Video Gamers Podcast - Games Lost to Time - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh and Ryan are back with another incredible video game filled episode. What ever happened to that gaming franchise? Remember Turok, or Splinter Cell? We dive into the video games and franchises that have been lost to time, discuss what made them memorable, and just why they aren’t around anymore. It’s another awesome gaming filled episode from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Mental health support is the number one reason people are calling 211 for a... At United Way, we wake up to a different alarm every day. Help us end poverty and build a better GTA any way we can. Donate today at unitedwaygt.org. Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. You know, some games crash and burn, others burn bright before simply fizzling out into obscurity. I'm looking at you, Twisted Metal. And yet others might be cult hits, but with a small group of people and just never really warranted a sequel. Whatever the reason, on this episode, we're going to be covering the games or franchises that have been lost to time.

Ones that at one point every gamer had heard of, but now are just whispers of times gone by. We'll be talking about some of our favorites, some we honestly don't really even know what happened to, and maybe a few where we know exactly what went wrong. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh, and joining me, he had perfect dark at the top of his list until I reminded him the remake is coming and he hasn't stopped smiling since it's Ryan this is why I try to not share ahead of time because that was just preliminary like I know this is coming out but I'm excited but it took a long time for them to kind of revitalize this game and then josh of course has to just throw a jab you know that's

that's not what it always is i hear what you're saying ryan yeah it was at the top of your list because that's what i'm so excited for okay but these are games that are lost to time not games that are soon to have an awesome looking remake yeah well we'll see i'll believe it when it comes out that is true i mean although we did get a pretty sick looking trailer was pretty nice dark remake i yo man that yeah that's a game that we didn't even talk about i don't think that's coming this year that's why dude i feel like we talked about it like a year ago and it's still like, you know, crickets. Yeah, there's not much going on there for sure. It's lost again. Where is it? I can't find it.

Is it over there? 2026? You heard anything about Perfect Dark? No. So welcome in, everybody. Thank you for joining us. We have a fantastic episode for you today. There's going to be some games that you probably haven't even heard mentioned in a while. There's going to be some hopes about maybe these games will come back at some point. And there's going to be a lot of like, what the heck happened? Like, what happened to that game, man? So this is going to be a lot of fun.

But man, we are going to start off with a really awesome announcement, something that has us very excited that we kind of want to just announce to the world, to all of our listeners out there, because this is going to be and has already been the catalyst for a lot of really awesome things that everybody is in store for. So a very good friend of ours by the name of John, we are actually bringing on in an official capacity on the podcast or for the podcast to help us out. John is an amazing human. He has a heart of gold. Honestly, his true desire is just to help people in the world. And he's got the heart and the brains to do that. And John has been a friend of ours for a long time. We've been chatting behind the scenes for a while. And we finally said, dude, you need to be a part

of this. And he said, I need to be a part of this. And we all kind of just broed out for a little bit and went, yes, yes, let's do this, man. So John is officially on board. You will see him in our Discord server. You are going to see his influence on a lot of things for this podcast that are coming up. Maybe you'll see him on a show or two. We can't get shown up by other people so you know we're kind of a little hesitant to bring him on the podcast um but just you know being a great friend people have heard ace of shame you know on the podcast from time to time and we kind of have a feeling that john will be you know definitely on the show so that people can get to know him we'll probably make him do a draft with us so that we can just crush him ryan

yes you know in this draft and then just kind of make sure he stays humble at the same time you know so if i if i just have to keep looking at his abs on instagram like it's ridiculous it's annoying so it's got an eight pack yeah i know so like with that man like if i work out forever i get like a four pack maybe and he's just rocking the eight pack yeah so we're just gonna we're gonna destroy him in a draft just uh just to bring him back down to earth yeah you might be like a you know a perfect human specimen but we can kick your butt in video game drafts man so but but honestly uh john is fantastic he's the driving force behind a lot of improvements that are coming to the podcast like i don't know maybe this third episode we're doing every week with

these indie games um maybe coming soon a video podcast what yeah so um some awesome charity events i mean we are hitting it big time. We love the momentum we have. We cannot thank the listeners enough. I mean, honestly, we have been saying this for a while, but we are experiencing something that honestly, I think people dream about, you know, we are seeing this just kind of very astronomical kind of curve in people finding the podcast, people supporting the podcast. Our community is growing leaps and bounds every day. It's really exciting times. And honestly, like we could not be more excited. So, you know, we wanted to just put that out to the world. Thank you, John, for being

willing to join us on this adventure. Thank you for kind of kicking Ryan and I's butts into high gear on this. And listeners, you should thank John too, because there's a lot of really awesome stuff coming because of him. So good stuff. Good stuff is coming everyone's way for sure. Yeah, absolutely. It also means a lot more work for me and you, Ryan. So, you know, we can say this now.

