The Besties - We're Haunted by Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Nintendo’s final year of Switch has been a bizarre mishmash of remakes and spinoffs. Luigi’s Mansion 2 continues that trend, updating the 2013 3DS jaunt for a 2024 audience. Can a decade-old game meet the expectations of Luigi’s Mansion 3 fans? And what other 3DS games should Nintendo update next? Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Two things to get started. One, I have something wrong with my stomach. I don't know what it is. I don't know what caused it. If I just like, if you hear some really strong belching during the episode, that's me, it's okay. Probably all those seeds you've been eating. Number two, number two.

I have not been here the past week and it's because I've gotten a new hobby. I've gotten very into cooking, baking, making fish. And I want to share I think the right way to cook. Okay. Which is you cannot go online and look up recipes. Okay? You have to just cook, you have to figure it out on your own. What have I done that in the past?

It's the only fun way to cook, cook is to not go online. Right. And look up a food guide. Right. And you have to just figure it out on your own. So like, people said to me, they said, Chris, you keep putting salmon in the oven for 50 degrees for four minutes and then eating it, you're gonna get a stomach ache.

And I said, stop texting me the solution. I'm learning how to cook. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't even know ovens could go down in temperature. Wow. Right, like below room temp. Oh yeah, it would have to be colder.

Are you sure that's not the fridge? Oh, my cold oven. Yeah. Oh, it's called a fridge? Pfft. Jesus! Come on! If only there was some resource,

some interconnected database of cooking information. No, that would ruin the fun of cooking. Okay. You're taking a very Russ Frushtick approach to... You want to earn the cooking. ...like not wanting to spoil yourself on food. Yes. But ironically, it sounds like you're eating a lot of spoiled food.

Yeah. Well, I don't think it is like any way to prove that. I have been shitting my brains out. Yeah. Okay. But I think that's because of travel. But I, you know, I finally made like, honestly, y'all, I finally made a cake yesterday and like it was gooey. Yeah. but you would not believe how good it feels to eat a cake knowing that you made it in a way that nobody else has made it before. Yeah, so wet and so cold and so fast. Yeah, really, I mean, I can make a cake

in under three minutes. That's cool, you should open a bakery, Chris, and people come in and he says, I saw a sign on the door that said you can make a cake in three minutes. And then whatever you serve them, it's like, yeah, man, it was three minutes. What'd you expect?

Do you want a basket or a salad? It came all right out of the cold oven. Ready. Cool. This is a bold new era for you, Chris. I'm excited. Oh yeah, I celebrate this man, for sure. I celebrate you.

I'm a Griffin on this one. Oh no, thank you. ["Spring Day in the Garden"] My name is Joseph McRoy and I know the best game of the week. My name is Griffin McElroy and I know the best game of like 2013. My name is Christopher Thomas-Planta and is it Italian? No, I don't know. No. Canceled, canceled. Canceled, we hate it.

Cancel the show. Canceled, we die. My name is Russ Fresh, and I have the best game of the week. Welcome to the besties, where we talk about the latest and greatest in home interactive entertainment. It is a video game club,

and just by listening to my friend have become a member. This week, the continuing adventures of Luigi in Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Remake. Before Chris Plants starts his description, I do want to say in his defense, Italian is a hilarious sounding accent. So I get it. Yeah. No, for sure.

Though that wasn't an impersonation. I was just, you know, some stomach troubles. Oh, sorry. Luigi's Mansion 2 is, he's back, but reversed this time. You enjoyed Luigi's Mansion 3? What if I told you you could play an older version of it? Maybe isn't this good? We'll talk about that and more right after the break.

You know, as you were saying this is an older version of Luigi's Mansion, I just had an image of how much fun it would be if you just played like old man, Mario and Luigi. Like they're just old. If they just kept getting older each year alongside us? Yeah. Oh, that would be fun. That'd be fucking fun, right? Bart Simpson be working at a car dealership right now, you know what I mean? Think about it. Sheesh. Luigi's Mansion.

It's scary. Too scary for Mario. Let's say that. It is really ironic that the guy that is most afraid would be sent in to fight ghosts, which seems like a terrible job for him. Yeah. That's true.

Let me set this up. Because this was actually, if you'll recall, on my most anticipated games list when we started the year. Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is a remake of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon on the 3DS. It was the second Luigi's Mansion game and it has Luigi exploring a variety of different-

Sorry, just to clarify, it wasn't called Luigi's Mansion 2. I'm not 100% sure. It definitely had Dark Moon in the subtitle. I remember that. I remember that, but I'm trying to remember if- Let's see. I reviewed this game for Polygon. No, it did not have the 2. They added the 2 fits. That's interesting. Yes, they did. And it was definitely just Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. Yeah. It was a 3DS Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. Yeah.

It was a 3DS game and it came out in 2013. And it came out on the 3DS as you mentioned and Nintendo has been doing this with a lot of the platforms that maybe people didn't necessarily, I guess people bought a lot of 3DSs, but this game might not have had the reach that the Switch does certainly. So they've ported it over to the Switch, up-res the graphics, hence

the HD part of the title, but effectively, as my understanding is, like, didn't change a whole lot beyond that. The structure of the game is still the same. Um, you go on these like mini quests throughout, again, like five or six of these haunted areas as Luigi, hunting ghosts, sucking up cobwebs, fighting giant spiders, et cetera, et cetera. And the reason that I put it on my most anticipated game in the U.S. is because I loved Luigi's Mansion 3.

I think we all did, correct? Did we all pretty much love it? I liked it. I liked it. It was my favorite version of a game franchise that I do not really care about. Yeah. So I think it is the best Luigi's Mansion game.

