Ep 115: A Conversation with Ben Magnet

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Hello and welcome to Episode 115 of a Gamer Looks At 40, I'm Bill Tucker.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And on this episode we take a break from Final Fantasy to fix an unfortunate mistake.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Now back in February of 2024 I was conducting a bunch of interviews for the Final Fantasy

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: series.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately a few of those interviews I missed.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not missed because I didn't do them or I didn't conduct them.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: But I kinda just forgot they were there.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Mind you, I do this myself, the organization at least myself.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I do have Kev and my brother-in-law Pete helping with the interview cutting and what

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I do is when I complete an interview, I send it to them or I do it myself.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And we cut up the interview into pieces and that's how I make the main shows.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But there are always a couple in this process that just don't make it on anybody's

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: date.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're doing five interviews a week sometimes and dealing with kids and work

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: and everything else, things slip through the cracks.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And this week's episode is one of those interviews.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I had a chance to chat with Ben Magnet.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: He's the co-host of the Fake Nerd podcast, the BA POSMAN you show.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a writer for Goan Nintendo and a variety of other things as well, old school gamer magazine.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: He is all over the internet, writing and producing work.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a really talented guy and a really good dude to talk to.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And we were intended to talk about early PC gaming and Final Fantasy because that's what

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I was talking about during the time.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: During our interview, we talked about early PC gaming but then branched off into Pokemon

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Sonic and a variety of other topics, none of which had anything to do with Final Fantasy.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01]: So, unfortunately this conversation never made it to Kevin or Pete or myself and just

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: sat there.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So as I was going through the episodes, just kind of refreshing myself.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, alright, did I get everything a few weeks ago?

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I looked and said, oops, there are no cuttracks of Ben.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: This never made it to anybody's plate.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm fixing this issue now but it's a good news is it.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But the good news is this was a really fun interview that kind of ended up being separate

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: from everything else that I was talking about at the time and really works well as a one-on-one

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: interview in its entirety.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So here it is, my apology episode to the one and only Ben magnet.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for taking your time to chat with me about a variety of gaming topics.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: This is our interview from February 6th of 2024.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's jump into it.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Ben, I appreciate you taking your time to join me to talk about Final Fantasy and PC games.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But before we get started, I'd love to hear a bit about yourself, kind of what you do online

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and projects you're involved with and we'll just start rolling from there.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sure.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So I host a podcast called BaseBriticate POSMAU and I also part of a YouTube channel called

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: BaseBriticate.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It started off as like, POSMAU was a spin-off of a spin-off because I used to do a show

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: called Faker Podcast.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Are YouTube channels still up, but me and the guys were like, we would do this for over

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: almost seven years.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: We're just going to take a very long-highest book because we have a bunch of other side

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: projects.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And POSMAU was a place where I was like, I just want to talk about video games and just

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: nothing but video games.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But in a more chill relaxed, like tagline is the show where we hit POS sit back and

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: just chill.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Nice.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I like that's right.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So I've been doing that for a few years.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Some of the guests I have just recently, I had really episode with a sports YouTuber,

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you're reading treat.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think the crowned my chronic achievement with that show was interviewing Howard Scott

[00:04:08] Warshaw.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, of a town.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, of a tarry fam.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And that episode, one me a very small podcast award called The Snobby, which is something

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: that another podcast does.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It's another small independent podcast and they're like, hey, we're going to try and celebrate

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: other shows and that interview when we the category of Best Interview Show.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So that was really cool.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Very cool man.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: That's a great.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a really fun guest.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I've heard him on other shows too.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a lot of fun.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Really good stories.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm definitely check that out.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you should have seen the face when I got the email back saying, yeah, of course.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to come on your show and talk about it.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I almost died so cool.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I love that.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was I was talking to my fiance and she was like, who was like, you guys made

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: E.T.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, what does that see with spoilers?

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that you did video games.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: She was like, oh, I love that.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Video game.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And also I write for a few video game publications.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I write for the British magazine, a few should give a magazine.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I also write for old school game or magazine.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also have I also write for the website go to tindo.com.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So I am a very busybie if it works.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes, you are.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you are.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And it sounds like a lot of great-great projects.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So awesome.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Glad you're getting out there and doing your writing.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And everyone, I encourage everyone to check out your stuff for sure.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Where's the place?

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there good central location where people can just kind of find all your stuff?

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: You could find it.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So for my writings and my podcasts, you could go.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So for the podcast, of course, go to the Fickner podcast YouTube channel.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Just look up basement arcade, pause menu.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: You'll find everything like the whole playlist there.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, if you turn on your or if you go to your podcast app, choice, just look

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: up pause menu.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We have all the audio recordings there as well.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: For my writings, you can go to obviously Fusion Gaming Magazine.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Our Fusion Retro books.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you could purchase the magazine.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And even if you go to I'm pretty sure it's still up.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The Fickner podcast website, there's a tab on the top that says Ben's blog.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And it has a bunch of my writings,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: where I would write for the OS for the old school game or blog,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: as well as my go Nintendo stuff.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Awesome, man.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're here to talk a bit about the old old days of games

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and the things we played them on now.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I believe you heard a one of my sponsor spots on gamers week asking people to share some information

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01]: about hey, PCs.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I love old PCs.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I have a real heart for it.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't dabble in anymore.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But I really do love it.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And you reached out like, hey, I have some memory.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a question.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: What's the first PC you own?