Check in in like three months and then maybe we'll do like a re-intro for John. I'll be like man that guy that guy's got us doing four shows a week i can't do it anymore yeah so awesome but we are very excited we hope that you are excited with us uh one more exciting thing before we actually get into these games that have been lost to time is we have a new epic supporter to thank we i'm just gonna say ollie a uh because we don't have a discord handle or anything else and i don't want to throw your last name out there either but thank you so much ollie a for signing up with epic status make sure you join our discord server uh so that we can send you a proper thank you and get you involved in the community as well.

Yeah, Ali, thank you. Yes, absolutely. And thank you to everybody else out there that supports the show. If you have it on your mind or your heart that you do want to support this show, you can do that over at MultiplayerSquad.com. You can sign up for as little as five bucks a month,

but it really does help the show and it helps us just keep putting this content out there for the world. So Ryan, let's get into it, buddy. Cause you know, there's a certain bit of nostalgia that comes to mind with some of these games. And, you know, we like to kind of go down the nostalgia road from time to time.

We don't always want to stay there cause you know, not everybody's got the nostalgia for some of these games, but you're going to have heard of these and we're going to do our best to explain why they were great. And then what the heck happened, man? Yeah, exactly. Why did they go away? It was so good. Yeah. So it's one of those things too, and I kind of mentioned this in the intro. I feel like some of these games, and not all of them fit into these categories by any means, but there are games

that I think were like cult hits. Like I have one of my lists that I'm going to talk about that maybe not a lot of people know about, but are like, you know, if you know this game, you're going to love this game and you're going to be like, oh dude, I remember that. But I think it just didn't hit real well for a large majority of people, a couple of games that come to mind for me like this or like, uh, undertale is a good one where it's like very, very passionate following of people. But if you haven't played undertale, you're kind of like, dude, I don't get it. If you played undertale like I did and you played a little bit and you went, dude, I don't get it. Uh, you know, that could be one of those examples amori is another game i'm sure a few people just shouted with joy uh that game is

you know very beloved by a few people um and then sometimes we have games that like release with a bang and then just die off right away like it's like they come out firing and then just for whatever reason they just kind of fade into the mist. But we're going to talk about those, man. And we're going to have a darn good time doing it. Oh, yeah. I'm ready. Let's get into it, Ryan. I'm pumped, man.

I'm excited. And I should just say, we just kind of have a list. We're not numbering these. It's not like the number one game that I want to know what happened. So I think this was more just let's kind of talk about some of these games and what happened to them and why they're memorable and why we're actually bringing them up on the show. So why don't you get us started, Ryan? Why don't you bring up a game that is just gone, man? Where'd it go? I'm going to bring up one, and I think this will make some

of the listeners happy because it was a recent deep dive that I had to do. And I'm going to bring up one, and I think this will make some of the listeners happy because it was a recent deep dive that I had to do. And I'm going to come out with a bang here, and pun intended. I'm going to go with Red Faction. Like, what happened to such an awesome game? Obviously, they recreated it to the Red the red faction gorilla uh marsters or whatever um like remaster remasters that's what it was yeah remasters which is just so bad so bad that it's good which i love but i was introduced to this because of the deep dive um and and i absolutely loved it i loved the. I loved the destructive environments.

And it was something that with today's technology and the ability to really create some vast, amazing worlds that you can destroy, you know, create it to knock it down, if you will. Like, why is this not like a series that's continuing? Why are they not making more of this game it's really weird because i have never played a red faction game and you hadn't either yeah i mean we've heard of them like we both are like dude i've heard of the red faction series but then you got forced into playing it and i think it was red faction gorilla yeah and then um you actually quite enjoyed it dude i loved it weird because it seemed like it was very much ahead of its time with the physics and the

destructible environments and and all this stuff and i remember actually watching some gameplay and i went kind of like dude this is this is actually kind of a neat concept yeah and then it just went away just poof yeah yep and Yep. And I think because this is one where they did actually release, I'm pretty sure that they released one called Armageddon, and that Armageddon did not do very well. And so I think what happened is when you start to kind of see, hey, we're onto something, and then it declines, and then you make a sequel, and then that sequel really underperforms,

I think a lot of these studios get shy and they just say oh man this this this series really is not resonating with people anymore so let's just let's just move on and it's kind of sad in a way because that means like money was the deciding factor on what was a really good series yeah and then just like kind of one bad one bad thing man money moves so it's it's just yeah it's it's uh if you don't perform then you know it's just everybody looks at that and it's really hard to get that next kind of okay i know this one didn't do good but we got some really good ideas for this next one you know uh trust me trust me man you know and so when people are says all the time oh gosh don't even don't even get me started but this is a good question right because why isn't ea learning from this yeah right like battlefield right like why

didn't they learn like just let the series die man that's what that's what thq did with red faction and then ea's like nah man we're just going to keep making these. Because you throw enough darts, one of them will be okay? Dinguses like us will keep buying it. Like, well, maybe. Maybe. You know what I hate? I will absolutely buy the next Battlefiend.

