Watch Out For Fireballs!

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium. LINKS OF NOTE: Phantasy Star Retronauts (archive.org/details/Retronauts1-100) The Mimic (www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEJmcOftuIg)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross launch through the latter portion of Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium. It's now time to leave Motavia and head to Dezolis, because the Algo solar system is in peril. Can we fix the systems, retrieve the data, and conquer the Darkness? LINKS OF NOTE: This Guy Fucks (www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uMEE7eaaUA) Amazing Rick and Morty court thing (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkFaIxpbHvM) There is very little on these enigmatic monsters (www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxP_SwZfINc)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross soar through Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium. We're guilty of focusing on Final Fantasy games when we talk about JRPGs because that's mostly what we grew up with. However, concurrently, there was a whole big, important series living and thriving on Sega systems, doing amazing forward looking things before it died an unceremonious death. Phantasy Star IV is considered to be the best, most friendly iteration of the main series, and you should join us to hear about how prescient it was in terms of design. LINKS OF NOTE: Vancian Magic (theevilgm.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/a-…ancian-magic/) Sparkly the Crow (demonssouls.wikidot.com/crow) Man-Thing (marvel.com/universe/Man-Thing) Wild Arms Credits (www.youtube.com/watch?v=muDfmLwBvjM)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Elite Beat Agents and Rhythm Heaven.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross groove to Elite Beat Agents and Rhythm Heaven. This summer, we decided to let our listeners decide which rhythm games we should play. The resounding winners were to non-peripheral Nintendo DS rhythm games that couldn't be any more different. Elite Beat Agents is soaking in charm, but we find a lot of problems with it mechanically and musically. Meanwhile, Rhythm Heaven is drenched in charm, and manages to be in the upper echelon of games we've played for the show. LINKS OF NOTE: Teenage Dirtbags Lit (duckfeed.tv/tdb/my-own-worst-enemy-by-lit) Mega64 EBA (www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXZGzhsS-5I) Nick Fury Enemies (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpio_(comics)) Joey Chestnut (www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0E8ImL4aXY) Diarrhea Planet (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsZzeLlXTQ) EBA all 4 difficulties at once (www.youtube.com/watch?v=1POsLGnIr…L0008802F0A1600FD) Don Hertzfeldt (www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7sxPLhOQk)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Deus Ex: Invisible War. LINKS OF NOTE: Asshole Physics (www.somethingawful.com/news/max-payne-asshole/) Sunglasses at Night (www.it-he.org/deus.htm) Moraff's World (www.myabandonware.com/game/moraff-s-world-2ho) Servile Wars (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servile_Wars)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross link up to talk about Deus Ex: Invisible War. How do you follow up a masterpiece? Almost never with another masterpiece. Invisible War has some real problems, but taken on its own it's a perfectly competent shooter with some really great ideas and a fantastic reveal. Don't expect a game that redefines any genres, and you'll be fine. LINKS OF NOTE: DX Bartender (www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKF0IYwhrjk) Post Mortem (www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGIdYl2oN74) Grey Goo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo) Bender Grey Goo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benderama) Stroke 9 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIeOUe6BCFs) Kidneythieves (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidneythieves) Duck Squeeze (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHc288IPFzk)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Day of the Tentacle.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross experiment with Day of the Tentacle. It's a time-hopping, interactive Looney Toon that's also LucasArts at the height of their powers... We revisit the world of Maniac Mansion to solve adventure game puzzles with the added twist of causality logic, visiting Colonial America and the distant, tentacle-run future. LINKS OF NOTE: Bernoulli Principle (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle) Bob's Oral History of DOTT (www.usgamer.net/articles/day-of-t…-the-oral-history) Time Gentlemen Please/Ben There, Dan That (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hZDldRHu9E) Retro Game Audio Podcast about Maniac Mansion, With Gary (Retrogameaudio – Maniac-mansion)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Fallout: New Vegas, and then Brayton Cameron joins us to talk about New Vegas mods. LINKS OF NOTE: Top Mods (www.pcgamer.com/25-best-fallout-new-vegas-mods/) Smart Girls (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0SnpN_O00) Original Wrapper (duckfeed.tv/tdb/original-wrapper) iCivics (www.icivics.org/) Class Craft (www.classcraft.com/) Rawls (www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtz-w0Xouo) One Lifebar Run (www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8XLN1N0v…FpRtaOkOFP67j4et6)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross expound upon the many expansions for Fallout: New Vegas. Here, in part three, we visit Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road, the four expansions released for Fallout: New Vegas in the year after the main game dropped. They're varied and diverse, but they contribute to a single overarching story in a way that most DLC packs just don't, really. LINKS OF NOTE: Pretending to Ride a Dog FB Group (www.facebook.com/pretendingtorideadog/) Now You See Me (www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzJNYYkkhzc) Giant McTeague Tooth (malvarez726.edublogs.org/2015/03/03/s…in-mcteague/) Dr Venture (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMMwq2AMgoY) Fallout 2 EPA (fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Environment…rotection_Agency) We3 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We3) Stripe (www.youtube.com/watch?v=26rtbuybXss)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross indulge in the side quests of Fallout: New Vegas. The Mojave wasteland has a wealth of things to do, and we try to cover them all. This episode covers all of the companion side quests, and then goes around to different factions and settlements to take care of errands for them, too. LINKS OF NOTE: Tootsie Pop Native American (www.snopes.com/business/redeem/tootsie.asp) Game Maker's Toolkit on Beyond The Beef (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM1yR7WYqgM)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross take a gamble on Fallout: New Vegas.

