to take for granted I think he nailed the that's exactly what we were going through in the beginning was like man newer games

are so different versus looking back but anyway revolutionary yes perfect no I wouldn't go. That's a word that, yeah, I'm a little more scared to use maybe. Sure. I appreciate you for going that far. Thank you, no problem.

But I'm like, Fortnite being perfect. I don't know. What to you makes it imperfect? Well, I think we get into a bigger discussion about what would make a game perfect. And I probably, I do have one. You know, it's the invention of what it is. And it's simpler, so it's easier to say that it's perfect.

Okay, but no, for Fortnite, what do you think makes it imperfect? Because what I'm saying very specifically is, Fortnite is perfect at being Fortnite. I'm not saying it's the best third-person shooter, right? I'm not saying I'm not going on that. I'm saying it's perfect. What Fortnite is trying to accomplish it is perfect at.

Ah, so it's got an asterisk. Yeah, yes, okay. As a Battle Royale that's free for everybody across all platforms, and you tack all that on, I'm a little more open to that for sure. It definitely is incredible. The live events, which you didn't even mention. That, you know, I always have brought up, I think, on Gamescast all last year. I'm like, that is just like, nobody's still,

able to do what they're doing there. It is insane. You know, they have one of those big events where, right, the last big, big one for Chapter 2, you know, where you, like, hopped in and the world freaking imploded. And the one before that, or a few before that, maybe, where you, like, all hopped in, you live voted

as millions of players, like, on a weapon that was going to be in the game. It's the type of stuff that you, like, say, that would be cool if, and they've, despite it even breaking for a moment, like, incredible. So, I see where you're coming from, especially within that capsule there, but. Frank. What's a game that's 10 out of 10 to you?

Let's just get the simple one out of the way that I mentioned that I do think it's perfect, and it's just unbelievable. It's Tetris. Like, Tetris is a perfect video game. I, like, it was on watches, and it now is on everything, and now they're iterating,

and new things, of course, like Tetard 99. The GM's number one, best game of all time, on the top 100 list? And it'll be on other people's list. I'm sure the puzzle games, you know, that are, like, inspired by this. Of course. So, I think it's an easy one that it's absolutely a 10,

and I couldn't pick the version but just Tetris period is incredible. And it's not a 10, but I always want to give a shout out to Pokemon Puzzle League, which is built on Tetris attack. I always want to just shout that out. Love it. It's not a 10? Pokemon Puzzle League, I wouldn't give a 10, no.

I actually did review it, by the way, and gave it, I think, a 9. A 9. But back then, especially, like, this was in the midst of, like, Majora's Mask and, you know, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and all these games that people are loving. and I'm a new review reviewer on the scene at IGN, and I was like, Pokemon Puzzle League is a nine, and I got a lot of like, what?

What's this like crap about this puzzle game? That's a Pokemon, oh, man, it's so good. Bless. So in the spirit of going new and unexpected, and that's being backing off of Greg with Fortnite, not a fan with the podcast game. I've never heard of Pokemon Puzzle. I'm going to say Astrobat rescue mission is a 10 out of 10.

It is in the top tier of platformers I've ever played, right? I feel like I can only, I can only compare it to other platformers that are tens when I think about it. In PSLU XOXO when I was talking about it, I invoked Mario Galaxy, which I also put up there in the top tier. But Astrobat Rescue Mission, I feel like

if we're talking about polish and excellence in design, every single level in that game felt new and felt fresh and was introducing a new idea in a way where I was like, oh, this is cool. Like, this is fun. This is a great idea and this is clever, right? Not to mention that, like, in terms of, this is the thing I forgot to mention on PS-L-V-X-O-X-O-X-O-L that,

like, in terms of the ways in which they kind of go beyond our expectations with 3D platformers, like 3D platformers tend to do a lot of the same things in terms of, hey, we're gonna put you in the theme level, you're gonna either collect a thing or you're gonna get to the end of the level. Even with just the idea of theming, there's a level in Astrobat Rescue Mission

where it is like a, I think it's like a neon theme park, which is a thing that I didn't really think about before, until I started playing this game, and I was like, wow, what a clever theme that really enhances every single portion of what's going on right now, right? It's like all the lives that are going in virtual reality that makes, like,

not hides my sentence, but, makes everything feel livelier, along with the theme park theme that then allows for cool puzzles and cool design decisions on top of that, right? Like, polish-wise and puzzle design-wise and game design-wise and level design-wise, that game kind of, that game hits all those things immaculately.

like it exceeds in all those things immaculately. But then also, I think what it does for virtual reality and actually creating an experience that feels unique and that justifies the idea of being in virtual reality, I think it does that super well. Like Astrobat Rescue Mission is a game that can only exist in virtual reality in the ways that it makes you look around and it makes you really be involved with the experience

and kind of have to be beat in the level with Astrobat in order to solve his puzzles. in order to actually play this game. I would not want to play Astroby Risk Commission or any sort of Astrobot game that doesn't take place in virtual reality. That's how good that game is at really justifying that experience.

Wait, are you, I've never seen or played. I was just looking at the footage. Are you telling me that you are a character as well as you? Yes. So it's a 3D platform where you're controlling Astrobat, who's like a small robot, and you're going through level by levels, this crash bandico style

in the way that these levels are linear. And you are playing as like a big old, a big robot that, I forget if the robot actually controls Astrobot. I guess he doesn't, but you're controlling Astrobot. No, Astrobot lives in the controller, right, yeah. Yeah, and so, like, you're basically just following Astrobot and assisting him on his adventure to, like, find all his friends who are, like, scattered in the levels and then get to the enemy's level. His spaceship gets fucked up at the beginning, yeah, and all the other Astrobots get spread out. So they're stranded, and you have to help Astrobot go get them and get pieces of the ship. Yeah, it's a PSVR exclusive.

So for clarity, are you saying it's a 10 next to, you know, Mario 64 and Platform? period or because of what it does in VR? If you were to tear out the VR out somehow. I think it's a 10 for like, it's an incredible platformer. It's an incredible platformer, but it's an incredible platform because it's in VR also. It's not a... But if you were to remove the VR and I know that maybe you can be possible. Yeah, it's not, well, let me phrase like this.

Would it just be a good platformer outright with a puzzle design, you know, the, the amount of content, etc. It's not an incredible platformer because it's in VR, like, not just for VR, it's an incredible platformer, period. Like, I'll put it in that top tier, period. I love platforms. I think it justifies VR. Do you have VR? PSphere? Yeah.

My brother's got it, so I borrow it. Yeah. I would put it up there, period, like with the greatest platformers. And like, yeah, I'll just say it's a 10 out of 10 game. Like in terms of polish design, all that stuff. What I always talk to you, and I know it sounds goofy, but like, Astrobot, every one of those levels. I would say worlds, but then even boil it down to levels, right? It sounds like I'm making a joke, right?

but they're artisanal. Like, it's, everything is done with purpose. Like, I feel like when you play, any platformer, you have a variety of different moves, mechanics,

things, right? And so you have that, like, how am I going to do this? You try a bunch of things. You don't understand. Astrobat early on in everyone levels

gives you a tool for that level. And so you know you're using it there. So suddenly it becomes more about, like, okay, well, I'm grappling hook or I'm using the water gun or whatever. And it is this, I don't know what to do exactly here,

but I have all the stuff I have to do. So it is looking around. it is figuring it out, right? Like, you're being, you're talking about Crash Bandicoot, like, right? As you move Astrobot, you are moving forward through the level, leaving stuff behind you, obviously, and you can't go back for it. So it is that thing of going through and seeing, oh, man, there was one of the bots. I should have saved.