I know. Me too. As much as we trash it, it's like, I know. I'm an idiot, man. I'll buy it. You're bringing me down. You're bringing me down. Let's go to the next one.

What do you got? What do you got? Let's go. Okay. So I am going to bring up one of my favorite franchises of all time. And I actually nerded out the other day because I found out that there is a fan made like kind of remastered mod for this game that is free for people to pick up. And that is a series called Deuce X. Dude, Deuce X, the original Deuce X. I remember being, I was probably 12, 13, somewhere around there. Kid in the prime of like, oh my goodness, gaming is the most amazing thing ever. And the original Deuce X is to this day a mind-blowing game. It was so far ahead of its time. It was unreal.

All these people that are talking about, dude, your choices matter. You know, you can approach things in like all these different ways. Baldur's Gate 3, you know, it's one of the things that people love about Baldur's Gate 3 is you can approach any mission, any quest, any challenge in a hundred different ways. Baldur's Gate 3. It's one of the things that people love about Baldur's Gate 3 is you can approach any mission, any quest, any challenge in a hundred different ways. Your imagination is the only thing holding you back. And Deus Ex was one of those games where you could actually

approach a situation from like four or five different angles. And at the time that was mind-blowing dude like nobody had done that uh it's got espionage it's got cybernetics it's futuristic you know you're adam jensen you're this super cool neo-looking dude who's got this good voice actor and you just sound super cool and i just remember everything about this game made me feel like i was some kind of futuristic cybernetic spy, you know, hacking terminals and all this stuff. And then they came out with, uh, I don't remember the exact order. I think it's like mankind divided in human revolution or the other two. I might have those swip swapped as far as the release dates. They try to take them to the next level.

And I think they just didn't quite succeed 100%. I played both of those games and honestly, they're both pretty good. They don't have the magic of the original, but they were still very good video games and you can pick these things up super cheap now. And then it's just like, what the heck happened? This is like Mass Effect or like Witcher or something just falling to the wayside.

Can you imagine if after Witcher 3, they just kind of went, we're done. We're not making Witcher 4. We're good. Now, to be fair, the sequel, Mankind Divided and Human Revolution, were not great, but they were still very good video games. Oh, yeah. But it's like, they weren't that bad, man. It's not like they killed the franchise.

So like, what the heck? I know. where did they go it's so weird because if you ask any gamer you know like of of our age 30s 40s you know in that genre or type age type like everybody knows the name deuce x like you you were familiar you saw that it was released even if you didn't play it like you were familiar with it and for something that was that kind of worldwide transcendent like to just disappear it's just so weird you always wonder like why what happened to to cause this to not be continued like how how do they not see money in this to to make more you know and it's just one of those weird things especially like you said it was totally ahead of its time there was there were so many crazy things that that just blew your mind in

real time playing that game and then just to not get a continuation it's like almost frustrating you're like come on man what the heck they they had it all dude dude. They had stealth. They had combat. They had technology. They had multiple approaches to any situation. They had choices that actually mattered and you would find out later on in the game and stuff like that. It was just gaming perfection, dude. And then two sequels that were maybe subpar to the original, but still pretty good. Yeah. And then it just gone.

That one makes me sad dude deucex was so good man it was yeah all right ryan before we get to your next one let's take a quick break and then we'll uh we'll see what's up next on your list all right welcome back everybody ryan i'm still feeling a little nostalgic for deucex get me get me out of this little bit of melancholy I got going on, man. What you got here? This ain't going to help for sure. Oh, no.

Oh, no. So speaking of like stealth and that type of thing and then just kind of memories and like something that was so big back in the day. And I think a lot of these are going to be kind of, you know, older type games because those are the series that, that after five to 10 years, you're like,

dude, what the heck? Why haven't you made another game? You know, where, where is it? So I'm going to go with siphon filter. Siphon filter is a game that I've never played.

And I see so many people talk about so you got to explain this one to me a little bit you missed out man so the original was in 1999 um the most recent one they had i think was in like 07 or something like that where they the uh some one of the sequels but the the biggest one was the original. I remember it was that kind of, you know, you're used to playing GoldenEye or, you know, as we started the show, Perfect Dark. All these types of espionage, you know, secret agent games, and you're this cool guy. But this was one where you actually, it was that next stage in graphics. So it was that late 90s where things kind of took that next step up. And it was just, there was something different about it to where you could move throughout the world.