Like Pikmin 4 in that way. Exactly, yeah. I think to be clear, something you need to understand about this game is that the formula of it, like the gameplay formula is very much based around the fact that this was a Nintendo 3DS game, right? And so it was designed to be consumed in short chunks,

which is why it is broken down into this mission-based structure, where you have this bunker with E. Gadd in it, you go back there, you give him your ghosts, and maybe you get an upgrade for your shit, and then you go right back out there for another five minute long mission sometimes. Some of them are very, very quick. And then you like go.

Which is cool. Which is fun and cool. Which is so you like go in and it'll be. And you maybe wanna play video games and not watch a short bald man scream at you for five minutes. Yeah, so it'll be very much like go in here, find these gears and you go in and you find the gears

and then EGAG calls you for the millionth time and is like Great job. You're done playing for a little while Come on back home partner and then you zip on back home and you get a score and then you're right on to the next mission Which I I I think is the fatal flaw of this game. It has a lot going for it I think but that structure is so un unenjoyable and also I feel like really takes away from the joy of Luigi's Mansion, which is just creeping around these huge environments

and looking for these ghosts that have all this character and personality, and it's really hard to tap into that when you are being interrupted, literally every five to 10 minutes by this screaming bald man. Oops. Can you describe just the basic gameplay?

Yeah. So you are Luigi, very quickly you get your patented vacuum, your ghost sucking vacuum, what is it, the polter? The Ghostsucker 45. Ghostsucker 45. Ghost sucker 45. So you get the ghost sucker 45, you're wandering around, you got a magical flashlight that you see a ghost, you blast it with your magical flashlight,

and then you start sucking them up with the vacuum, and it's usually kind of like a, almost a bit of a tug of war trying to get the ghost into your thing. It's like a fishing mini game where you're like tugging against the ghost. But that's, I mean, that is a sensible, I mean, that's the main way that you like progress through the game.

I would say maybe even the larger portion of what you'll spend your time doing is like poking around the environment with your tools to see what sort of like secrets you can unlock, what extra cash. There's some really, I think that is what is probably the, what I found sort of the most interesting is there are some really fun, clever little interactions that you can have in the environment that are surprising and like

make each, uh, like make each room feel very, very deliberate and lived in. And that, that is cool. It's fun playing with stuff to see what the vacuum does. There's like, in one of the rooms, there's like a ceiling fan and you use the ceiling fan to like blow this, you use the vacuum to blow the ceiling fan

and like a secret passageway like lowers down from the ceiling. It's like each room is like a little escape room. It's in this aspect specifically, is part of the reason why I found this to be not nearly as appealing as the first game, apart from the mission-based structure, which we mentioned. The game was not designed to have like a shitload

of detritus in it because it was running on a 3DS. Luigi's Mansion 3 has- You can fuck those rooms up, man. So much shit to suck up and like, fuck around with that every single room feels like total chaos, which is like very on brand for the franchise. But the engine just can't handle it here. But more importantly in Luigi's Mansion 3,

not to harp on this, but I am gonna harp on this, in Luigi's Mansion 3, you explore a room and you do all the fun stuff in it and then you leave that room and you can kinda check it off, right? You can say like, oh yeah, I did that room. In Luigi's Mansion 2, you explore that room and then E. Gadd is like, you're done, stop!

And he brings you home and he drops you back at the beginning of the place and then maybe there's some ghosts in that room you have to go back to and beat them in like a little arena battle so that you can get a key to go to the next like it Really really really makes it feel like I'm not having a meaningful exploration This thing I found is really really cool

And now I found it and it's gonna help me in the it really is like the first few times The first few times the first few times that he pulled me out, like it's so rare that I am having fun playing a non-Mario Mario game, you know what I mean? And this whole extended Mario universe usually leaves me pretty cold. And I was actually enjoying myself. You know, I was having the thought like,

this is pretty fun. I could go around this whole house and find everything there is to do. And he gets like, everybody out, don't swim. Everybody out, come on kids. That's enough ghosts for you today. Time for menus. Time for menus.

Just, it is, it is, I get why it is that way, right? Like, I think that what is- I don't get why it's that way. I don't though, because like, you got a lot of money, man. Maybe not now, right? No, but I get why it was this way in 2013. This game does two great things for Nintendo. One, it's just good advertisement

for Luigi's Mansion 3, you know? People put out bad... Free spot we're giving them right now. Bad DLC. I kinda wanna go play it. Yeah, same. People put out bad DLC all the time that ends up being like great marketing for the base game. And people at just reminds me that you're doing that. Do I think that's why they did it? No, no. It also does people real solid of making them grateful for this modern era of video gaming, where you can play just normal traditional games portable whenever you want I think like I kind of

had stopped taking that for granted and there was a period early in the switches life where it was like wait we don't have to cut corners we don't have to suffer we don't have to like make do with mobile games don't don't corners cut cables get out there in the world in your roof. Put up the kickstand, give your friends the little controllers. You know what it reminds me of? Is Metal Gear Solid Game Boy Color Edition, which was a game that we were all, I think we all pretty much fondly remembered the game

until we played it recently. And then we all played it and it was like, oh, this is pretty rough. But when we originally played it recently. And then we all played it and it was like, oh, this is pretty rough. But when we originally played it, we were blown the fuck away by what was capable of being put into, at least I was, blown the fuck away of what was capable to be put into a Game Boy game.