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross take a gamble on Fallout: New Vegas. Talking about Fallout 3 this previous winter really put a fire in us... Though we were underwhelmed by the Capital Wasteland in the moment, all roads led back to pining for the Mojave. So here we are, talking about Fallout: New Vegas, a triumph of video game writing and design, where player choice is emphasized and rewarded. This first episode of a monthlong series hits on the main questlines of New Vegas, with an emphasis on the Yes Man and NCR lines, although we address all of the ways the story can resolve. Next week, we'll talk about the side quests. LINKS OF NOTE: Playable Van Buren (www.moddb.com/games/van-buren/do…an-buren-tech-demo) JE Sawyer Mod (fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Josh_Sawyer's_Mod) Distro (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution) Santa (futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Robot_Santa_Claus) Wayne The Skeleton King (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPcYsBB9CTQ) Fallout Lore (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvqm_pPD-…Nbt103xp0PkkUCoPU) David Koechner

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross take Oregon Trail and Typing of the Dead to school (for show and tell). Edutainment is, inherently, kind of lame. We can all smell a "message" coming a mile away. But the best examples can make you forget you're learning, and stand up as great games in their own right. So we've taken a ubiquitous classic of edutainment, Oregon Trail, and paired it with Typing of the Dead, a relic of Sega's weirdest days. And it turns out that sometimes, learning can be fun. LINKS OF NOTE: Chex Quest (duckfeed.tv/abjectsuffering/53) Birthday Sex (www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYMxOzxKYYo) Birthday Checks (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDHrtX66epM) Institute of Play Article (www.instituteofplay.org/2014/11/decon…oregon-trail/) Dumb Dumbs (www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbRZKrvAZ7U)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time and Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara. LINKS OF NOTE: One example of old Unreal Portal guns (www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYgdg1YZx3s) Guardian Heroes (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp37p7Gr_bs) Lodos War (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YiyBat61I4) Odin Sphere (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvU6Y8hjpVc) Enoch 18:14 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzDv8sYX4j0)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross rumble through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time and Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara. Brawlers have a reputation for being simplistic and exploitative. They're a game design born of economic opportunity, engineered to accumulate quarters with frequency. But divorced from that, there are examples of brawlers with surprising depth and ingenuity. Turtles and Mystara are both great examples of the form, chosen by our community of Patreon backers. LINKS OF NOTE: Gelatinous Cube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4tmzwrdTmY) Mystara Megafaq (www.gamefaqs.com/arcade/563201-du…stara/faqs/11489) Battletoads First Boss (www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHgVR0Ykkcc) This shirt I got (www.amazon.com/Actually-Thirties…irt/dp/B0179U84FG) Demon Stone (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nKkPA4KKGg) Our meatballs are eggs (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YTuSzZxdA) Stone Protectors (www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=ch…tone%20protectors) Flatliners (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCm_NMU6Phw) Wounded Knee (en.wikip

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. LINKS OF NOTE: None

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross charge through Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Warcraft III is probably one of the most influential games of all time. There's a lot that came before it, but Blizzard's first 3D real time strategy game came at just the right time to lay the foundation for most of today's competitive multiplayer scene. While we're not much for competition, the single player campaigns of Reign of Chaos do a ton of interesting stuff. Join us as we talk about our first real RTS (we're trying to forget Sacrifice). LINKS OF NOTE: Elephants without trunks or ears (funsubstance.com/fun/51849/elepha…ears-and-trunks/) Strong Bad (www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html) Anakin Skywalker is a character some people take seriously. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnwkE4trA48) Muppets all gathered up (www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpRap-zHZHY&nohtml5=False) Imzadi (www.youtube.com/watch?v=836hXACVsD0&nohtml5=False) Hidden Frozen Throne Level that's tower defense (www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tkyjymRdws)

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Portal and Portal 2. LINKS OF NOTE: Another Cold Morning (comicvine.gamespot.com/transmetropol…g/4000-44857/) Portal 2 Mods (twinfinite.net/2015/02/portal-2-mods-you-need/) Portal Stories (store.steampowered.com/app/317400/) Freaks and Geeks (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJAGxAeV7YU&nohtml5=False) Paris Syndrome (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome)