Episode 119 - Why Always-a Me?

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones. From the Super Mario Brothers Movie. (c) 2023 Universal.

With such a huge week for Nintendo, who else could we get to talk about it but Andre Segers (@andresegers) from GameXplain?

Of course, we start with the juggernaut that is the Super Mario Brothers Movie. On the day of recording, it had just passed the $500 million plateau, and still hadn’t opened in Japan yet. In a spoiler-filled chat, we discuss the plot (does it matter it was straightforward?), the voice acting (such a talking point prior to release) and some of the criticisms the picture has gotten from mainstream film critics.

From there, we talk about the last trailer for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its release in about a month. We look at the new elements in this version, including finally getting some clue about the plot, the game mechanics and how silly the idea was that it was “just a $70 DLC for Breath of the Wild.”

Andre tells us about his trip to the opening of Super Nintendo World in California, although he still hasn’t had the change to go to the park in Japan.

We end with the pain Andre went through to replay Paper Mario Sticker Star on its tenth anniversary. He famously hated the game when it came out and we chat about why there may have been extenuating circumstances then and have his feelings toward the game after all this time.

It was obviously a big week for GameXplain, so we thank Andre for finding the time to do the show again.

Episode Ninety - Paper Mache, Confetti and Kings

Animal Crossing in action (or is that inaction).

We welcome GameXplain’s Andre Segers (@andresegers) to the pod for the first time to chat about past, present and future of some video games.

First up is the new Paper Mario game, The Origami King. It’s a spoiler filled discussion, so if you haven’t finished the game yet, this section starts around 03:10 and goes until 22:36. We discuss the story, the characters (old and new), the bosses, the game play, the music and how it compares to past games in the series, including the loved Thousand Year Door and no so loved Sticker Star.

Then, we talk about the phenomenon that is Animal Crossing. Just how was this the perfect to be released when the world was sequestered in their homes and how even Andre’s mom became an AC player. We talk about the updates, Andrew recreating a movie scene on his island, the ennui that sets in after playing daily for months and what might the future hold for the game. For context, we recorded the show the day before the August update came out.

We discuss the next generation of consoles, did the recent trailers from Sony and Microsoft really make either of us want to get a Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X at launch and what if anything is coming for the Switch the rest of 2020.

We close out with some retro gaming talk, including reminiscing about the Nintendo 64, Sony Dreamcast, text based game and getting Japanese imports. Andre also talked about the upcoming 200th episode of GameXplain’s Real Talk podcast. Check out @Gamexplain on YouTube for much of what we talked about on the pod and more.