You could traverse with the night vision and the combat, the gun. Was this like Splinter Cell? Was this like a spy espionage type game? It was very much spy espionage, just Was this like Splinter Cell? Was this like a spy espionage type game? It was very much spy espionage, just a lot like Splinter Cell. I think almost, I mean, I don't know. I may be totally way off base, and I'm just going off the cuff here, but Splinter Cell may be kind of the carry-on, the spiritual successor, if you will, of Syphon Filter.

I just remember playing it as a kid thinking that it was the coolest spy game i had played up to that time and then it just disappeared i i don't remember playing anymore after that i don't remember hearing anymore after that and it was one of those that just like why did this game disappear like there was so much there and then it's just gone you know and it was just one of those that you're dude i think i think just fits this mold of of this was awesome it hit hard and then it disappeared you know like like a one hit wonder type you know quote unquote type yeah but this is the thing right because it's like i have heard a lot of people talk about siphon filter and I know that this is an older game. Um, I never, this is one that I'm just kind of

completely ignorant to, to be honest, other than the name and other than hearing friends talk about it like back in the day. So it's like, there was obviously something there that resonated with people and then it just went nowhere. And it's like, why like why you know was it fighting in the studio like is that they just couldn't get along anymore and they're like i'm out you know and then it's like the game's just sitting there just like reaching out like but what about me what about me i'm a good game you know make more yeah yeah man you you missed out for sure because it was one of those that at its time for sure was definitely next level. It was something that I remember just this subway level and you're trying to go through these tunnels and you're fighting through this train car and the subway. It was just something I'd never experienced before.

And I was like, this is going to go on forever. This is awesome. I love this game and I can't wait for more of it. And then I never really had that continuation. I know, like I said, there was more that came out, but it just,

I mean, the series just kind of died and, and obviously we don't have any more now. So if it's the old, but it was just, it's just a bummer. I feel like the first splinter cell. And again,

I could be wrong on this, but I, I almost wonder if it was just overshadowed. Like somebody did it better than them. And I feel like the first Splinter Cell, and again, I could be wrong on this, but I almost wonder if it was just overshadowed. Like somebody did it better than them. I feel like that's the general kind of tingle is like they had something and then somebody came along and went, let's let us introduce you to Splinter Cell. Let's do this. Oh, man. Well, because if you hear that sound and I'm going to try to put it in right here.

Okay, that's the splinter cell sound and you know you know what that is you know what that goes to it's just like that you know and that's dude your goggles are up and you're you're going you know you're moving now yeah stealth mode engaged exactly all right well listen everybody i mentioned twisted metal in the intro people that have been listening to the show for a while know how i feel about twisted metal i freaking love twisted metal i played the heck out of that game i i mean i absolutely loved it i played all of them yes they kind of started to fall off twisted metal 2 in my opinion i think was the best one twisted metal Black was pretty good. I think Twisted Metal 3 was probably a disaster.

That is the one series when people say, what's a series you want to see remade again? It's my instant answer. But I'm not going to harp on Twisted Metal because everybody knows, but I had to throw it out there because it wouldn't be an episode about dead games if I didn't bring it up.

I am going to bring up up and this is the other one that i kind of hinted at early on jade empire so i don't know if you guys remember this game dude but this was the height of of bioware uh back in the heyday and um it dude it just came out of nowhere jade empire was basically the game that Bioware. And I think this came out after KOTOR if I remember right. Or KOTOR one. Um, I could have my timelines off a little bit. Honestly, it's not important, but it's like Bioware was in their heyday. They were making just the greatest games that people had come across and they made this game called Jade empire. Dude, I remember this game.

Dude, see, this is what I'm talking about, right? You forgot about it, didn't you? Yes. Dude, you got to be like Kung Fu masters. You could be like, you got all kinds of different weapons. It was like, you got martial arts. It was your choices matter, dude. This was like Mass Effect, but like an ancient, like feudal Japan kind of thing. Actually, I don't even know if it's feudal Japan, but it was like mass effect but like an ancient like feudal japan kind of thing actually i don't

even know if it's feudal japan but it was like action combat to where you were at like you were kicking butt and i just remember thinking like dude this game is incredible great characters great choices great combat that classic height of the you know of bioware where they were just putting out some of the best games ever and then it just they just that was it no jade empire 2 no anything else it was just we made this absolute banger of a video game yeah and then we just never touched it again just like that's it we're good that's plenty i know why like this is one of those ones where like this is mass effect mass effect killed jade empire like they came out and they said hey you know what we have this idea for this this this space kind of game but dude jade empire was so good i loved that game so much man

it's not like this was a bad game this game was a banger and then they just went yeah we're gonna oh oh you mean everybody in the world loves mass effect okay we're just gonna keep making mass effect people and my my sweet sweet jade empire was an empire no more empire no more yeah that's man that's one of those like dude this is uh it's uh yeah looking at these pictures is throwing me way back it's that's what happens when you get these forgotten you know lost in time like people wonder you know even just with i'm a big history buff so like you wonder how how certain things in the world or in history just get lost in time and like a a game like this, the second I looked at the pictures, I'm like, Oh yeah.