I don't know, yeah, I understand what you're saying. I gave this bad boy a seven out of 10 back in 2013 and I'm gonna let that motherfucker ride. I think that, I think, sometimes I look back at my old reviews and I'm like, man, what was I thinking? This one? I'm like, fuck yeah, 11 years ago, Griffin. You have- Seven out of 10 sounds right.

It's very gratifying, honestly. 11 years- I don't agree with much I thought 11 years ago. 11 years ago, Griffin also had a much better idea for this game. The subhead on the review is, vanVanquishing Ghosts' is still a satisfying enterprise. I just wish I could get to know them first.'" And the game where I get to chill out with some ghosts is Luigi?

That would be sick. I do need to, we have talked a lot, especially this year as we're in sort of like the closing time of the Switch OG, the Switch One. We've talked a lot about like Nintendo's doing so many remakes and they're doing so many remasters and that is always sort of a mixed bag. This game, one, I don't think is like a great game

in general, sort of like structurally and fundamentally, like I don't know that there's a way to remake it that like improves it unless they just like really reevaluate a lot of shit and then you start to get well outside of like remake territory. What they have done with this remake is given it a major graphical overhaul, great. You've got two sticks to play with now

instead of just the one on the 3DS, so like it's still tank controls that don't feel amazing, but consider. They feel real. I fought them the whole time. I could not get into a groove. But imagine also that you didn't have that right thumb stick. And like, it's way worse, right?

And then, that's it. There's no other sort of like, big mechanical updates, no like, real quality of life things on top of those, and they're charging $60 for it. What? Which is $20 more than the Metroid Prime remake, which was a great remake of a great game. It is, I don't know, I usually am not interested

in discussing the like cost of a game in its critical. Yeah, I was gonna say me either, but that's wild. But 60 bucks for this is nut-rageous. I, yeah. There is online multiplayer. There is online multiplayer, which is weirdly like, the structure of this game works better for online multiplayer, right?

Because you just go in with four friends and you do all these arena battles against all of these ghosts, and it's like frantic and wild. And it works pretty well, but it's frantic and wild, and it works pretty well, but it's not like, I don't know, it doesn't connect really in an important way to the core game, and so it just kind of feels like you're spinning your wheels a little bit.

Did you all do the gyroscopic controls, or did you do thumbsticks? I think those are on by default. The gyroscopic ones? Yeah, they are, but I think those are on by default. The gyroscopic ones? Yeah, they are. But I think both are on by default. I tried a little bit, my brain couldn't connect that. There's just something I can't click into about when you press the button

to start using your flashlight, it alters the control scheme to something that's like- Oh yeah, like locks on almost? It like locks, does it lock on? It locks at. It's like contra. Yeah, it like turns you into a contra man. There's also weird stuff where like the X button will tilt your viewpoint up,

but the X button is also how you interact with everything in the environment, which is like, guys, there's so many more buttons. We have so many more buttons now. We have this exciting world of buttons. Surely we could have found a different one for this. I also, I don't wanna pile on, but there is no Gooigi in this one,

which seems also like a misstep. I realized Gooigi was invented after the fact, but the lack of Gooigi- More importantly, there's no local multiplayer. Sorry, split screen local multiplayer. Same console local multiplayer. Sorry, split screen local multiplayer. Same console local multiplayer. So if you do wanna do this scarce graper multiplayer mode,

you need multiple switches with multiple copies of the game, which like, that's not how we do things around these parts. Right, but there's also no Gooigi in this game. Another thing to consider. Although if you think about it, Luigi is in a way his own Gooigi. I hate thinking about that. Every time you bring it up, I hate it.

I think I am sore about this one because if you were to ask me, I love the 3DS. The 3DS is one of my favorite consoles ever. I have an extensive 3DS game collection. This is so far down the list of games that I would want remade on this Switch. I can't even see it. There are so many other games

that I feel like could have gotten this treatment way, way, way, way better. That sounds like a good second half conversation. Okay, sure. Oh. Yeah? Well, let's have a first half conversation that we keep putting off,

but I'm gonna just put it out there. Okay. Luigi goes into this there. Okay. Luigi goes into this mansion. He goes into a car. He gets a big vacuum. Okay. He's walk around, spots a few ghosts, busts them.

Yeah. I get it. But then he walks into a room that has real rats in it. Just rats, you know, like the animal. And then Luigi, the brother of Mario, activates the vacuum and just sucks them right up. These living rats sucked into, not only sucked up,

maybe instantly killed, maybe not, but then sucked into like a swirling vortex of ectoplasmic hell that all these ghosts are living in. Yeah, because he doesn't filter them out when he goes back to E. Gadd. No, no, no, E. Gadd does not find them, or he like quietly shuffles the little corpses into a corner like like I'm going to

have to deduct 100 gold coins region this is not serious don't have your double-o license mark Luigi. So just to be clear what you're saying is as the rats are being sucked in what we can't hear because it's tiny little speakers, is the rats yelling, kill me first! Kill me first! Kill me first! I've seen things I should never have seen. I should mention, even with the interactivity, even that is not as good as it should be. I mean, free does it, right.

Yeah, I mean, it occurs to me, this falls into this really weird trough between, on the one hand, if you were there's this like historical aspect of this right like you know it's it's i think it is a a maybe even a moral good to preserve access to experiences and make them accessible to people throughout you know the the future so i think it's cool that you can go back and see what this game was about without digging out the hardware but then at the time, it's like enough is changed in it where it's like not necessarily

a historical document anymore, but not enough is done to like justify its existence. It's just sort of in the middle somewhere. Yeah, I mean, there's ways around that conversation that I think you get into with like pricing specifically. Like I think that with the I think you get into with like price pricing specifically. Like I think that with the work that has been done to this game, like that preservation aspect is like great.

I don't like, gosh, $60 is crazy. It's fucking wild. And they're doing the same thing with Donkey Kong Country Returns is also gonna be $60. Which is just like- I guess so guys, like, all right. But here's the thing. It's gotta be a little bit more scratch, I hear it.

If people don't buy it, I guarantee they wouldn't price it at $60, it sucks, but... I guess not. It's a bummer, but here we are. On the bright side, most of their also legit games are basically the same price, so at least you're in the same mindset. Sure.

Like, I'm not complaining about paying even $70 for Tears of the Kingdom. Yeah. So... Well, that's because of the goodness... How good it is. The good parts of it outweigh the bad parts. Okay, we have a whole second half segment talking about 3DS games that haven't been remade but maybe should should So stay tuned for that

Here's the thing about the 3ds and really the DS as well I would include both of them You know we were talking about like archiving and historical documents whatever What's such a drag about both of those systems is? That it is such a pain in the ass to play a lot of those games because they were made with the like features of those systems in mind and they do not run on a lot of other systems. So I am thrilled every time like a great game that was on one of those platforms, even like a Wii U game comes to a system that I actually can enjoy and have a good time with. And there are actually a few of these games Still left that I think once they come out we can like throw the 3ds in the dustbin forever

The big one for me, and I think we've probably talked about it a lot, but I will re-echo it Zelda link between worlds is besties award winner. All the games ever made. Yeah Unquestionable, just do it. I'm sure it's on their list, I guarantee it. I was trying to remember how much dual screen stuff there is. I feel like there was like the 2D stuff might've been done on the second screen where he was like against the walls and shit.

Yeah, I don't think there was a, I'm getting it confused, there was the DS games, right? Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hearts. Yeah, those are never coming back. Those are never coming back and that's fine. Fine, but there were some really fun kind of puzzles. I'll never forget there's one in, I think, Spirit Tracks where you have a map on the top screen with a stamp on it

that shows you where to go and then you have your own personal map and you have to transfer the stamp over but the game doesn't tell you how to do it and the way that you do it is by closing the 3DS and then the DS and opening it. That was really good. But I don't think, I think, yeah, Link Between Worlds seems like kind of a layout.

Yeah, if they can do Mario Galaxy, they can do Link Between Worlds. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. What else? I mean, you've got both the Fire Emblem, major Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, two of my favorites.

Put those together, baby. Give me a collection. That's a lot of games, man. Well, Fates was like three games, wasn't it? Fates was three of the last games. Maybe even four. Who knows? Yeah, those were really good.

Awakening especially, it was like, I feel like Awakening really set this franchise up to be like, the reason it is still around and the reason they are still making Fire Emblem games, I think is because Awakening on 3DS was a absolute club banger. Fucking Time Babies, man. Time Babies.

I do wanna call out Metroid Samus Returns, which was a game that I know we were all kinda, I loved it, but I think you guys were a little lukewarm on it. That was the remake of Two, right? That was the remake of Two. And I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they were jamming in a lot of controls into the 3DS

that didn't really have a lot of options. If you just make Metroid Samus Returns with all the controls, and I guess, I don't know the engine, but certainly the controls and I guess, I don't know, the engine, but certainly the controls of Dread, like you're cooking with gas at that point. It's the same developer, Mercury Steam made both games and that game is great. It's not as good as Dread, granted,

but I think that is one of the best 2D Metroid games, no doubt. Man, 3DS is so cool. It is. The Switch is good, but like in terms of, and we were just talking about like traveling with games in terms of portability, the, the flip down design. I would give anything to bring that back, man. What if that's the whole bit with Switch? What if Switch 2 is just a Switch, but? You stack it on your first Switch.

It folds. I like it. It just folds. That's it. It's a Switch, but it folds. Folding Switch, that's it. Very large. What do you do with the second controller?

Is there a second screen on it? It's not gonna be very large, Russ. It's a Switch, but it folds. There was both a great version of, in my mind, I think the definitive versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are on the 3DS. That might be, I might be stumbling into some larger Zelda fan base conversation that I'm unaware of.

I think that's fair to say. Majora's Mask specifically runs at more than 12 frames a second, which seems like a good aspect. Huge, yeah. And looks like good. But those are also, I'm pretty sure, both available through the Nintendo Switch Online thing. See, this is where this conversation gets tricky, right?

I can't keep track of who all has re-released stuff, just shoved stuff out without much fanfare. Majora's Mask, the one that's on Nintendo Switch Online, I know because I tried it, is emulating the N64 version, which again, runs at 12 fucking frames a second. It is unplayable. So as far as I'm aware, they have not re-released

the 3DS version of Majora's Mask anywhere else. And that- Who did those? I forget the dev on both of those remakes. Not else. And that, yeah. Who did those? I forget the dev on both of those remakes. Not sure. It's such a fucking, I'm gonna look that up. Props to them.

Griffin, how do you feel about X and Y? I mean, those are two of my favorite Pokemon games. I will say that they already announced, whatever it is, Pokemon Z to A in the last Pokemon Direct. That's like the next big Pokemon game. It's Pokemon Legends Z to A, and the Pokemon Legends sort of Arceus subseries, which is going back to that region.