Okay, cool. I heard them. I couldn't see them. That's where it is. And even coming back to be like, wait, how do I get up there? What do I do? How do I move Astrobat? Yeah, and that's part of the thing where I say how well it justifies VR is when, like,

the fact that they're missable, right? Whenever you hear one of his Astrobot. friends like being like help me help me up like in whatever corner right you immediately as a player you stop and then you're like okay where is this guy and you physically have to like look up and down and like around certain things to really kind of figure out how to solve the situation you're in right and then in that way it really in like it doesn't feel like a gimmick like it feels like a true next step you know or it makes it makes VR feel like a true next step in what it is right it's one of the only VR games that I've played that really I feel like has done that right

It's like that in Beat Sabre, like the two games in VR around like, wow, this can really be like a definitive way to play video games. Tim. So for mine, I want to start with the Mario game. Now here's the thing. Mario is probably the franchise that I know most intimately and critically, where I can like look at all of them and really compare them one for one or whatever. And looking at the list of all of them that have come out, I was trying to decide which ones to me are a 10. Mario 3, Mario World, Mario Galaxy 2. Those are all tens.

You don't think 64. 64 is on my favorite list, absolutely. But I do not think it's a 10. I can't get with you. Because I just think that there's not enough variation in boss fights, and there are not enough boss fights, and there's not every level is as memorable as the most iconic ones. Right?

I feel like some of the later levels, like you really start to just be like, These are fine, but they're not 10 out of 10 when so much of the other ones are. You didn't love Rainbow Red? No, no, I did not. I love the idea of it, but I did not love it. But then even Odyssey, I feel like I couldn't give a 10. It's close, but I just feel like that game hints too much at the promise of things that we don't fully get. Like the dragon, right?

So freaking cool, and it's over before it even starts, right? There's some very few elements that if they just expanded a little bit more, That would have been a chapter. That game should have breathed more in those moments. Because I remember certain moments in Mario Odyssey, like the New Dong City moment toward the end of that level. And even the beginning of New Dong City and, yeah, the dragon and, you know, the beginning parts of the Moon Kingdom, right?

Like, that game is full of moments that are there and then they're gone. Yes. And it sucks that they didn't really last longer or, like, breathe more. Yeah. But I decided there's one other Mario game that I give a 10 out of 10. that most people do not give enough love. Mario Tennis. It's Yoshi's Island.

Yeah. It's not just a good game. It's not just a great game. It's a 10. And I say that because it feels as good as any other Mario game, but it feels completely different than any other Mario game. We know what Mario feels like. We know how he runs, how he jumps, the momentum of it all. Yoshi threw that all at the window. It's a different type of game, but Yoshi still feels that good. It's just a totally different style. It's a lot of. It's a lot of A lot slower. A lot more adventure-based,

a lot more puzzle-focused of like, kind of like making it through the levels. But it's more than just being a good platformer. It has such an amazing graphical style that doesn't just look nice. It backs itself up with its gameplay and it backs itself up with its story. It has enough of a story.

It never gets in your way. But you care and you're invested more than just, oh, Princess Peaches is taken. You having baby Mario the entire time and you having to take him through the level when you get hit and he flies away, it's like you feel a connection to the characters in a way that I haven't ever felt in a platformer until Celeste, where I'm like,

oh my God, I actually give a shit about you. You're not just this little thing I'm jumping around with, right? And the game paces itself so well in terms of introducing you to new ideas and new concepts of what you traditionally know about 2D platformers and level design, but this one kind of like throws everything with a twist, and the boss fights are all fantastic. And they paste them in the order that these boss fights are presented to you. feel like you're getting better. You feel like you're constantly growing and the epicness of this adventure really feels like an adventure. You feel when you end a level and Yoshi like throws baby Mario to the next Yoshi, like you really feel like you're like kind of like you're helping

something out man. Like this little motherfucker that won't shut the fuck up needs to get back to his parents. But as it grows, the music changes as you go through the boss fights about halfway through the game like you face a really epic prana plant boss fight and the music, it's the music. It's the the same boss theme, but like just up one notch. Then you start getting more and more creative with the boss fights where you're on the moon running around and like, it's the inspiration for Mario Galaxy where like you're actually running around the entire circle and the screen's just spinning. But the one moment for me that like just takes it to the next level is the final boss fight.

Barrett, I sent you a video to ask this I want to look at real quick. It's the perfect. You tell me we could bring visual aids. I just decided right now. It's the, it's the perfect culmination of like why this game is special because it presents you with a normal-ass boss fight that we'll look at it in a second where you're just in this room with baby Bowser and you're kind of just going back and it totally feels like that could be the final fight but then they up the ante and it's just it's just it's purely epic and they

somehow made a game about Yoshi with baby Mario epic go about you are no no no one minute into this this is this is a normal ass boss fight it's cool it's great go a bit more more more more more yeah stop there this whole bit With the music with the way the camera shifts for the first time of the game the camera goes behind Yoshi a little bit and you're throwing In the Y access instead of the X axis Which doesn't know to do see scratch his little chin But you fucking kidding me right now? Oh, that's a guy

And then the most badass guitar riff ever heard on Super Nintendo Let's fucking go That's it. Let me see. I want to see more. Well, you said he runs on a different axis. Yeah, so he looks. Now he's looking that way and then

Hall. Barrett show. Oh. He's got to like shoot. So you get these eggs and then you just launch the eggs and you need to get it into his mouth. But it's just like, we always talk about how we hate when video games play one way

and then like throw some other bullshit at the end. This is a perfect example of how to do it right. Where it's like this feels so cool and so earned that when you finally beat him and then get baby Mario saved. You're just like, I fucking did something with my head. 10 out 10. Yoshi's Ironis.

So I was sorry, this is a prequel or were they time traveling? Prequel. Okay. Would you say it's the best Mario again? No. Are there, are the games that you would put above it also 10 out of 10s? Even other Mario's? The other Mario's that you would say?

Yes. Mario 3 and Mario World are better than this. Okay. And you'll say both of them. But this is the one you're putting on the list. This is the one that I'm putting on my list. Yeah. Sure.

Cool. Can't argue with any of that, man. You can't, I know. But I would put Super Mario World on there. That was one of it. It's on my list. It's on my list. What you? Super Mario World?

Come here. There it is. Right there. That's how you do it. That's how you make, you know, friendships forever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Super Mario World was my Mario game. Because obviously you got to put at least one on here.

I mean, you could have a list of Mario's that are 10 out of 10. Would you put multiple? No, this is the one, Mario that always spoke to me the most. And that's not to say, I love Mario 64. I loved Galaxy. That was my, I was pulling for that for a game of the year over Zelda, if you remember. Mario 64 is the one that touched me. That's the one that made me a Mario fan.

And that's, you know, obviously, I was a Sega kid. So, like, you know, I'd go to somebody's house with an NES and I'd play Super Mario Brothers, but it was always like a little bit here, a little bit there. They're warp piping. I don't understand what the fuck's happening. It was Mario World where, you know, I sat in Matt Noelle's basement one summer. And this is long after it had been out a long time. And sat there just, you know, we had nothing to do.

So I sat there and just played it from the start and to the point that even after I had beaten it multiple times that summer went home, traded a bunch of shit in and bought my own SNES and that's all I ever had on it. I had an S&S and all I ever had was Super Mario World. And I came home and played that. You know what I mean? I would just listen to Pinkerton over and over again and I would play that game. That is like such, I mean it's, it's Mario World.

Everybody knows, right? Like why it was that overworld, that the music, getting a cape, flying. It's the scope. The Mario World, the thing that makes it special, especially compared to three and coming right after three, which was so fantastic, is that it's so much bigger. There's so many more secrets. There's so much more, like, different exits to levels. The levels themselves have a verticality

that you just don't see in the previous Mario games. It was so refined diverse. Like, Mario 3 is incredible, but, like, this was pretty much, like, that ultimate 2D refinement on what they'd been doing for many years, right? And they finally got to the point where, like, it just all came together. What Mario games would you say every time? This one was on my list.

I actually do have Mario 64 on my list. And I understand the perspective about things holding up. That's where, again, I think you get into with my list. I was like, it was more about for it being revolutionary and influential as well as it is still an awesome game. And it is so memorable. Would you give three a ten? I didn't put it on my list. I would, but I didn't put it on my list, right, right, if that makes sense to kind of where we're going.