Right. Yeah. Dude, look this up. It's going to ring a bell for a lot of people. That's why I said, no, imagine not having computers or the ability to just kind of pull stuff up.

That's how things get lost. Basically is the long of the short for what I'm trying to say. But yeah, man, that, that is a, that's a really good pick. Um, man. Yeah. That's, it's the long or the short for what I'm trying to say. But man, that's a really good pick. Man, yeah.

It makes me almost want to go back and play it, dude. Legitimately, just to like... Am I looking at it through rose-colored glasses at this point? But I don't think I am. That game was awesome, dude. I think at every level, going back to old games, you're always going to have that... If it's nostalgic for you,

you're going to have that little bit of rose tint to them, but some of them still just, even if, you know, comfort of life or certain things don't hold up, uh, because it's an older game. Some of them,

you can still appreciate what it was, you know, and what, what it even is today. Like you're like, you know, this is, this is what it is,

but I still, you know, this is still pretty cool. You know, I love it. That's awesome, man. What do you got up next, Ryan? So I'm going to go with one that I just... Man, for something that in the...

I don't know. I'm not that old, but I'm assuming late 80s. But then all through the 90s, that just was something that was a mainstay in all video games i'm going with megaman oh my goodness i freaking love megaman dude how how can you have so many games within such a small period of time like i let's say late 80s to late 90s. Like, that span to have so many games that I remember personally playing just as a kid. And then even when I was older, going back to play them. And I'll even, you know, go back here and there now. To have so many games and then just poof.

Like, everybody knows Mega Man. Everybody knows about Mega Man. Every gamer knows of the Mega Man games, but why is that series just gone? Where did it go? Where are you at? Where are you? Yeah. And this is weird because I don't... Was Mega Man a straight up Nintendo IP? That was Capcom? Capcom. Yeah, it was Capcom. Mega Man was Capcom if I remember right. For sure. Yeah, yeah. And it's weird to me because I remember playing Mega Man on the old Nintendo.

Dude, the premise of those games where it was platforming, it was shooting, it was boss fights, you got the boss abilities, dude. There may have been other games that did it before then, but that's the game to me that's like, dude, you fight this boss and you beat this boss, you get their ability. And it was like the leaf shield and the bubble and I mean, all that stuff. And it was like, yes, you could play that game in any order. And it was super hard to beat some of those bosses,

like Nintendo hard. Or if you did them in the right order and you got the right ability from one boss, it really simplified the other boss in that case, you know, and then it was like, oh, I'm an idiot. I should have done this in the first place. I should have done this way. The most recent thing I can remember is it's not even called Mega Man. It's 20XX. I think it's free. I can't remember if it's free or not or if it's like very cheap but somebody made a like almost like a remake of megaman and it was just called 20xx and i remember playing it and it was

so good dude yeah i don't know what happened to those man like what's not to love platforming shooting boss fights upgrades abilities like can somebody not bring this into modern times and turn this into we're getting mario games zelda games donkey kong games left and right like give us a brand new megaman yeah and then i know they have like uh the most recent entry i believe is megaman 11 um but that was like all the way back in 8 2018 but it's like man it's been a while and it hasn't been that, well, they're making more games. It's not what it once was. And you're like, Mega Man was huge. It was everything in gaming back then.

And so it feels like it's just gone. It's kind of that lost game. I think if I had to guess in this case, because I do like talking about what happened to them, right? Why did these fail or why did they go away? There's over 130 games in the Mega Man series. Oh my gosh. So is this just simply like you flooded the market, dude?

You know, when you make 130 Mega Man games, like you're going to have an awful lot of them that just don't hit. And when enough of them don't hit, you probably just go, well, we've tapped this series for all it's worth move on to the next uh you know ip and then just kind of go from there but yeah that that makes sense man that's a lot i didn't realize it was that yeah that's great well this is between all platforms game boys portables you know i mean all that stuff too but yeah that it's but that makes dang it right, Ryan. I freaking loved Mega Man.

Dude, I loved it. I had a game on PlayStation, Mega Man Legends. It came out in, I think, like 97 or something like that. And it was definitely one of those that's like a core memory of Mega Man. The older ones for sure, but that was the one that you could just cruise around. It was like open world almost. But I have this very vivid memory still of being a kid and going over to my best friend's house. And we would all try to like beat the boss.

And if you died, you just hand the controller to the next guy. He'd be like, give me a turn, give me a turn. And then it was just next guy up kind of thing. And of course, we'd sit there for hours trying to beat it. But then if somebody did beat it, you were so happy, like you were cheering for your buddy. But then you were also like, dang it, I wanted to be the one. I wanted somebody did beat it, you were so happy, like you were cheering for your buddy, but then you were also like, dang it, I wanted to be the one to beat him.