So, I mean, that's not going to be a remake of X and Y, as much as it is sort of a continuation of that world and that vibe. So like- Arceus is just dead now? Yeah, absolutely. Arceus dies at the end of Pokemon Legends Arceus. That's the legend of Arceus,

as you say, he dies, he gets sick. And it's like Red Dead Redemption 2. I would much rather talk about Radiant Historia, Perfect Chronology, which I think we all have a lot of fondness for. This is an Atlas RPG on the Nintendo DS that is one of, I think, the most highly sought after DS carts out there. It was this absolute fucking gem of a JRPG

that was really groundbreaking on the DS. It's all about hopping between different branches of a timeline as you try to unfuck this terrible situation that has happened, but it's also a, a JRPG where you're doing all that stuff. It is really, really good. They made a 3DS remake of it.

It was also really, really, really good and you just can't find it or play it anywhere. So I would absolutely adore a chance to get that up on the Switch. Cash for one. Yeah, please. Zero escape virtues last reward. Isn't that on?

Didn't they do it? It's on Xbox, that doesn't count. No, if I can't fold it up, it doesn't count. I want it on the new folding switch too. I want a portable. That is not a game that I can, that is not a franchise that I can sit in front of a TV. The first big screen.

Are you kidding me? You play it on Vita. I can play it on Vita while I do something else. Wait, can you play it on your Steam Deck? Yes. Yeah. It doesn't even fold! That's true, it doesn't fold.

No, that's true, it doesn't fold. They haven't done that yet. I think it's on Iowet. I think it might be on Iowet. I feel like this- This is why this conversation is so boring This is so stupid guys. It's so stupid Can we just talk about good 3ds games without worrying about the if the biz dev dudes have been over at Phil Spector's house?

Are you sure Phil Spencer gets that all the time. I bet he loves it too every time. He thinks it's so funny. Oh yeah yeah. We never saw those guys again. Actually you could just pirate the ROM of it. I know! It's just I wanted somebody to say that's a good video game and then we could be like

yes, I did like different parts of it. Like you know, that's it guys, it's just a podcast. Can we get Mario Kart 7? We're not gonna, like, I'm starting to think that we're just never gonna get Mario Kart 9. That they've run the course, that Mario Kart 8, it had an infinite symbol, they're just gonna keep going on it and if that's how it's gonna be,

give me Mario Kart 7, I like that one. How do you guys keep track of Mario games that aren't mainline Mario games? I could not tell you, like, I could not separate any Mario Kart games to save my life. Well, 7 is a mainline... Except super easy. 7 is a mainline Mario game. Mario game.

Yeah. And it was great. It was really, really good. But I feel like 8 has so completely... I don't know. It looks confused. No, the mainline Mario games are Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels Super Mario Bros. 3 And Mario is missing. Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Mario World Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island

Really? You say it because it matters. This is harder than it seems, right? Good on you for saying it out loud. Thank you. Thank you then we got a 64 no, we should keep going keep it going. Keep it going. All right, so you're Mario 64. Uh-huh Is there another 64 one? No, no, it goes right to sunshine. Oh Just sunshine count now Yeah, sunshine does count bad Mainline Odyssey and those are other than that. I genuinely cannot forgot about galaxy one and two forgot about

Boring, so I'm like yada yada Okay, so the problem was you couldn't distinguish between the different Mario Kart games Which granted I can't either. Or the RPGs. Unless there are two people on the kart, in which case I know that it's double dash, but otherwise they all look the same to me. Pretty much.

We got any letters from our friends at home? We did get letters. Aaron wrote in to say, "'So I did the Elden Ring name generator,' which is on Polygon, you can use it yourself, "'and I think I won.' to say, so I did the Elden Ring name generator, which is on Polygon, you can use it yourself, and I think I won. His name was Dork Ringbearer of Lake Poopy.

Crushed it. I don't think you can ask for a better Elden Ring name generator than that. Speaking of Elden Ring, we'll keep it in the same ballpark. We have Tsu. This letter comes from Tsu. I think the main issue with Shadow of the Earth Tree, we were talking about it last week, the DLC for Elden Ring,

is that there are a lot of random enemies that one-shot you. So the frustration level just tips over to, well, this is annoying. It's not really that's hard. But a lot of times, I can't even experience the difficulty because I can't even meaningfully engage in the combat.

Like, I'm also playing Nine Souls at the same time, which is a metroidvania meets Sekiro combat game that came out recently, and it's also hard as balls for me. However, it's at least paced in a way that I can handle it so that it feels like it's my fault every time I die. By the way, highly recommend Nine Souls. It's one of the best metroidvania games I've played since Hollow Knight. Oh shit, I gotta check that out. I will say we were talking about this before we started recording. We were talking about one of the more annoying bosses

in the DLC and how in Sekiro, you could just, if your timing with the block was good enough, you could beat anything, right? So there's an element of pure skill that that game kind of rewards that I think the Elden Ring DLC if you haven't like Explored a whole bunch and gotten a bunch of this this the scadu tree fragments Which I think we've been saying that word wrong this whole time. It's fucking spelled scadu tree. So I'm gonna stick with that

Yeah, I I God bless America. I Don't know. I didn't have that experience. I wasn't getting one shot by a bunch of random guys. But I also, like maybe when I first started, that was true, but I feel like after a little bit that I had become a bit heartier. But I also, again, like invested a lot of my shit in defense and survivability.

It did, as I was reading that letter, it did remind me that part of the reason that I play these games usually as a caster or ranged, granted it's easier, but part of the reason it's easier is because you are not having to fight with the camera system, which is always the weakest part of a From Souls game when you're at the feet of a 60 foot monster and the camera has no fucking clue what to lock on to, whereas I'm just chilling in the back just watching him do his attacks and knowing when to roll and things like that.

