Vidjagame Apocalypse

The Switch is finally a thing you can conceivably buy in a store, and erstwhile host Henry Gilbert returns this week to tell us about his experience playing Nintendo's new console for Fandom.com - but first, we start off with a highly contentious list of five of the best non-Mario/Zelda launch games from Nintendo's past. Then we dig into Horizon: Zero Dawn, River City Ransom: Underground, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the secret lyrics to Mario's theme song, and your oldest consoles that still work.

The release of Halo Wars 2 this week set us a-ponderin' about other huge franchises that have wandered outside their comfortable genres, usually in strange and beautiful ways — so we begin this week by focusing on five of the strangest departures ever to come out of a major game series. Then it's on to Halo Wars 2 and Night in the Woods, after which we talk about Switch download sizes, Fallout 4 in VR, and the game characters you think should like each other... THAT WAY.

This episode was recorded in the aftermath of another Valentine's Day, which we mark the only way we know how: by being miserable bastards and getting spoilery about gaming's most tragically disastrous romances. With that out of the way, we dig into For Honor and Sniper Elite 4, talk about E3 getting bigger and earlier, and (finally!) take a stroll through your favorite games of all time.

We've finally made it to 200 episodes of Vidjagame Apocalypse! Join us as we celebrate by throwing out our usual format and instead try to debate, cajole, and vote our way to a highly subjective list of the 20 best games of all time, starting from the 10 respective favorites of Mikel Reparaz, Chris Antista, Dave Rudden, and Brett Elston, and ending with a vague sense that democracy is just the worst.

The release of the throwback-y Double Dragon IV this week pushes us to look back at games that also looked back, despite being modern and not really having an excuse. With TechRadar's Nick Pino in attendance, we dive into five deliberately retro sequels before snickering at the swinging dicks of Conan Exiles, getting excited for Fire Emblem Heroes, mourning the passing of Namco's founder, and talking about the games you'd like to see get a total overhaul.

This is the first really big week of 2017 for new releases, with Resident Evil VII hitting like a proverbial chainsaw to the POV - but before we get to those, Yakuza 0 inspires us to talk about our top 5 crime lords, with help from Michael Grimm. Then Brett Elston joins us (briefly) to talk RE7 from an insider's perspective, after which there's excited chatter about Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Nefarious, Mass Effect Andromeda getting a 10-hour trial via EA Access, and your reactions to the Nintendo Switch.

This week is full of Nintendo Switch news, as Fandom's Bob Mackey joins us to share his hands-on impression of Nintendo's newest console and its games - but first, one of this week's new (re-)releases inspires a Top 5 about games that featured stealing the bodies of your enemies as their main gameplay hook. Then it's on to Gravity Rush 2 (which Bob also reviewed), tons and tons of Switch talk, and the games you're most excited for in 2017.

We’re back in full for a new year, as Fandom’s Henry Gilbert joins us to look ahead to the games slated to come out in 2017 that we’re most excited for. With that out of the way, we move on to Scalebound’s cancellation, some idle speculation and excitement from before the Switch press conference happened, and (finally!) your favorite games of 2016.  

2016 has been a shit year. We won't miss it. But it's nevertheless given us some amazing games, some of which we've been waiting on for years. After a couple of rounds of intense voting, we've come up with our 10 favorites, and assembled an all-star cast of hosts to talk about them, including Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, Nathan Ortega, Michael Grimm, and Brett Elston in addition to the regular crew. It's a long'un, so strap in and find out if your favorites made the cut while we lumber toward 2017 and a (hopefully) happier New Year.

It's almost Christmas, so this week, Telltale Games Community Manager Nathan Ortega and Michael Grimm join us to talk about... games where you play as a dad and protect a kid? Really? OK, fine. We then move on to talking about The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Overwatch's surprisingly divisive character development, Nintendo Switch tech specs, and the Nintendo franchises you'd like to see come to phones.

