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Nintendo is a strange, obtuse company, and sometimes they just don't communicate. Well, to be honest, most of the time they don't communicate. It's a problem when you're the most popular Mario Maker 2 level creator who suddenly has his level removed. Before Jeff and J.D. can explain that, though, Jeff will step way, way back in time to talk about Bayonetta, J.D. will explain his experiments with foxes, and we'll hear an age-old argument about, believe it or not, swimming.

Sometimes when Jeff and J.D. are gone for multiple weeks, they have no time to play anything. This is not one of those episodes. In fact, there's very little news to even talk about: people are upset about the new Pokemon? Remedy has the Alan Wake license again? Basically just headlines. Now, what J.D. has experienced with the remake of a classic PS2 game: that's a topic for discussion. Or what the new Mario Maker offers, and how fun it is to return to it, well. You'll just have to listen.

A week after E3 proper and it's time to take a step back and go "okay, but what REALLY happened?" This is that time, for Jeff and J.D. to examine the various conferences (or at least the ones they remember) and say, of course, who won E3. After that it's time to look at the news we've learned since: exactly how that new Star Wars game plays, why Nintendo is making a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, and where the heck Mr. Resetti is going now that the world no longer needs him. It's an important question.

Sure, you could just watch the videos of the conferences, or read a long list of bullet points, but why do that when you can listen to Jeff and J.D. rapid-fire the events of E3 2019 at you in this exclusive, entertaining, exuberant episode? Microsoft's new console! Ubisoft's new Dance Central! Bethesda's... new NPCs! And, of course, an announcement (or two) from Nintendo that leaves J.D. a little TOO happy.

There's a weirdly fine line between "intuitive" and "kind of useless", and Nintendo does love to straddle that line. Today Jeff and J.D. discuss exactly where Smash Bros' new stage builder fails to meet expectations while also being oddly powerful. Then, after Jeff rants about Kingdom Hearts some more, expect a summation of an unexpected remake from the mid-2000s, a couple of announcements coming soon, and a few neat ways that Sekiro might be improving.

Literally only moments before recording this podcast, Jeff and J.D. were treated to a delicious Nintendo surprise: the long-awaited Smash Bros Ultimate update was at last coming, with Joker, Stage Builder, and some other really cool stuff. Of course, before talking about that, there's From Software's latest creation to finalize, Xbox and Playstation's next models to rumornate, and Respawn's next possible hit.

You've probably heard all about that last one by now, but in case you haven't, yes, we're going to get into the consequences of being arrested for cocaine possession as a Japanese citizen. Isn't that crazy? Other than that, don't expect too much news, apart from Nintendo stupidly/cleverly revealing a new Smash Bros feature in a commercial, some more talks about Sekiro, and a pretty detailed history of, surprise, the tumultuous development of a Bioware game. Topical!

Turns out there was a lot to talk about this week, even if there wasn't the most news. Sure, Randy Pitchford was his normal, goofy self, and sure, a long-awaited sequel to a beloved series was revealed and leaked and has all sorts of things to chatter about. But instead Jeff and J.D. will debate the pros and cons of having different difficulties for games, and the odd ways that game development can go way, way off course.

A new From Software game means a new thing for Jeff and J.D. to simultaneously gush over and disagree on. This time it's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is either harder than any of the Soulsborne games, just as difficult, or maybe more frustrating. When the concept of "stealth game" is at last left behind, there's also a ton of PSVR announcements unexpectedly out there, a sequel to an old-as-dirt Steam Engine game, and some really weird indie games.

A service? A system? A stream? Whatever Stadia is, it has a weird name. Jeff and J.D. will give you the lowdown on what Google announced at GDC, plus all of the usual shenanigans you can expect: how Factorio is weirdly compelling, what the heck Dwarf Fortress even is, some things to expect from PAX and, oh yeah, Shadows of Colossi.

Well, Reddit can finally shut the heck up about it: Microsoft announced the Halo Master Chief Collection is coming to PC. Jeff and J.D. will tell you just how little we know aside from that single statement, and then how little we know about why Google is going to GDC next week, what we don't know about Hollow Knight's upcoming physical release, and if we're sure Gearbox is announcing Borderlands 3 at PAX East (we're not, but it's looking more likely).

It goes to show how much Jeff and J.D. know about Phoenix Wright when they continually call him "Ace Attorney", but that's what happens when a formerly DS-exclusive series gets ported to Switch. Of course, they do know much more about HD remakes of PS2 legends, which J.D. is experiencing for the first time. And the rumors about the OTHER Xbox model being revealed sometime this spring, well, they know a little.

Jeff's finally reached the top of Celeste mountain, a satisfying conclusion for him, but what about the rest of the world? It's too busy cancelling bad games, or quitting jobs, or prepping for an unexpected Pokemon announcement. J.D., on the other hand, has been chilling in the world of GRIS, something THQ Nordic probably should have done instead of going to 8chan. What are we even talking about? Listen to the episode for an attempt at an explanation.

It takes real skill to win an Apex Legends game with only one total squad kill, but Jeff and J.D. are capable, proud, and very disheartened that this is the only win they have to talk about. Luckily there are other pressing matters, like the Nintendo Direct last week that has already left them trying out new demos and dreaming about things to come. Plus there is some Anthem schadenfruede to pour over and the new Wildlands update.

Honestly if you've been listening to this podcast for a while you probably know what Jeff and J.D. are going to be hoping for with today's Nintendo Direct. But this time there's evidence, we swear! Meanwhile the boys actually tested Apex Legends and have different opinions than expected, Activision has been going through trying times, and the dead walk through the mall again, even if survivors refuse to.

Jeff finally got J.D. to make his own little online cowboy, and they set off on the dusty trails of Red Dead Online together for the first time. Let's just say that a few people were catapulted off of horses, without naming any names, and leave it at that. It seems Nintendo's finally trying to arrange their own online Smash Bros tournament, and, well, it could probably be done better. Then there's the whole thing with the DK64 stream, which, luckily, we're here to break down for you.

It's suddenly been a month since the last podcast! Blame sickness, holidays, and some bad luck. You may be shocked to find not much happened, anyway, so you didn't really need us! Just, you know, a huge, famous company split from their parent company, and a couple of lawsuits happened. What you really want is to know Jeff and J.D.'s games of the year, right? Well, too bad they didn't play much new last year.

The end of the year is upon us and Jeff and J.D. aren't even hinting at their GOTYs. Is it becuase they've been too busy with Smash Bros? Almost definitely. The rest of the world hasn't been, though: Kingdom Hearts leaked, Heroes of the Storm cancelled, and, most interesting of all, a string of people suing Epic Games. Are they in their right minds? We have a few ideas as to how it'll turn out.

Only two big things really happened over the past week, but they are whoppers. Luckily you have J.D. and Jeff here to give you the full, 100%, top-to-bottom skinny on the new Smash Bros game. Oh, what's that? You wanted to know what was up with that game award show? We gotcha there, too. Plus there's the Sonic movie poster reveal and all that's weird about it, Valve's newest Easter Egg controversy, and this Mario + Rabbids community challenge thing!

Expect yet more cowboy in your future, because J.D. has at last started playing what's probably going to be on a lot of Game of the Year lists. Jeff, having recently beaten the game, has his own opinions--but, you know, you've probably heard most of them. The rest of the world is gearing up for the biggest award show in gaming, while Epic is scheming a new platform, and WB Montreal is working on... something owlish.