I wanted to be the one, you know. And it was kind of like, you know, that guy got lifted up and it's like, yeah. And you're like, but I wanted to be the one to beat him. Oh, man. Dude, what a great,

I freaking miss Mega Man, dude. Dude, for sure. All right. What do you got? I'm going to go with just a category of games here okay there's gonna be there's gonna be older people that that really are gonna just just be happy with me right now and there's gonna be a whole lot of other people that are like dude I've heard of these but I've never played them so I don't understand I'm just gonna group it as a

whole and I'm gonna say Sierra games in general oh Oh, dude. When I was a kid, the games that I mean, I grew up on Atari. I grew up on Atari 2600, then NES, then Sega. When we had a computer, we always had a computer because my dad was kind of a tech guy. But when we got like our first, I think it was like a 386. it could actually do graphics and beep beep sounds and stuff. I remember Sierra was one of the first games that I ever played. And I can't remember if it was like Police Quest or Heroes Quest. I don't actually remember the very first Sierra game I ever played. It might have been King's Quest.

These games were the pinnacle of gaming. They were adventures. They had memorable characters. You had to interact with your environment. You had to solve puzzles. Dialogue mattered. So they were always telling this really neat story. And then they kind of started to evolve, right? So there was King's Quest early on where you were just this kind of squire guy walking around this kingdom trying to figure stuff out. And it was always these neat little puzzles where you had to kind of observe things and be like, oh, is that a rock over there? And then you could put the rock in your inventory. And then later on, you'd see a bird in a nest with something twinkling in the nest. And it was like, if you had the rock, you could throw the rock and then the bird would fly away. And then

you'd climb the tree and get whatever the thing out of the nest was. And it was like, they were kind of like, I don't want to call them puzzle games but they had actual puzzles like built into them and then dude then they started to evolve then they turned into heroes quest um which got rebranded into quest for glory for people that may not remember the old heroes quest games um these are the games that i grew up on then they started to branch out because we actually had this conversation they got into like these really kind of funny games, like leisure suit, Larry, where these are like very adult themed, but they were hilarious. You know, like I remember my parents cracking up playing these and they, for being adult, they really didn't show a whole lot

in that case, but it was still like just adult themed. And I remember I was a gamer. I wanted to see the game. My parents were like, no, no, you're not coming in here. But then I played them later on. I'm like, okay, well, these are hilarious, man. Sierra games in my mind were some of the best games that ever existed. The only modern games that I can think of that kind of compare, or if you've ever played like the Monkey Island games, and because they just had had one i think it was two or three years ago uh that like kind of they did their the final chapter of or whatever that's the very similar style i did sierra games they were just the they were like the height of my childhood it was it was this weird thing because not everybody had computers a lot of people had nes's and segas but if you didn't have a computer you couldn't play a lot of these games ands and Segas, but if you didn't have a computer, you couldn't play a lot

of these games. And so it was this rare mix of almost a little bit exclusive, but people that had computers were playing Sierra games, all loved them. And it was just good times, man. Dude, for sure. And it's funny because it shows the broad reach that they had in the longevity. And obviously they're not anything what they were before. But I mean, you say that that was part of your childhood. But also for me, you know, I was born a little bit later. So like the late 90s was when I was kind of in my youth and in my gaming peak, you know, no responsibilities. I can just play games.

And that's when I had like Half-Life and SWAT 3at 3 i remember was like one of my favorite games as a kid and i'm arresting guys and saving people and just those games play different than everything else and and that's um bringing it to something newer that's what i love so much about um uh oh geez now i'm gonna i'm gonna forget with uh with uh uh russia and or not ukraine with oh uh stalker 2 stalker 2 yeah stalker 2 um stalker 2 had a little bit of that old school feel that old school kind of not not to say clunky but like that they didn't hold your hand at all they didn't hold your hand it all, dude. They didn't hold your hand. It was that feel of that old school Sierra game. And that's what I love so much. That's why I love Stalker 2.

And those games, you know, late 90s, that was my peak. And I loved them. So that's cool to see that you kind of had your window with that Sierra games. And I also had my own window with a whole different series of games with that Sierra Games. And I also had my own window with a whole different series of games with the same people, which was so cool, man. It's like, where'd they go?

If they ever want to make a comeback. And I know, actually, the founders of Sierra started working on a remake. I think it was called Crystal Caverns, if I remember that. I need to check back into that. So, because I like answering this question.

What happened to Sierra Games is they got bought out by Activision. They actually merged with Activision and became Activision Blizzard. So there's like, I don't know if this makes me happy. It kind of does in a way because it's like, I mean, we had some really good games from Activision Blizzard. But it's like, there's a little bit of Sierra Games DNA in there. I think so. And I like to believe that that's what made some of these games DNA in there. I think so. And I, and I liked it. I like to believe that that's what made like, you know,

like some of these games, the games that they are. That's funny. No, that's yeah. That's, that's a good point for sure. All right.