I finished the DLC since we recorded last, really fucking hard, Final Boss. Really liked the DLC. There is a forced stealth segment in it that I think, again, doesn't belong in any game, particularly a FromSoft game, hugely frustrating and disappointing segment, but otherwise.

I'm feeling a little bit like Neo in the Matrix right now. I'm kinda, waw, w have not experienced the fourth stealth sequence, but I've been having. Do you all have a compulsion to like, do you have the same compulsion to 100% with DLC like this, or is it like just sort of seeing what interests you? Well, what do you mean by 100%? How thorough are you trying to be,

or is it like, wow, your eyes, I wish the listeners at home could see the intensity you just looked at me. For a From Souls game- It looked like I just asked you if you love your kids. For a From Souls game, I will try to be as thorough as possible just because I love it, and I love their design, and their level of design

does not come around very often, so I wanna enjoy every bit of it. Other than that, it really has to be like fucking exceptional for me to go nuts on DLC. I think that's also a question of like, I 100% to Sekiro many times to try to 100% Elden Ring seems bonkers because of the scale of it. I mean, I got all the achievements,

which wasn't that hard, but yeah, finding every dungeon thing. That's actually something I wish the game had, with some tracker to indicate what you've done and haven't done, or even like the fucking Zelda path of the legend, whatever that was called, where it shows you where you've been versus not. I just want to see new shit. I think that is in there. Isn't it? Isn't it? No. Is it? Are you sure? It definitely does not tell you where you've been with a very handy line, which would be tremendously helpful for me.

Just to close out the Elden Ring talk real quick, I spent like an hour and a half yesterday because there was an area of the map I haven't been to, it's still like shaded, it's covered. And I was like, how do I get down there? I was trying all these different avenues of places I've been, and I was like, well, maybe if this river,

and I spent like a fucking cartographer, like Lewis and Clark, following a ravine to the end of a river to see how I might get down to the base of the river. And then I was reading notes of people saying, go to the castle and pull the crank and blah, blah, blah. And I was having so much fun. That is like an extremely neat-

Wow, that is not the way I thought that sentence was gonna end. I didn't think it was gonna end like that. That's, that's how my brain works is like, I want, I could have looked it up and figured it out in three seconds flat, but the, the satisfaction of like doing all the steps that I thought maybe could work and having it actually land, fucking ruled.

And it felt great. And I ended the night with a rah rah me. Russ, when you're lying in bed at night, do you- With my seamed deck, yeah. No, with your seamed deck and your weird brain like this, do you feel sad that your brain didn't decide to do this about useful stuff, or happy that it didn't decide to do it about bombs and things like that,

like weapons for the government, right? So it's like, I feel like I should just sort of count my blessings that you are in exactly who you are and not in some sort of training program. Yeah, and I'm not 100%ing the cluster bomb technology that's gonna ruin the world. Right. That's a fair point. I have been playing Case of the Golden Idol on my phone. It is out on iOS.

It is a Netflix game. And if you have a Netflix subscription, you can get it for free. And it includes both DLC Chapters which are still like five bucks a pop on on Steam They are they are free and included I still the Netflix thing still doesn't feel dude Right it feels like it feels weird to like I don't know what it is I know they're offering value. It just feels like it feels confusing to me for some reason It is confusing to me how much it is right like case Like, case of the golden idol, fuckin' rules, if you never played it, play it.

If you own Netflix subscription, it's great. I'd never played the DLC chapters. I finished the first one yesterday, it's really great. I've started the second one and it's also fantastic. It's scratching that cerebral puzzle itch and I love it. The extent to which Netflix is offering a bonkers value to which Netflix is like offering a bonkers value for iOS games is, it is truly, truly, truly mind boggling.

I don't understand how it is sort of fungibly solvent because there's like 100 games that you can get and it's not like, I feel like if you look at, look at this collection and then look at Apple Arcade, it is a pretty stark contrast because Netflix has ported a lot of indie games from other platforms and taken some of the biggest titles that is on iOS and putting it under their umbrella. Just to go down the list real quick, if I may,

Death's Door, all the Grand Theft Auto games, Hades, Sonic Mania, TMNT Shredder's Revenge, Dead Cells, Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree, both Oxenfree games, Valiant Hearts, like, there's so, World of Goo is on their braid, the new braid remake, their anniversary edition that came out, like it's so, so, so, so, so much stuff. Moonlighter, that is just like free

if you have a Netflix subscription. I feel like my brain doesn't like compute the value of it sometimes because it is like, it's this Netflix account, and then I'm getting it from the app store, and Netflix is just like this weird go-between that tells Apple, like, it's cool. You can play games for free. And it's like, that's cool,

but I just use you to watch Perfect Match. Why are you telling them that I can play games for free? It's like, I don't know, Netflix is right, the name. They called me that when it was a DVD thing, I don't know. What I love is if you look at the list, you'll see like they got immortality, they got spirit fairer, and then right after that, they've got too hot to handle, love is a game.

So if you wanna scratch that itch. Well, okay, so that's the part that I think is, that's what's smart. I think that's why they can afford to do all the other stuff, because they have what looks like a business plan, which is what like basically they're doing what most movie studios do for film but with games. Have some prestige things that are going to attract critics and the press who will write

about your thing and then have all of the like actual money earners that are based on the properties that people like. So you have, yes you have a money heist game, you have a strangers thing game, you have whatever your big properties are Cocoa Melon game, Shadow and Bone game, you have all of those things that people are actually going to play and are the games that like honestly would have gotten mobile games anyway, right? And those things like would have done well. So I think that they've just, I think they've found a path that like has a logic to it that I just don't ever see from Apple Arcade.