Yeah, like, you were getting into it. It's like, God, how many games should I put on this list? I mean, your list could be as many as you. There's a lot. There's a lot of them. Their pedigree on that series. I mean, it is their flagship series, but it is, an industry flagship, you know, like, it's hard.

Yeah, that's why when you were talking about Astrobot, I was like, wow, it holds up to all these Mario games, you know, essentially. I'm like, wow, like that is a, yeah, that is a lot to, like, live up to. And so that, that is my standard for that. So I frankly, when you said more Galaxy 2, I was like, actually, you know what? I need to, I never actually finished Galaxy 2. I realized, and Galaxy was also on one of my, like, I have a split list of like, maybe you should have move it up and like, galaxies on there, of course, it's

incredible. The secret level stuff. Oh, my God. It's so cool. But anyway, Mario 64 is on the list because of all the things we said before. It's so influential and revolutionary. And I understand why it doesn't hold up, but it's still a 10. Is Mario 1 on nobody's list?

No. Mario 1 is not a 10. You don't think so? No. It's revolutionary. It's amazing. I put it, like, so Mario 64 and Mario 1 I put in the same category as, like, Fortnite almost, where it is, I feel like right now, right? A large part of Fortnite is the impact of it and the story of it.

and how well resonating it is and how much like, looking forward 20 years from now, we're going to look back and we're going to be like, oh, yeah, Fortnite. Either it's still going to be a thing, or we're going to be like, you know, you remember how big a thing Fortnite was? And I feel like Mario 1 and Mario 64

were both kind of that also. I can't really put myself. Do you think we just take them for granted in that way? Yeah, like, and I can't put myself in the shoes of when Mario 1 originally came out because I played it later and I was too young. I don't even think I was born yet when Mario 1 came out. But like for Mario 64, for sure,

like I think, you know, we're talking about right now the influence of Fortnite, right? It's the battle pass. It's the, I mean, it's Battle Royale, period. I know it didn't create Battle Royale, but it's making battle, it's made Battle Royale bigger than it's ever been. And it's having so much impact when we're seeing other games borrow and take from Fortnite in huge ways, right? Multiple player in general is taking from Fortnite.

Mario 64 did that. Yeah, but see, I think it's harder because maybe it's in the back of our minds here, but it's like they, Super Mario 3 and Super Mario were on the Ness, And like, yes, the NES as well. And like, Mario 3 is like so much better than Mario. And so like there's no like hesitation of, I get where you come from the influential, but because being on the same platform. But like if I say on the N64, you know, what would you pick that, you know,

bested Mario 64? It's like you might start talking about Banja Kizu and stuff or whatever if you're a fan. But there's no other Mario game that you were like, oh, right? So I think that that's exactly why like Mario 3 maybe, but not Mario One. would be, or even with Galaxy, right? Like, you do start to think it that way. It's the same thing. They're like eras, whereas Mario 3 was that era.

Like, yeah, I would. I actually would put it on the list, but then Mario World is just so incredible. I don't know, it was on that bleeding edge of making a choice. I think that then kind of feeds into the conversation of if they made Fortnite 2, which is this Fortnite, and it takes all the features of Fortnite and makes them slightly better. Yeah. Does that then change how we- Mario 3 and 1 are?

Mario 3 is so much better than, Mario one. Well, I agree that, yeah, with that, yeah. And does so much different and, like, takes the, it doesn't just make it better. It's like, it's a different game. Yeah. For sure. And it's always, like, Fortnite with what you're describing. It's like, well, I'm more so meaning, like, Mario 64 to, like, Mario Odyssey. Right. That's more so, like, the comparison I'm making is that, like, those games are so similar, but Mario Odyssey is definitely, like, a 28 or 2017 version of Mario 64. See, I don't know about that. Really? Yeah, I mean, I feel like it learned a lot, and, like, there's a lot of seeds that turned into the tree that is Mario Odyssey. But,

they're very, very different games in the sense of like the, just the level hubs, right? Like just the way that they function and the way they work and like the moons being as plentiful as they are. But I think these are all results of how far we've come in video games, period. Like if Mario Odyssey came out in 1996, it would just be Mario 64 in a way where if Fortnite 2 comes out, say, in a few years from now and slightly improves because technology has gotten better or they have learned from the lessons of Fortnite 1, then in 30 years we look back. and we're like, oh man, Fortnite versus Fortnite 2, which one is better? Well, obviously, Fortnite 2 is the better game.

But it's Fortnite the 10 out of 10 in the situation looking back because Fortnite was the one that originally statland. I know I'm going down to rabbit hole. No, I see what you're getting. I do think the difference that maybe Tim was getting it was like Super Mario. I mean, it is. It's incredible, incredibly influential as well. But it wasn't really feature complete, kind of in a way. Like, it was great.

There's a lot of bullshit in that game. It ended pretty quickly. The castle puzzles of having to understand like what level to go on up, down middle. those are bad. It was all right, but I mean, Mario 3, the jump there was just incredible. But with Fortnite, it is feature complete in so many ways and so evolved.

So, I mean, I know what you're saying. Yeah. You know, we would fault you if you said Mario's, you know, I mean, Mario's not on my list. I would ask you why, you know, well, you'd have, if you put Mario on there, well, you got to put on Mario 3. So, in my opinion,

you can't, like, say, well, it's Super Mario and then it's not 3, so meaning, you want to put both on that. Mario 3 is on my list. Mario 64 is on my list. And the Mario Odyssey actually is on my list. So you didn't put Mario Super Mario on your list. No, I didn't put some Mario on the list.

I just out here defending it, though. Oh, yeah. Well, no, I was more so curious. You talk about things. Let's give me a game on your list. Let me see here. Let me see here. Let me see here.

I am going to put out Shadow of a Colossus. I think Shadow Colossus. Even with those climbing controls. Would you say a remake or original? Say both. I might actually I might say original. because like... Really?

Yeah. Like I think... Yeah, I'll say original because I think for me, Shadow Colossus, one, I first played on the original and it hit me on that original in that original game.

When I played the remake, it actually kind of made me appreciate the game slightly less. You know, one, because, like, I... So I'm not necessarily in the team of the controls are terrible in Shadow Colossus.

I think, like, the controls are... Particular. Particular. For that game, right? Their purpose. right? Like, you're meant to struggle with the controls a bit

because the whole game is about struggling to hold on these big guns. It's just like in Lair how the dragon wasn't supposed to be responsive because he's a dragon. Controls and Sheldon Clausus PS4 are not bad at all. I mean, I think there's...

Last Guardian's bad. There's still a struggle. And I'm also team like Las Garnean controls not that bad. Right? Like I think both I think those games serve the purpose that they're trying to like they achieve the thing that they're trying to

which is, hey, let's make the, let's make the player struggle a little bit to kind of do what they're kind of doing because the whole thing is like struggling to hold on it's that whole like fight and struggle to like be on stay on this colossus but for me shadow colossus is a 10 because I think for me that was the probably the first game I played where I was like oh shoot like video games are art like this is like this is like a work of art right here right from the visual design being so unique and beautiful to how well they establish scale and like the the the the size of the colossite. And even the PS4 version does this too,

which is the thing that surprised me is that, like, I thought, like, part of me thought that the PS, the game being on PS2 is the thing that made this impressive. But yeah, even the PS4 version, I was like, shoot, these things are big. And these things, like, are awesome, right? Like, they look cool.

It feels crazy fighting this huge thing. So they know that. But then also you have, like, that the feeling of accomplishment that you get when you take one down, you feel like you just conquered, like, this huge mountain. I think gameplay,

gameplay wise, it's simple, clean, achieves what it's doing, but also drives home the message of the game of, I guess, climbing that hill and completing this, like, this task that seems bigger than you. But then also, like, you look at soundtrack, you look at visuals, you look at the different presentation elements, and it knocks those things out of the park. My next one, I'm going to go, Metal Gear Solid. One? Four.