What's up next for you, man? Oh man. Um, geez, I'm going to go with one that, uh, gosh,

I, I don't know. I don't know how relevant it is in today's gaming world with how just quick and instant response. Everyone wants everything, and you can't just go and do whatever you want in this game. This is strategic. You have to take your time. You have to make sure that you go go across the river properly you don't want to get dysentery you know i'm gonna say i know what this every every kid who uh had speech

class as a as a child you know their their speech teacher just shuffled you off to the computer which is what mine did and i played organ trail what the heck happened to Oregon Trail, man? It was something that I don't understand. Like, it is such a cool premise and thought of you got to get from here to there. You got to trade. You got to hunt. You got to do all these things. And they could make it such a cool, like, imagine Red Dead 2, but scaled down to where you just got to make this linear path across the Oregon Trail. Why can't we do that?

Yeah. Dude, there's something. There was something about Oregon Trail because it was like the one game that every school computer had hidden. Everybody had it. Yeah. But it was like hidden. It wasn't like, hey, hey everybody go play oregon trail it was your you have like this hour in the library that you're supposed to be doing your school work and everybody would like go over the computers and then the students

figured out like dude if you do this and you do that like there's a game on this computer you'd be like what a game and be like yeah man just type in like you know and this was dos back in the day so it was like you know you got to go to the director and they'd be like dude cd backslash dir star dot you know and then like it'd be like you know run oregontrail.exe like you felt almost like and then sure enough command execute boom organ trail you're like yes yeah and then you got to play games during library or whatever it was so i dude i never killed so many rabbits ever in my life. Oh, and then poor Marsha would always get dysentery and die.

The beauty of Oregon trail, I think was that it taught you, especially as a younger gamer, it taught you like, you better think ahead a little bit, you know, sure. Like buying all the oxen or the,

the food or bullets is a good idea, but like, you better think about some wheels because if you break a wheel and you don't have one, you're all dead. You're dead in the wilderness, man. Oh,

your wagon yoke, you know, all the dude, my, my eight year old self was like, Oh no, I better prep for this. It's like,

well, I mean, it's good. What's funny is there was a recent remake of Oregon trail. I say recent, it's probably been in the last like five or six years. I never checked it out. It's like, I don't, it's one of those games. I just want my memories of sneakily playing it in the library, you know, and trying not to get caught by your teacher. Cause if your teacher walked by and saw that you were playing video games on this computer,

she'd make you shut it off and you know, nobody wanted that. So yeah, Oregon Trail, it's a classic game that oddly has withstood the test of time, even though I don't know if the remake's any good or the graphical improvements that they've tried to make on that. I just never tried it. Yeah, I haven't either. It looks like I pulled some stuff up here. It looks like they released some sort of remake on the Switch in 2022.

Yeah. But it's definitely not. I think the spirit of this episode. I think the magic's gone i think the spirit of this episode is like like these games are not what they once were and like what happened to the series and where is it from now you know because people are gonna be like oh they just released one this you know time but it's like it's not what it was yeah oh absolutely all right dude i'm gonna bring up one of my favorite series of i said this with all time, but it's like, it's not what it was. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. All right, dude, I'm going to bring up one of my favorite series of, I said this with deuce X and it's still to me to this day is one of my favorite series of all time. I'm just going to call it the X-Wing slash tie fighter

games back in the day. Oh yeah. Dude, there was something about being able to pilot an X-Wing or a TIE fighter in space with a joystick on a computer and just dogfight all of these things. They put you in the most impossible situations. These games were hard, dude. I can't tell you how many times I died from just a swarm of TIE interceptors or something like that. And then you started like, you just, you started to become the best pilot ever, man. I felt like Poe Dameron, you know, where it's just like, I'm the greatest X-Wing pilot alive. And I mean, graphically, they were not much. I know that they've done some kind of fan made, like a high res type stuff on on these but there was some kind of crazy just magic back in the day with

playing these games and and shooting down tie interceptors or tie bombers or defending your mon calamari star cruiser against this big assault or something like that and then just when you thought like you know hey i'm finally getting good you get this briefing and this mission where it's like it's time to take out a Star Destroyer. And you're like, wait, like, wait, really? Like a real one? You have to fly your way in. You know, they're sending little squads of interceptors

and TIE fighters after you. And then sure enough, dude, you were cruising along the sides of this massive Star Destroyer and you're blowing up the shield generators. And it was absolutely incredible dude i remember begging my parents to buy a control like a joystick so i could actually fly properly yeah and and i thought i was the coolest thing ever when i had the one that had like the little rocket button on it you know at the top so does yours actually work your joystick worked oh yeah okay

so yeah dude i was i was notorious and thinking back god bless my parents for putting up with me because the amount of times at whatever uh uh sales and and uh uh you know estate sales and garage sales and everything i'm always like let, let me get this, let me get that. And this is... Game stuff and computer stuff, components were not what they are today, ladies and gentlemen. Just telling you right now.