I like Apple Arcade, but it feels like just a grab bag. I never know why I'm getting what I'm getting on that. I agree with that. I think that this is a guess, but I think maybe 5,000 people use Netflix games. I don't think that it is universally taken. Because of what Justin was saying, like there's this weird gap in knowledge and maybe that's a marketing challenge

or maybe it's just like that jumping to another platform thing. I think if you could go to a storefront and I know you could, if you went to the right place on the Internet, whatever. But like if I was looking at a thing that's just like, look at all these fucking games you can play for free right now because your Netflix thing, I think they could charge more for it. But I'm I'm going to tell you what they're going to be doing

over the next like year or two. Are you going to get sued? No, I'm not. I feel comfortable talking about this. There's some things that they're already doing now because more of this like isn't beta elsewhere and there are things that are going to come over. But the goal is to make it that it is seamless playing video games in Netflix as it is watching a show.

So when you are, say you watch through Stranger Things and then an episode ends, it's going to load up the game via a cloud streaming system. And if you're playing it on your phone, you can just play it right away. You don't have to download the app. Or if it's on your TV, what if you could, and this is more theoretical, just have a prompt that tells you, hey pull out your phone, it's connected to the same Wi-Fi, and this is more theoretical, just have a prompt that tells you, hey, pull out your phone, it's connected to the same Wi-Fi, and start playing. The goal is to make it that you are not thinking about going to another store, you're not thinking about going to another app.

You are literally just playing games in the same speed and experience that you would your TV shows. To me, I just feel like they should be working. I think what's interesting, like for me, a dork, the interesting version of that is like more of a second screen type experience where it's like I'm watching the sexy singles switch up in perfect match, but also I'm commenting like I hate these two people.

Everybody else can see it, you know, at the same time, like I hate them too, and we all hate them together. Yeah, well, and I think they're maybe they're hoping. We're choosing which one is killed. You start to play it and then you can do, you can play it however you want. You can have that second screen experience so you can do that.

I mean, it's called fucking Discord, Justin. You can do that right now. I'm sure that's a great perfect match Discord. You're gonna get on the to dumb Discord. I am excited about it. I think it has real potential, but it's all gonna matter on like if Netflix does the thing that it never does, which is marketing. They're doing all this and they're still committed to like the don't market things. that in so far as every time I load up Netflix now, the first thing that pops up is not, check out this Korean reality game show,

this is gonna be up your alley, it's like you can play Bloons TD6, like right now if you want to. I think that maybe it's a question of what they push, right? Do they, I feel like Netflix has a lot of very sort of public facing games that are based on its properties, which is one thing. I think that if you have never checked out this thing and you have a Netflix account and look at the list of games that are available on Netflix, there's going to be shit on there that not only you would want to play that you haven't before,

there's shit on here that I didn't know was on iOS. Like, I did not know that the Braid remaster had even come to, I didn't know Hades was on iOS, but it is, and it's on Netflix, like it is wild. It feels like a rogue cell within Netflix of like, they gave a person or a couple of people who really know what they're doing an absolute blank slate. But whoever is pulling, this is not a corporate level. Netflix the entity, I don't feel the same spirit of Netflix

in these games as I do in their TV slate, right? Someone within the organization really knows what they're doing. But as well as the team's huge. It's quite large and the CEO is like investing in it. But I agree, it almost feels like the C-suite is like protecting it from the rest of Netflix energy. It doesn't feel corporate. It feels like, whoa, these are like all really excellent.

Like even like taste-wise, like the taste level. You know, I think like- I think maybe the first game that they did this with was Into the Breach, which was like, wow. Yeah, it was Into the Breach and also Point P, which was the game that was designed by the Downwell dev, which was great. Yeah, also there's a new Cozy Grove game,

just came out and people can go play it right now. It's a Netflix game, if you wanna play it, that's how you'll go find it. It's called Cozy Grove Grove I believe a spirit scout I mean lost to the wood cozy Grove game I don't even remember an old one oh you didn't play cozy Grove no I don't think so oh yeah there's ghosts right oh the spy Fox game yeah yeah I played China Grove the Doobie Brothers sure yeah yeah I played I played in China girl the Doobie Brothers song. Sure, yeah. And rock band. I played China Girl, the follow up to Top of the Link.

Anybody else been playing or watching anything? Yeah, I've been playing this game called, it was recommended by a Patreon listener, oh, Zero Ranger. Here's how Morgan recommends it. It's a simple shmup on the surface that becomes so much more. The themes of death and rebirth, failure, and attempting to attain enlightenment all culminate in one of the most impactful endings I've seen in a game since Outer Wilds and Undertale.

And you might be thinking, how is a shmup doing that? And it's a great question. I am maybe like an hour and a half into it and I am very much enjoying it. It looks tight. It's like Game Boy Color, like hyper mode aesthetic is pretty sick. This is the year of let's get all the best

to the listeners into shmups. There are so many good ones this year that are kind of like good entry into the genre, shmups. There are so many good ones this year that are kind of like good entry into the genre Shmups. Speaking of Outer Wilds, I often find myself driving to that Outer Wilds music because I find it relaxing and then the last song comes on and I start crying and that's bad. Yeah, that's not ideal. There's no windshield light for us for your eyes. Not yet, anyway. I watched, I saw the TV glow. Oh. Yeah. It's good.

It's a good movie. It is, I think it benefits from not like, not reading up too much on it. No guides, okay. No guides. No, I feel like the thematic, more thematically than the narratively, I feel like the thematic, more thematically than the narratively, I feel like the narrative elements

of the thematic elements kind of emerge together, but the base plot is a sort of like wayward couple kids bond over a 90, a fake 90s, like late night Nickelodeon show. Like a Goosebumps. It's like a, well, it's more specific. Bucky the Vampire meets Are You Afraid of the Dark. Yes, it's in that vein.