Four. Metal gear solid four is a 10 out of 10. It does everything that it was trying to do perfectly to me. And that means story, that means gameplay, that means emotional connection to me as somebody that played through the franchise. They pay so much love and attention to making sure that it is more than just a video game. It is an experience and it is a love letter to the experience that I've had with the previous games in addition to making the game feel more modern, making it actually feel like a playable

you know, third person shooter in a way that MGS 1, 2, and 3 just don't hold up to modern sensibilities of gameplay. Whereas you play for it, it's a shooter, you know? And I feel like the set pieces in that game for it really to me was the first game that felt truly next gen and which was, you know, last gen at this point. But I feel like to this day it still has that sense of impressive, like, technical achievements of making boss fights seem more epic than they necessarily are. Like, the use of gameplay mixed with Kojima storytelling of you're in a boss fight and there's a cut scene happening at the same time.

The emotion of the microwave scene and like all of that stuff. But in addition to going back to Shadow Moses, come on all that, it's just like, it is such a great culmination of amazing moments. that don't feel like a greatest hits album. They feel like their own thing, and it's backed up by great gameplay. Greg Miller. What Metal Gear Solid would you say at 10?

I would have said Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, of course. I think Metal Gear Solid is the only one that you would say is the time? That's the only one I put on my list, yeah. You know, I think Metal Gear Solid 5 has the best gameplay of the series, but the weakest story. Four, there's a lot going on in there. It's the same argument I always had with the top 25s at IGN, right, of when it would be like, oh, the top 10 PS3 games, right?

And we wouldn't put Metal Gear Solid 4 on it. And I was always like, for me, the way I interpret this is like, these are the games I would recommend out the game. I know we've talked about this before. Where I was like, I wouldn't recommend that because I think you need more, you need to have played other Metal Gear's. It wouldn't be on my blanket list. But you have those things.

Yeah. So to you, would you not say it's a 10? Well, I went to IGN while you were talking to look at the review with Jeff Haynes, I was like, I think Jeff gave this a 10. And he did, yeah. And it was also, I remember being second opinion on it and be like, everything Jeff said. And luckily with IGN's new review format, they threw that away.

They don't have that anymore. But, I mean, I, it's so hard now because we're not, in the moment I remember being like, yes, this is a 10 to 10. I mean, in the moment of like what we're talking about, I remember being like, holy shit, they did this. This is what you're saying, right? They stuck the lane. They did it. It was, how the fuck are you going to do one game that ties up this entire series, right? And they did.

I mean, there's a lot in there. It's a big old juicy burger with toppings falling off the side, but you're there. You get it done, right? I think, so do, I guess it's a weird question where I think Greg Miller in the shit, playing the game alongside Jeff and reviewing it with Jeff was like, yeah, I totally sign off on this into 10. And I think I said it. I think it was a 10, even though I don't recall it 100%. But now I wouldn't think of that as a 10 in terms of Metal Gear. But again, I think it's just because I'm thinking of hindsight 2020, what this series is, what it became, what stands out

to me about those games, right? Or about that game in particular. And I think, for me, you know, Peace Walker is just the one that did what I wanted out of Metal Gear's, that I think Metal Gear had lost over time, which was here's a straight and narrow story of what's going on. I was talk about that, right? If like, if you've never played a Metal Gear, you can pick that up, you can go in, you understand that you are this guy, you know, you're the big boss, your big boss, you have this team of mercenaries that you work with or whatever.

These people show up. You don't want to help them, but they have a tape recorder that has the voice of your mentor boss on it, and you know that you killed that person. of course you're going to go on this mission, right? And then to watch it all unravel from there and, you know, the layers of the onion. And it gets obviously into the super, super metal geary territory and melodrama and everything else. But I love that story. I, you know, just replaying it this year on PSL of UXOXO, XO, XO, XO, XO, going back and getting to watch those cutscenes,

like, I think even with Metal Gear Solid 5, playing that game, the gameplay being so amazing and being like, oh, yeah, Kiefer Sutherland, what a weird choice, you know what I mean? I miss David Hayter, but like, okay, this is what, going back and playing Peacewalker, it's like fuck. Fuck is it a blow to this franchise that Hater didn't get to do Metal Gear Solid 5, right? He is so good and he is so snake and he is so boss.

And like watching those cutscenes, interacting with those cut scenes, again, it's a 10 out of 10 to me. And I think to this point, it's a 10 out of 10 of what I would want from a Metal Gear on PSP. And like that is such a huge part of it of, I remember playing that game

at the review event for two straight days and then playing it nonstop on Muni and playing it at bars with Mike Pereer and Caleb Lawson and playing it when I was on a bark going something like I mean like if you wanted to have the headphones on let's get lost in the story see these beautiful cutscenes great if you just wanted to recruit off the Wi-Fi as you were going it was there and you could do that the you know mini games that people even if they don't think they're no Peacewalker know for a middle of solid five of man I need the what the mess

hall team to be better on mother base so I need to go out and recruit somebody who's an S rank at food and like you're trying to look at your goggles to find that person to do that the micromanagement of that versus the outer ops of being able to build your team and send them out with the metal gear you're building, which I remember flipping out about that I was going to have my own metal gear and you design it's AI and do all these different things for it versus just the, you know, I want to go play and I want to go be the stealthiest big boss I can. Like that was all awesome. Like that is, I think the that is the metal gear that gets it for me personally, the most right in terms of story, gameplay, replayability, being on a portable system.

Like it just, everything it's similar to Fortnite, right? Everything it sets out to do, I think it accomplishes with an S-rank. Frank, before you give you your next game, I want to tell you about our sponsors. Ladies and gentlemen, this episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast is brought to you by Spotify's The Besties. Here's the deal. It's one of Andy's favorite podcasts of all time.

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Yeah, I was struggling going between the past, the future. We're not going to the future with us. I mean, my other 10 out of 10, God of War II. 20-21. Perfect segue, Greg. Because I want to put God of War out there. We all have it on our list. It's on my list.

Which one? God of war on PlayStation 4. Okay. Yes. That's on my list. That's on my list. You're not having it, of course. My favorite game of all time.

That I would be upset and shocked by, so I'm glad that I read the room right. Is it perfect? God of War 2018 is a perfect video game. Boom. I got him, man. He's so liberal with his use of perfect. Hey, if we, why do we have the fucking word if we never use it? Right?

You can use it. like perfect hair or perfect dreams, perfect shirt, whatever. Anyway, God, it just blew my mind and it still does, and it's what you were getting up before, there's all this criteria, is it art, yes, is it an amazing story, yes,

is the gameplay incredible, yes, are the mechanics tight and flawless, yes, does it have depth to it, yes. Does it do something new, the camera? Does it do, yeah, it's a single camera. Even if it didn't have it. But all those things, It has everything, and it has the depth in particular.

It already was an incredible game. You know, I look back on games like Uncharted 2, right, which I think set the stage in a way for the cinematic nature of something like what God of War became, right, and decided to become. Entrata 2, 10. Yeah, a lot of what PlayStation says for it is on my list. But God of War is so much more of that, but it learned how to be up close and do those things. But meaning if you look back and I don't, would you use the word perfect for Uncharted 2?

No. No, you wouldn't. because you'd go to jump and you'd be like, crap, I guess I'm not supposed to jump that way, but it looks amazing. I'm supposed to jump this way. My favorite uncharted edition of all time is one? Yeah.

Oh, my God. Oh, everybody. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Fuck, where do you want me to claw? God damn it, Druckman. So anyway, I mean, it still just blows my mind with how tight it is, but the depth, in particular. I did not expect on top of, you know,

sorry, I originally brought up uncharted 2 because, like, it is an amazing story, and the exploration. Shooting's not bad. You know, but really it's the exploration and puzzle design and story where the depth, I would say. I mean, he didn't have some skill tree that you dove into. And God of War just has it all. But when I got into God of War and I questioned every step where I'm like, no, this is probably all you're going to get.