Things were hard to get working back then. You had to have all the right ports and drivers, and it was a little difficult. So, dude, the amount of joysticks that i bought to play like you know uh simulation games or pc you know f22 lightning 3 i was gonna fly fighter jets and i was like i'm gonna have this you know and i went through like three none of them worked i couldn't get them to work my parents didn't know what the heck to do and i was like i don't know what to do and i'm like well i'll just go to the. But man, that's awesome that you actually got one to work.

And then you were playing that game. It was so great. And it's really weird to me. And still to this day, and this is not nostalgia, mind you, they are still the best dog fighting space combat games that I have ever played, like legitimately. And I got so hyped when Star Wars Squadrons came out because I was like, somebody did it. This is my childhood, but in 4K. And it just, they didn't, it wasn't the same, man. I don't know what, it just didn't have the same feeling. Give me a single player game. And I know that game had a single player campaign to it, but it just wasn't, they lost something there. And maybe it was just the difficulty. I don't know. But dude, I really wish that there was an excellent space dogfighting game like that.

And I have tried a few over the years. Some of them are okay. You know, like, oh, they're high speed and this and that. But they're just missing something. I don't know if it's just that they're missing Star Wars or they're missing those sounds of the TIE fighter like screeching, but I don't know. But nothing has ever compared to that. And I have sought it out repeatedly in my adult years. So if somebody knows of a game that is equal to the X-Wing TIE fighter games, let me know because I would love to experience that again, man.

For sure. For sure. All right. Well, I got one here. I think it'll probably be our last one uh for this but um i'm gonna go with the game that also kind of in that that youth time that i thought there was going to be a million in this series because i thought it was such a unique dark take on just a kind of action environment type game, I'm going to go with Max Payne.

Another series I've never played. You never played Max Payne? I know. Really? I'm very familiar with the name. I'm familiar that people love it. I know it's iconic, but dude, just like Syphon Phil,

I don't know. I need to look back and see what I was playing when all these games came out. EverQuest. You were playing EverQuest. That might very well have been it, dude. I didn't need any other video game for years because that was the only one, man.

That was me in the late teens of recent years. All I played was Destiny. So I missed games for three or four years. But dude, Max Payne was one of those where, man, it was that it came out in 01. The first one came out in 01 and it was one of those where it just was taking those new

kind of game mechanics to the next level to where you could have like that slow motion matrix style gun shooting gun battles and it was dark it was gritty there was kind of some you know not the best content for young Ryan but I was going to play it anyways and it was dark it was gritty there was kind of some you know not the best content for young ryan but

i was gonna play it anyways and uh it was it was just one of those that i thought was going to continue on they went to max pain 3 and it ended in 2012 i think it just kind of bled off and they didn't have any interest in making any more but But it was one of those that I thought was going to continue on. And it just didn't. Were these also like spy type games? Like I never played one. So what's like the. You're more.

You're this kind of just kind of beaten up, trodden down detective guy that, you know, no luck. You know, it had that kind of aw shucks, no luck type guy. But you're in this dark, gr world and you're this detective and, and your family was, you know, killed. And I don't want to spoil things that people want to go back to play these games,

but it would, there was something about it. You're basically, you're, you're this detective guy that's going out to kill the bad guys. And, and you're not the best guy either. And so,

um, there was something to it to where it was that mix between towing the line of good and bad. So yeah, man, there was just something there. I actually looked this up because I wanted to see what happened to the series. And basically with this one, Remedy entertainment shifted their focus to alan wake and control so they kind of went we had they made some good decisions i mean it's not you know this is an example of like okay it's kind of like with uh with jade empire it's like i really can't complain that we got mass effect yeah out of that it's like okay i'll take it all right well you

guys ever get bored and want to make a Jade Empire 2, that's fine. But yeah, sometimes, you know, it's funny because sometimes these studios take what they learned. And then instead of trying to continue like a franchise and saying we're kind of beholden to this, I kind of like that sometimes they'll just say we learned a lot of lessons. Now we're going to make a new IP and we're really going to put everything into effect on this. I agree. I think it's smart to learn when to realize that this served its time and

while we appreciate it and we love it, we're going to move on to this now and put our efforts into this and we can make something great. Not to just beat a dead horse, Marvel, with their movies. Movies, yeah. Well, speaking of things reaching the end of their time, right. That is the end of this episode. Everybody. Thank you for hanging out with us. Listen, if there's games

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