And basically, in watching it, these two people bond and then you follow their lives throughout and how it connects back to this TV show and perhaps some supernatural effects of the TV show that you just gotta watch after that point. But it's excellent. I found it very moving. It is, I would describe it as sort of a horror movie, but more of the, not even existential, but it's more like a... I think existential in like the true sense of... In the legitimate sense. In our bodies, in our lives. It's a cautionary tale, I think.

And in that case, it's like really, I found it really, really moving and super entertaining throughout. It's tense, it's like a not a chill watch, but I found the elements of like, where they have recreated 90s TV, it is, I mean. Uncanny. Stunned. Like as someone who like that was formative for me,

like amazing, like from the font to the grain to everything. Also some of the best to the grain to everything. It's like dead. Also some of the best cameos from 90s. Aw yeah. Amber Benson up in it. What, oh yeah. He's showing up in it. Oh I love that.

That's great. I'm also happy to see Justice Smith doing stuff, man. I love that guy. Detective Pikachu. Yeah. He is actually not the Detective Pikachu. Pikachu is Detective Pikachu. He's The quarry. He is actually not the Detective Pikachu. Pikachu is Detective Pikachu. He's his best friend.

That's fair. Interesting. Anything else? For a wrap? I think that's him. Okay. No Hades 2 update since June 6th. That's a service I'm gonna provide

on the besties I decided. When there is a new Hades to update and I get it I will tell you right so you don't have to check so I got it. Don't worry. I want to I'll check every day I want to mention we have a new Besties bracket battles episode this one being the best best weapons in video games We're gonna throw to a clip right now. But also the thing is-

Moonlight Greatsword is very good. It's very good, and it's in a lot of Elden Ring games. What about Rivers of Blood? Rivers of Blood is very, very good. There's a lot of very good weapons in that game. Can't wait for that fucking DLC. But again, I think those fall in the Red Nine category of like, these are just weapons that are useful,

but not necessarily the like ultimate weapon. And this gun, this weapon, this sword, you can only get by beating the final boss of the game. Right. That was the point I was going to make is it's a Transmog essentially from the final boss's like, drop. And so it's like, you can't even really use it unless you're a new game plus, right? Or oh, yeah, that's a good point, actually. How am I using it? I've beaten the game and I've used it on New Game,

not New Game Plus, that's interesting. Weird. Oh, I think you can just run out. After you beat the boss, you don't have to end it. You just leave. How heroic. Thank you very much. Just as was foretold.

So you burned our tree down, you killed God, and oh, and you're, oh, you're going. There he goes. Are you sure you don't wanna ascend? We have a multitude of endings for you to, no? Okay. I'm good. What are you doing to all those little mushroom men

over there? Wow, you're killing them over in, wow. Thank you, my lord. We didn't even get your name, Traveler. Russ Freshstick, yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, Russ Freshstick. Thanks, Russ Freshstick tech for all the help. Oh You're giving away the the milk for free Russ you gotta you gotta charge them for that good stuff

That was a fun one to record We have new rest is coming next week and all sorts of stuff If you have what's rest is next week about you know, know yet? Oh yeah, we are diving deep into the catalog of 2014. Hey listen, if you all haven't started listening to the Resties yet, that's where Russ and Chris pick up all the good games that they actually wanna talk about. That's true.

And keep them to themselves and leave the bitter chaff for the four of us. We have a greedy little board. Listen, if you wanna hear about the good games That's all they're talking about over there on Resties. It's whenever I find something really fun I'm like this would be fun to talk about they're like, oh, yeah, baby Yeah, I was great we did oh yeah, you didn't hear that episode Well, are we talking about Steam World Heist 2 on this show or on Resties? It's on this show. We are

Okay, good. We're saving something tasty for this one. I want to thank the following patrons real quick. We have Colby, Scallywags, a brazen bull full of great swords, and Son of a Bagel. Love it. Thank you all for supporting. Thanks to everyone else who has supported and is thinking for supporting. Thanks to everyone else who has supported and is thinking about supporting. Please join us at patreon.com slash the besties.

What are we doing next week? Oh wait, you got to recap. Recap plan. Yeah. Oh yeah. We've talked about so many games. We talked about Luigi's Mansion 2, no Gooigi edition. We talked about the Legend of Zelda link between worlds and the Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, Metroid,

Samus Returns, Pokemon X and Y, a lot of ands here. Radiant Historia, Mario Kart 7, Zero Ranger, the film I Saw the TV Glow, Elden Ring DLC, and last but not least, Case of the Golden Idol and a whole bunch of Netflix games. All right, so that's gonna do it for us this week, except what are we gonna do next week, guys?

Next week, we are taking a look back at the year 2024. Whoa, stepping to the time machine. Specifically, we are focusing on the very best of the first half of 2024. Whoa! Step into the time machine! Specifically, we are focusing on the very best of the first half of 2024. We've got a ton of games that came out, and it's been kind of a ball of a year, surprisingly. I don't think anyone expected it to be as strong as it is, so a lot to

recap. I want to mention, in the comments of this episode and the next episode, we're going to be doing a grab bag episode of games we haven't touched on yet. If there's anything that you want us to check out, please put it in the comments and talk about why it is great, because we are looking for new, exciting games to play. All right, that's going to do it for us for this episode. Be sure to join us again next week for the besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games? Besties!