And you're like, what? You get this and this and this. It's crazy to me, still how good that game is. And it's another game that, yeah, like when I was done with the story, I just couldn't stop playing. I had to see it all to do it all. you want to get. The amount of times I'd be in that boat and listen to the stories rather than get off it, right?

So cool. To your point, even, I remember when they cut us off for the preview event, right? Which is when you walk over with the wounded bore or whatever, they were like hard cut. They all walked around and stopped us. And it was like such a weird spot to stop. And I'm like, all right, cool. And then you get that right after that ride is when it goes open world. You're like, holy shit, fuck.

Like, this game is that? Yeah, that too. Exactly. What a fucking video game, man. It opened as well with like what I always want to see. in games like this, which is just like amazing, badass, like boss fight and, like, let's just get into it. I love games that sort of teach you, and it takes 15 hours to, you know, learn, but at the same time, like, I'll just get into it.

And this game did it in a way that it was both intuitive and incredible. But to Greg's point, it was like, I thought that was the game for a while, right? And we saw some demos at E3, and then all of a sudden it's like, wait, it's got this huge open world, too. Going out, crafting armor, doing these other things. Augman, stats, the, you know, the, from little things of things of, go find ravens to go fight valkyries to go you know what I mean everything has got lore attached to it that I wanted to read and I wanted to understand it has that similar sense of scale that I was kind of talking about with shadow colossus that like you might get from an

uncharted game also where you approach like a giant structure and you look up and you're like dang this thing is huge right and then you know by the end of that level you're like on top of it right it has those moments too that I think is awesome and I think it has what I feel like a lot of 10 out of 10 games have that we don't necessarily touch on because it's hard to really put your finger on it, but it has heart, right? Like when I think of 10 out of 10 out 10 games for me, I think of, you know, games like Lastful, or games like, I keep bringing up Undertale,

but Undertail, like, really is a 10 and 10 and 10 game for me. And that's because, like, that game has heart, more so than a lot of other games. God of War, I feel like has heart, right? In the way that it tells its story, and the way that it's story is personal, but then also, like, we talk about the close-up camera

with what that adds, right? They weren't afraid to really, you know, get in there and- get in there nice and tight. Yeah, get in there and really like, you know, get real and get personal and have like a subtle touch in terms of how we're going to present what's going on in the situation

given what God of War is. Like it, you know, historically being a big action, I'm going to bang these, I don't know if they're humans actually I think about it. No, they're humans in God of War I. Oh, I know. God of War II. Yeah. He's about the sex like, yeah, the sex. Like, yeah, the sex. Uh, okay. Goddesses or whatever. First of all reason in my head, there were serpents.

There were serpents at first and I was like, no. That ain't right. That ain't. I'm going to kill, I'm going to bang, and all that stuff. That's what God's what kind of comes from. And then, yeah, it had that pivot and that pivot, you know, had a lot of heart to it. And I appreciate that. And they just pull everything off in that game, right? And I mean, minor spoilers, I guess.

We forgot to work. And we spoil, actually, a major spoiler if I spoil it, I guess. Yeah, don't spoil it. The spoiler's 10 out of 10. Like, the moment where he's like, I know of such a thing and he goes off. Like, I remember being so outrageously hyped for that moment, and I did not like God of war or cradus leading to this game. That's it.

They did such a storytelling job that I was like, I am so in with him being a father and so in on his journey with Atreus that like this thing I know is about to be fucking insane. Insane. Bless. Miller, solid three and five. Those are both. Yeah, those are both 10 out of tens for me.

Can you, what's your argument for five being a 10 out of 10 even though the story is what it is? Because it's an achievement in gameplay. Like, and I, for me, I don't think like, I think that comes. into like the perfect perfection conversation of like, does the game need to be perfect to be a 10 out of 10? Is there a such thing as a perfect game? I'm not really, I don't think there's a such thing

as a perfect game. And so I feel like, I feel like all elements of a game don't have to be, you know, magnificent in order to achieve a 10 out of 10. As long as like, it's doing something or it's doing a certain amount of things in a way that is exceptional, right? And I think the gameplay of Melger Solid 5 is exceptional, right?

It's the best self game I've ever played. Like, I can easily say that. the systems, the mechanics that give you, right? Like, I'm a big systems person. I love when games are like, okay, yeah, when the weather is rainy, that means that you have to approach a situation like this, right? When there's a dust storm,

that means you have to approach a situation like this, right? And we talked about this on our segment on PSLOVU where we're talking about games of the year for different years, right? And I think both of ours for 2015, spoilers for PSLUW was Miller's Solid 5. Yeah. And like I mentioned, like, oh, yeah, if you keep headshotting dudes, right? they'll start wearing helmets later on in missions.

The game kind of sees what you're doing, and it then counters what you're doing later on, and it reacts to you because it's trying to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone because they have so many systems available for you that you don't have to keep doing the same thing over and over again. The game really wants you to think

and really wants you to execute and really wants you to play along in this world and really get a feel for what's going on. And I think the ways in which it does that is better than... I'm going to say better than like 99% of games that have tried doing that. Now that I play Legends of Zelda,

Breath of the Wild, which does a similar thing in terms of physics and how to approach situations and give you options to do things, I think both those games kind of do them pretty equally well. But those are the top tier games in terms of that, in terms of immersing you into this world and letting you play around and really choose how you play. And so Melryorogistaw 5 for me

is a 10 out of 10 because of how well it does that. And I think the story, like, the story of course is like missing Chapter 3, but I don't think the story is like terrible. I like a lot of the moments in the stories, like we kind of talk about in Mother Base and like how there are certain there are certain elements of the story that kind of feed back into how you have to solve an issue and you're like okay cool like the themes of this game are language because the the

character like the villain has like this motivation okay how does that feed back into how I solve this issue going up going on in Mother Base. Look some of the quiet stuff was like this is all stuff we talked about PSLV but some of the quiet stuff was kind of boggled but still like I like some moments with quiet I liked some of the some of the villain characters. I liked some of the chapter two stuff in terms of how that stuff kind of affects mother base. I don't want to spell anything.

Yeah, that's the toughest thing about it, right? I feel like this story gets bagged on because we know they're supposed to be more. And so it's left incomplete, right? And then it's on top of the fact that I don't, and maybe I'm speaking out of turn and just somebody who paid attention too close, but I don't think I am. Like, we just knew where this was going. Like, there was enough like scuttle butt and not even rumors. People talk about it. Like, oh, I think this means that.

And like, da, da, da, da. that. How could this happen? And so like from the jump of trailers, where like when you get to the reveal at the end, you're like, this wasn't, no, we knew this is going to happen. Like, death stranding, like, right? I think was such me sitting there playing it and literally in that final cut scene at like three in the morning or whatever being like, I need to know what the fuck is going on. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what is happening right now in this game and watching it and being hanging on the words and waiting for the reveals. Whereas like Metal Gear was so great. Gameplay 10 out of 10 for sure. Yeah. For sure. Right. For sure.

10 out of 10. And that's the thing of playing Peace Walker contemporary now and like obviously now on a system and not on a PSP or whatever. Like you see the inspirations of what five you came but then just see it fleshed out

to feel so real. We always talk about that right? If like you know just rolling on the ground or whatever and Metal Gear Solid 5 is so good. Being able to like play music. I love rolling on the ground. You like have the collectibles are awesome right. You collect different songs.

Have your, have when Piquot comes in have them playing like something from the 80s or whatever. Yeah. I think I had where the kids in America. Yeah, I had that plan every time. It was awesome. So my next one, I'm going to go semi-frann route with the Tetris thing. But it's weird.

It's a weird one. Guitar Hero 3. Oh, okay. I'm going to say specifically 3 because I just feel the track list is best representative of what that game accomplishes, which is making you feel like a fucking badass. I feel like there's a very nice kind of selection of songs that are good for people that have played the previous ones, good for people that haven't played. played before, but you get all the way up to the through the fire and flames. And it is the perfect

game where it's like, this is an arcade game done right, where you want to just one more song, just one more song, just one more song. Four hours later, you're still trying to get a better score on the same song that you've been playing for hours on end, right? And I think the Guitar Hero 3 came with the best controller, the best guitar controller that made you feel perfect. You really felt like you're in control. You really felt that was the first wireless one, right? That was the wireless one, and it was the one made by Neversoft. And it was also the one that perfected the guitar battles. And it had battles.