Dead Rising 4 inspires yet another episode theme, as special guests Henry "Fandom Dot Com" Gilbert and Wes Green joins us to focus on five playable journalists who keep little more than a camera lens between themselves and danger. Then it's on to Telltale's fifth Batman episode, Super Mario Run, Hitman and Overwatch adding holiday content, and the game-character holiday ornaments you'd be proud to display.

It's our first show of December, which means the holidays are nearly upon us. More to the point, Dead Rising 4's Christmasy zombie uprising gives us the perfect excuse to - along with Fandom editor Bob Mackey - look at games in which the annual gift-giving holiday is not only threatened, but totes wrecked. We then talk about THe Last Guardian, Dead Rising 4, The Last of Us Part 2, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, and your favorite Final Fantasies.

Final Fantasy XV is out after a 10-year wait, and we're celebrating the only way we know how: by looking back at our five favorite games from the series' 29-year run. Once we've finished enraging fans with our wrong opinions, we shift our focus to Final Fantasy XV, Steep, Nintendo showing up at Universal Studios, and the games you played over the long weekend.

It's Black Friday here in the US, which means that at least some of you are probably already enduring a retail mosh pit to get a few bucks off a new TV. With that heady whiff of capitalism in the air, we shift our focus this week to some of the most noteworthy merchants in video games, some of whom risk life and limb to sell you stuff in combat zones. We then shift gears to talk about Pokémon Sun and Moon, Monster Hunter as a "cinematic universe," and which games you think would make perfect real-life escape rooms.

The Wii turns 10 in North America this week, pushing us to revisit a strange era of dominance built entirely on first-party games - or was it? In spite of its reputation, the Wii had a whole mess of fantastic third-party exclusives that have never been seen again, and this week we'll talk about five of our favorites with the help of Hank "Henry" Gilbert. Then it's on to talk about important stuff that matters, like the PS4 Pro, Watch Dogs 2, the NES Classic Edition, Nintendo Switch news, and the game characters you'd like to see as president.

Videogame-industry veterans Mikel Reparaz, Matthew Allen, and Chris Antista rally their colleagues for weekly discussions about games, the industry, and the circus of egos and information that surrounds it all.

We're just days away from the 2016 election as of this posting, and "tensions are high" doesn't seem as appropriate an assessment of the general mood as "chaos reigns." Still, we try to keep it celebratory, as Henry Gilbert rejoins the show for a look at five US presidents we can all agree on, if only because their insane policies are confined to the games they inhabit. We then move on to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Titanfall 2, Owlboy, and the games that you think would be a good fit for Nintendo Switch.

Happy Halloweek, everybody! We're... actually cutting our Halloween theme short a week early, because we only get one Episode 187, and we'd never forgive ourselves if we didn't seize the opportunity to reference an ancient Dre/Snoop song by focusing on characters who went into deep cover to investigate crime syndicates. We then move on to Battlefield 1, Civilization VI, and World of Final Fantasy before talking at length about the Nintendo Switch, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the creepiest things that happened to you while playing games.

As our month of spookiness continues, Heidi Kemps joins us to tackle one of our most bizarre subjects yet: SHMUPs (or shoot-'em-ups, or arcade-style shooting games) that ventured beyond familiar sci-fi trappings to confront something much darker than aliens and enemy fleets. We then touch on Eagle Flight and Return to Arkham, get speculative about Red Dead Redemption 2, mourn the loss of United Front Games, and look at the horror movies you'd like to see get turned into games.

Our monthlong spooky theme continues with some of the most understated scares games have given us over the years: mysterious, often unexplained whispers. Sometimes they're part of the ambient sound, other times they seem to target us directly - but they're always creepy. Then it's time for a look at the week's crowd of new releases, including Mafia III, Dragon Quest Builders, and Gears of War 4; excitement at Red Dead Revolver hitting PS4; and a look at some of the times games scared the hell out of you.