The single player elements were a bit more fleshed out as much as they needed to be. I feel like once rock band started happening, which was like right around this point, the skill of Guitar Hero went away and it became just more of a party game, which is fantastic. But I think that for what Guitar Hero was trying to do, which is be a skill-based, fun, arcade experience, but also make you feel like a badass and it just does it perfectly. Yeah, this is the one I never put a lot of time into. Because to your point, I remember this was the wireless guitar, and we liked it so much more than the rock band guitar,

that we all bought rock band and this and just used this guitar on rock band. Because this guitar was made after the learnings of the last couple, where it's like, this is made for people that are going to do through the fire and flames. And if we're going to put songs like that in this game, it needs to be able to hold up. And that's exactly what you, you hit the nail on the head with, right? is like this is the end of them being that arcade, we're going to push you thing. Because even liking Guitar Hero 2 as much as I did,

I was never good enough at Guitar Hero 2. And so when Rock Band dropped, rock band was such a party game for all of us at IGN where it was, you know, we would stop working and just go in the demo room and play for hours. Greg. Yeah. Oh, my next pick.

Yeah. What to choose from? I'm going to put one out there. Yeah. Because there's a lot. This is probably, we're just going to say, WWF No Mercy, N64.

Oh, go Pete. All right. you know what I'm talking about? That is a 10 out of 10 wrestling game. Wrestling games do not get better than that. Can I say? I had a dream last night that I was playing a wrestling game. And I was in the creation suite and whatever.

And I was back in the good old days of wrestling games when they were good. Yeah, right? And that's the thing is like, me too, dude. And, you know, you could, obviously I think it's similar what we're talking about with Mario games and everything else. WWF at No Mercy is the ultimate because it's the learnings of WrestleMania 2000, WCW versus NWO Revenge. revenge, you know, WCW before that. Like, it is that A.K.I. We're making these on N64 games that continue to up the ante.

And the reason it's so great is because it is so simple yet complex. You know, that's what you're talking about of character creations. Once we get out of this, you start moving into, you know, the Smackdown, right? And what that becomes over on PlayStation. And the issue there is as we got more and more semi with everything, we got more and more photorealistic, it became harder and harder and harder to make characters you believed in, you cared about, like, you're making all your friends or whatever, and suddenly like, that's not my nose, that's not this thing. The no mercy stuff, right? Like, it's, I remember having such

limited options, but they were limited. So when you tweaked them the right way and made it look enough like your friends, people would walk in and be like, oh my God, that's perfect. Yeah. And I'm doing this, you know, very specifically off of when we were backyard wrestling. Yeah. Like making everyone's costumes in it. And even though I had one of the no mercy carts from the original run that actually actually ate your save progress and were a huge problem. The unlockables in there, the store, you know, the easy to pick up, difficult to master gameplay of strong grapple, weak grapple, strong strike, you know, things. Flick your stick for your special move, go in and do it.

It was that thing that anybody, even if you'd never watch wrestling, you could pick up and understand. And nowadays, I feel like if Blessing and I sat down to play WW2K-2K20, not only would it saw, probably still be broken as fuck, we would sit there and be like, wait, how do you get out of the, what do you do? I don't, God, you know what I mean? like it is an abomination and insult to humanity that they are not making games like this anymore. And not even if it's just the offshoot.

Give it to a small team, give them a roster of 12 wrestlers. Watch this sell way better than all the other wrestling games. Yeah, man, it's, I didn't expect you to bring that up, but I, that was one of my most beloved games of that era. And I used to come home from, like, school. Or actually, no, sorry, took breaks during lunch because my high school was right by my house. Yeah, yeah. And, like, my friends and I would come back, like, make a sandwich while, like, playing this game. Like, just to get a few rounds in.

Totally. We were just, like, drooling over getting a few matches in. Oh, yeah. To what you were getting at, yeah, what I remember specifically, yeah, is it was the first wrestling game that felt real, and it did it through some simplicity, but, like, it was when you threw someone toward the ropes, and you had the option to do the next move, and it just all clicked, and no games really did it, but not in 3D environment either, you know, like there was 2D wrestling games.

I mean, that's why the A.K.I. N64 wrestling games broke out. Yeah. And it was that thing. It was, you know, perfect storm kind of shit, right? Because it was N64, the party machine, right? Or the fun machine, the fun machine. And it was, hey, wrestling suddenly, like, for teenagers.

It wasn't for kids anymore. It was this, like, they're showing breasts and they're cursing and they're flicking each other off. So I remember in high school when I first got to high school, people being so into revenge because it was like, hey, are you paying attention this with that? I'm like, do you care about wrestling? And, like, not really, but the games are fun.

And, like, I remember when I was in the plays, I would bring the N60s. before they're doing like the all day rehearsals and whatever. And we would go to the Spartan theater or whatever, a place with a projector, and we would switch off between this and Gold and I. And it was just playing it nonstop. And it was these people walking in who didn't know how to do it and they'd want to play.

Interesting, I don't know that I would give it a 10, but man, I'd see why you did. Yeah, why wouldn't you think? I think it was just how I did by list. Like I wouldn't, if I looked back in wrestling games and in a lot of the ways we've talked about it, if I'm just looking at wrestling, and then I'd be like, yeah, like I'd throw that on there.

Like I said, I can't define. I mean, outside of, like I said, the first run of cartridge is being defective. Like, it's, I mean, it's just perfect. Like, and it had ladder matches and had blood and had this and it had the story and it had creation and it had unlockable outfits and it had all these like crazy-ass things. And I remember playing these games. And I will be honest that my memory with WrestleMania 2000 and this run together

because we're on a year of the schedule. Right. So it's like, but I remember like so distinctively playing these things. I wish I had a clock on these things. how much I played. And I distinctly remember this match where I was playing as Triple H against Cactus Jack and like,

I pedigreeed him through the table and his head busted open just the right time. And it's just like, this is so fucking perfect. Frank, it was incredible. Yeah, in the interest of time because there's like a lot of games. I know we still have time, but.

Well, what I want to do? We'll do this and then we'll do one more ride. Exactly. And that's what I figured. Like, there's still a lot that I throw out there. But I got to get Metroid Prime out there. Like, you know, Super Metro Metroid is on my list, of course.

And I would want to talk about Super Metroid a lot. The thing I always bring up is similar to how games sort of do these amazing little things sometimes. In Super Metroid, there's that, like, bird that runs by you, you know, that runs by really fast and jumps up a giant, you know,

a hole, and you're like, wait, like, oh, I can do that? And you learn how to super jump from, like, this bird, and you could do it. Anyway, incredible moment, Super Metroid's amazing. But when Metroid Prime hit, There was so much skepticism and all the above, but, man, just what an amazing, stellar experience. I feel like back then it was the moment that we had with God of War almost, where it was like,

absolutely. Holy cow, runs at 60 frames. It, you know, sports 480P, but it is pretty flawless with how it ran. I mean, it did have a few hitches here and there, but what an unbelievable game. Like, you were Samus, the Bounty Hunter, and it never felt more real. and the pacing of that game is something that I always bring up as well as like just the way that it starts you which Metroid again is kind of famous for as well as Zelda does sometimes too

but it's like you start with a bunch of stuff and then all of a sudden you're stripped of it but you exit that space station and man what a rush the beginning of the game is then you've got nothing and it's derelict then it's scary and you're just scanning for stuff and you slowly piece your suit back together and get these powers and then man when you find out about the spider ball holy crap and all the puzzles that come with that and it just blew my mind back then. It's very similar to God of War in the sense

that it just nails every single element that it goes for. It has, you know, the story it has the character, it has the music, the environment. The music was so cool. The boss fights are phenomenal. The puzzles are interesting and fun and clever. And it does just have those things that you're like, oh, I've never

seen this in a video games before. Seeing the steam on the visors. Yeah, the reflection of the vizabeth. It's these little things that just make this, what, 2002 game, still stand up as special. You know, it's like, and I think that we're going to look back at God of War in a similar way in the future. Yeah. As we do to Metro Prime.

Bless. All right, so I'm stuck between two. Do I go the more obvious one or do I go the one? Let's get weird. Let's get weird. Burnout three take down. Oh. I think that game's a hell of 10.

Yeah. I think that game, when we talk about, like, excellence in gameplay, like, that game has it. When we talk about, like, oh, did you have Burnout Three takedown? I didn't write it down, but it was on my list of like, I was about to add it, and I was like, I'll remember. It's just so good. And every single thing it tries to do, right? Like whether you want to talk about the races, which feel like you were going faster than any other racing game you ever played, right? You have that.

You have the combat elements. You have the takedowns, right? You have road rage, which, you know, I think is such a fun, well-done feature in a racing game, right? Where you can take out your other opponents by crashing into them and then knocking them into a wall and making them crash. Like all the mechanics associated with crashing in that game, I think, are super well done. Yeah, I'm like a massive fan of the burnout series, and I just realized, like, almost in a way that Mario 3 is to Burnout 3 take down as, you know, burnout is to Mario. Like, the way that the game evolved, never mind two, of course, because Super Mario 2, but, like, three just, yeah, did everything that it was setting out to do. It ran flawlessly.

It had the speed, but what they did with the crash system and takedowns and how they perfected it really. like it became addictive in a way. People were like just addicted to getting in crashes. Yeah. Like because it's such as it's one of those features that, right, it appeals to us because we love violence and we love destruction. Right. Like that it appeals to us on that very basic level.

But then also, right, like they use it as a really good gameful mechanic of like, oh yeah, take down your opponents. And when you get takedowns, you then build your, you build a multiplier to your boost, right? You then also like, if you crash. You can crash into your opponent. Yeah. If you're in single player, right? And you crash.

You press R1 and you slow motion. do that after after touch. Yeah. And you can steer yourself into other players. Then on top of that, right, there's crash mode, which is a mode built, built upon, causes as much destruction as possible, and rank up your score. Yeah. And try to make the biggest crash.

I was lucky enough to be able to be previewing that game and knowing the creators really well at the time. And I just remember even seeing a preview, I was like, oh, my God, like, could not wait. And they delivered on everything they said. But it was, yeah, it almost felt revolutionary at the time. I mean, I know. I know, like, it's one of those things where I, like, I want to say it's revolutionary. though I don't know how many games took influence from it, but still.

It's weird because it added crashing to racing, but you got to remember, the racing alone was awesome arcade racing, and it just felt so fast and so good. There were a lot of racing games like Grant Treasmo and Need for Speed, but they all had their own angle, but burnout just felt so viciously fast. That was its strength. It nailed its gameplay and it also nailed its personality. Like with the soundtrack and with DJ, crap, which DJ was it? It was a DJ Striker.

Oh, I forget. It's a name like that. I forget about that. like a billion DJs from that era. DJ Atomica? Or is that SSX? I don't think it. That sounds like SSX.

It's a DJ. It's a DJ. It's a DJ. Great pick. Thanks. I would say that both Portal and Portal 2 are 10. Thank you. That's one of the ones I was looking at.

But if I had to pick one here, I'm just going to go Portal. Oh, okay. Simple portal. Would you not say Orange Box? You could. Yeah. That's like a Mario All-Stars Plus World is the number one game of all time. It is what it is.

But I think that. Portal 1 is just such a perp experience enhanced mostly by its brevity. It doesn't last long enough to have anything bad about it. You know what I mean? Every single room builds on the last, introduces something cool. It was a gameplay experience unlike anything we've ever experienced before. And the end. It's just like, whoa, there's a twist.

You didn't need to go and do that shit. You know what I mean? And it's the most impossible. If you didn't live in that moment to even try to. make you understand that, like, what it was that, like, when people finished that game and it was the cake is a lie and the song and Glados, you were like, like, I remember, I remember having, not had it spoiled, but, like, I remember talking to Damon, he's like, you got to play this as weekend, you got to do this thing.

And, like, sitting down, like, usually when that kind of shit happens, like, it's not going to live up to expectations and being so blown away by that game. Yeah, that's the thing of, like, I remember it being such a thing of, oh, it's super short and that'd be, like, a knock against it at the time. Because we weren't used to that, right? We weren't used to, like, downloadable games that were that short or kind of a game be that be under two hours or whatever and still be a thing. And on top of that, just the concept of it.

Like, they created something that is the fucking dopeish shit I've ever heard. You know what I mean? Like, these portals, like, it's just so simple now. You think of me like, oh, yeah, Portal. They read a, like, that is a pop culture thing. Yeah. That this game introduced. Yeah.

I'm with you. Portal, the first one. Like, I remember being on YouTube. And, like, I don't, I didn't, I didn't own the game until later on. PC but I remember like watching let's play videos people being all about portal and I and me wanted to know like okay what's the deal right and like seeing the concept of it I was I was already in but then like falling along to the end and like the conspiracy theories that came with it with like rat man and like all these other

stuff right I thought made it awesome and cake is alive being like a meme and all the stuff and like the ending music still alive being a slapper being a slap yeah but dude the thing there too is that you know one of my favorite things about video games is when they're so good on their own rights, but then how you want to play them is also fun. Grand The Doddo is a perfect example where it's like, cool, there's a story that's amazing, there's like missions that are super fun, whatever. But just running around and trying to get six stars and just being an asshole is, it's own experience, you know, trying to like take cars and just go off sweet jumps. Why? Just because it's fucking fun. And Portal has that moment

where it's just like, you start to realize the rules of the world and you're just like, wait, so you're telling me that if I put this there and there, the momentum will get. so that I can jump and like go farther what and it's like you're not trying to break the game but you're trying to use the game just to have fun in ways that yeah you're not necessarily supposed to be doing I don't think there's a single person who's played through portal who didn't do the thing where they shot the portal in the ceiling shot it down it just like kept going in an infinite that's like a requirement if you're playing that game yeah yeah yeah I was good just to end on that one was the subtlety you pretty much said it but to stick on it like it wasn't

just that they made the portals because I feel like people probably had tried that and it was how managed to do it with those precise physics and ideas like you're saying. Meaning just the idea of going through a portal was one thing, but the way the boxes fell and yeah, the acceleration on things and how it actually all worked. And then they added the style on top of it. And then that was why everybody was like, okay,

everything was done just perfectly, you know. Yeah, if we want to talk about perfect video. It might be a perfect game, actually. I'm just saying, like, I think it might be in the running for like a game that is a perfect game. Like that's one of the ones I'll probably come out there. It's funny.

I didn't even mean to say that. It sounds like let up. I'm like, you know what? Maybe this is... You know what? Portal's perfect. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm picking that one.

All right, finally. One more round around the table for a game that we think is a 10 out of 10. Last. Yeah, I know. Who do you want to give a nod to this? Use some fun ones. You know what I mean?

I have one that I'm surprised we haven't said yet. I got one at this... Throw it out and then we won't count it. Okay, last list. Okay, yeah. It's an easy one. It is an easy one.

Yeah. Yeah. That's one of those probably on everybody's list, right? Yeah, but I'm glad you put it out there. It's funny, I cleared my mind and the last of us wasn't on my list. Really? Yeah, I love the last of us, obviously. That was like the first one on my list.

But I think it's one of those things, and this is back to the IGN and personal lists, and now this is the multiplayer. And I know, you do either love or hate the multiplayer. Some people love that. I know. It's an amazing multiplayer. Yeah? Yeah.

Well, we'll see if you get it on the part two. Oh, you're not. It's garbage. Nine out of ten. I'm trying to get a little more. Weird, Greg. I don't think it's weird. Unexpected.

Anthem. No, I'm fucking. But I do think that. But I do think this is, there's on a snowballs chance in hell of this being on any of your list. It's super recent, but I think it's a 10 out of 10. Concrete Jeannie. Whoa. Oh, wow.

I think Concrete Jeannie is a magical little game. And it's that thing where the further I get away from it, the more I still find myself going back and thinking, fuck, I wish I could play it all over again. I wish I could do that whole platinum, that whole experience, the whole story. Like, again, I think the cutscenes are so beautiful. It's what we're talking about earlier where it's like short enough that it doesn't wear out its welcome. Like I was never like, oh, I got a backtrack. I got to do this.

I got to do that. Like, I loved existing in that world, both finding new genies and using them to solve puzzles, but then running around and getting the collectibles. Like, you know, it does this thing, and this is a spoiler for Congre Genie. That's not like a story spoiler. You know, you play that game for hours and then eventually unlock your paint skates. So you're skating around on paint. And so all of a sudden, Traversal is faster and different.

And if they just put in a free mode to go paint skate, I'm sure so many people would go do it, just run around. The VR mode they put in for it is also super relaxing and super chill. That's the thing. The game overall is just like a, what I call it a meditative experience right when I reviewed it. Like it is peaceful to play that game. And there's challenges and there's, you know, puzzles to figure out. And there were definitely times of me like, fuck, how do I, I know what it wants me to do. Why can I not do that?

Why can I not make my genie do what I want it to do? But inevitably, I found it on my own. And it never got me so frustrated that I was like, fuck this game or anything. Like, it's a beautiful heartwarming game. Also, that was very unexpected. That's what I do. I don't know. It was totally out of the blue, but I don't know it would have made anybody else's list as StarCraft.

That just like was one of those games. You know, maybe it was at the time of my PC gaming love, you know, in the late 90s. Holy cow, StarCraft just coming out being the RTS with the style, with the everything. And really, you know, you look back in Blizzard's history and certainly World Warcraft like became just monstrous. And I think a lot of what to find them. But man, StarCraft at that moment. even looking back, like, just, I feel like, yeah, like, if we didn't have StarCraft then, like, would we have, would we be where we're at with things like Dota and League of Legends

today? And, you know, so StarCraft for sure. Anybody else, StarCraft fans? I'm not feeling it even live on now. I get it, but yeah, I would never argue. I know it's impact, but it was never my game. I will also throw out there in a shameful admission. It was the, I hate cheating, by the way. Oh, he's cheated. So BattleNet was a thing, and that was another, I mean, incredible part, right? Being able to log online, you know, with your plugged-in telephone and you know, but the face shows all over the world.

Getting on a battle that. People were, like, cheating because I was getting crushed all the time. I was like, they had like have clairvoyance. Like, how do people know where I'm at? And going on the, you know, bulletin boards and in chat rooms finding out, like, oh, there's like this file hack thing that people are using. And I was so frustrated staying up, you know, 2 a.m. doing stuff that I was like, screw it.

You could remove the fog and see where people were. at and, you know, of course, some of they eventually patched out. But I was like, I want to play this game, but I have to use it. So anyway, the only game that I've ever done something that was, I look back and wish I hadn't participated in that problem, you know, but it was super broken. Bless. I'm going to say the names of two games. I'm going to have you guys choose which one I talk about.

Okay, okay. Because these games are opposites. Near Automata or NBA Street Volume 2. NBA Street Volume 2. That game, it's similar to Burnout 3. me where it's like it's just a perfect like the gameplay the gameplay loop that game is just perfect right like the the well one the conceit of it is ridiculous but it it works so well like yeah i'm just gonna we're gonna we're gonna make it where you're playing NBA right with NBA players right 3 v3

street basketball but then when you do tricks that fills up a meter for then for you to get your game breaker and then execute and then you get plus points or minus points based on which game breakers you execute and how you execute them it's so good it's such a perfect gameplay loop but then also like the The attitude vibe and style of that game. What's his name? Another DJ. And he's an actual real one too. He's like part of Rock Steady Crew.

Flex. Cucumber Slice. DJ Cucumber Slice. Bobbyto Garcia. Yes. Yes. Yep. I don't know how I retain that information.

Yeah. It's the JU Ice. That game has so much good attitude and so much positive attitude. And it like that mother fucking soundtrack. Oh, the soundtrack is so good. Six songs to rule them all. They will never. get old they reminisce over you baby that when that when that instrumental kicks in right at the

very beginning is like then and then then and then that like as soon as you hear that you're like oh it's time i'm about to dunk up the pool it's such a good it's such a good soundtrack for even how little how many songs or how little songs are on there because it feels like you're hearing the same song i literally think there's six songs yeah but they're all like they're all incredible man the other other thing there is i do feel like an earlier alzheimer guitar hero three being the one i feel like NBA street volume two is so much better than one. Yeah. So much better than three. Yeah. You know, it's like, it just had it all. It had it all. It did everything it needed to do.

The street series across NBA, FIFA and NFL, mainly NBA and NFL, because I didn't love the FIFA street games, you know, I know a lot of people out there do love them. Those games are up there, man, for like great games on the PS2 and that generation of console specifically. But even of all time, right, like the street games, I feel like don't get enough credit for how good they are and how well put together. they are as far as like their their gameplay like as competitive games right i like would play NFL street volume two and NFL street one uh with the homies all the time and it never felt like oh yeah this is unbalanced or this is weird like there probably like some things in there as far as teams you can choose that can unbalance the game but the the back and forth of those games is so good and so satisfying and so fun like i'll play anybody in may street volume two right now and be very

excited about it because that game for me is like an everlasting gop stopper of just fun and goodness and so that game for me is a 10 out of 10 easily yeah that game felt so good, especially in 2003. Yeah. It just, it didn't even make sense. It looked so good. It animated so well, yeah. Everything about it was just fantastic.

Where did it go? Yeah, for real. They made HomeCourt, and it just... Same as that's aX, I think. HomeCorp took all of the freaking fun out of it, man. A. Sports Big. A.Sports Big needs a comeback. I think that's like a saving grace.

I think if they want goodwill, they bring back E.A. Sports Big. Yes, I just want to see the opening animation. Big and Skate 4. We heard you. Not voting us the worst company ever. The last one I'm going to add is an easy one. Street Fighter 2. Yes.

Oh, yes. Just straight up, too. I had turbo on my list. It's like the chess of video games. You know what I mean? I just feel like it is infinitely playable. The cast of characters is fantastic. The identity that this game has.

Like that's the thing is like we talk about games being, you know, innovative and like revolutionary or whatever. It's like just the simple idea of what is a fighting game, you think is Street Fighter 2. You know? The health bars, just the way it's presented, the simplicity of the characters, but the depth of having to master all of them. And also just how unique each one of them is, even though there really is only like three or four classes of characters that once you understand the motions of the quarter circle punch or whatever, you can kind of play as a majority of the cast this way or that.

They feel different. It's like Ken and Ryu feel different, even though they are so similar. And you can appreciate that on the most shallow level. or the deepest level possible. And on top of that, there's the backgrounds of the levels, there's the music to each character. There's the boss. So iconic.

Yeah, it's just, it's iconic and it stands the test of time. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, that has been. Some of our 10 out of 10 games, this is a fun one. We still got a post show to talk about it. Do we have a horror thing? We'll see what the kids said. We'll hang out with the comments on YouTube.

What are theirs, right? Oh, yeah. There's going to be a lot of good ones. I want some spicy takes. Leave them in the comments. I want to know what are the crazy games. you think are 10. Tiger Woods,

PGA Tour, 2004. Honestly, there was a Madden game. There was other stuff that we didn't get to break up. That's what I was thinking. It's Madden O'Four and Madden 10 that are the best ones.

I would say PJA Tour is like 2003 or 2003. Somewhere in there. I played the shutout Madden 4. Such a good game. Is that the one with the, actually in the show? We'll talk about the post show.

We're going to the post show, baby. Until next time. Love you guys.