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: What did you play on it?

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And let's just roll from there.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So the first PC that my family owned,

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and I remember this very vividly was Windows 95 computer.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: OK.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And I woke up one day, this was 1996, my Jew.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I was in kindergarten.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: How I still remember this?

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why I still remember this is,

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I woke up one day.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: My dad and my younger brother, they were already gone out of the house.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, where did they go?

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: My mom's like, oh, they went to go get something.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: We're getting into computer today.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, OK, cool.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I just went outside and just,

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I was just skating around, playing with the neighborhood kid.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And how it felt like hours went by.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you were that small, two hours

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: seems like an eternity.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And when my brother and my dad finally did come home,

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: they sat at the computer.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was just amazed at that.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my gosh, we actually have this computer.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I was like, does that mean we get to play computer games on it?

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was funny because there was a distinction.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Computer games were, you know, games played on the computer,

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: whereas video games were games you played on the television.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Like that.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: That was the difference in my house.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember what kind of computer-wise?

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Who went in 1995?

[00:08:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And then what brand it was?

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I think it was a Dell.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to say, OK.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm like a 99% sure.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: If my memory serves there was a Dell logo on the bottom of the tower.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_01]: OK.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But other than that, I don't remember because what's it?

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: In 1986.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I was in kindergarten.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And they're in kindergarten.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's definitely a harsh memory.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_01]: What was the first game you played on that?

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the first game I played on it,

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say it was due.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Because my dad, when my dad came home from,

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: it was either a computer store that had a massive sale

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: or I live in Southern California.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also looked close to the remote affairplex.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Or there was this giant computer sale at the remote affairplex.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Like this computer fair in a way, it's like, hey,

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: come by computers for on the cheap or 1996 version of cheap.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Because even back then, computers were still expensive.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: We look at prices now.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, that's not that bad.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, it just for inflation.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, yeah, that's how much we were paying back then?

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they were in cheap, absolutely.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And they came home with, I want to say three games.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It was due, it was ABC Monday Night Football

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and an NHL hockey game.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And, but here's the kicker.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So my, even when I was a kid, my family knows that I'm a huge,

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: like when I was that young,

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Sompahedchag was my everything.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted nothing more than a Sega Genesis

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: than something to play Sompahedchag on.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So my dad comes home and he's showing off the game.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: The computer games they could go out like do money-defebel and NHL.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And he goes, okay, now Benjamin.

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I need to tell you something.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a Sonic game available for this DC,

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: but they did not have it at the place

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: where we got the computer.

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So what's gonna happen is when I come home from work tomorrow,

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll make sure to get you the game.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So you will have a game.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_00]: You just have to wait because they didn't have it.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And Alice's a stack is like, wait,

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I could play Sonic on here.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And once we finally blew up the computer,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: we looked at the, you know,

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: we were just playing around.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: We looked at the programs and there was the games tab

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and then there was a demo,

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a bunch of demos for a bunch of different games.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember all what all these games were.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I just remember there's like a,

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, the famous ski game where you ski down the hill

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and the Yaddy comes to you.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, ski free?

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, yeah, there's that.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: There was one with where you played as like a lioness

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and he had to go hunt Zbras in the wild that was,

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember that one.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I just remember there's also,

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to think of, let's say a platformer

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: where you view this big,

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Broly guy and you punch to these green monsters

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and then they were like once they fell down there,

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: like, ribcages would put with the thick stick out

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and there was like green blood.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was so cool.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: What's your game?

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It was just so weird.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But of course the demo that I saw

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that I could,

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: now what's again,

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: stick, kiddo grating,

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: could barely read Sonic CD.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: There was a demo for Sonic CD on that Windows 95.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: On that Dell Windows 95 could be,

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And we turned it on.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I played the first stage

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: which was the only one that was available

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: which I think was like the first whole-level palm tree panic

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and I was like,

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: you can't play Sonic on here

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and I was just amazed

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and true to my dad's word the next day

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: unfortunately he wasn't able to come home until super late

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: but he got Sonic CD.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_00]: He found, because this was back when Sega,

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say in like 96 and that time,

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Sega were important to some of their Genesis

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: or CD games to the PC

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and he came home.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Sonic CD was there

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and that was the game I left on.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: That was my video game.

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_00]: That was the first video game that was mine.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: That was the first video game I owned

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's my favorite video game of all time.

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though that's not the first time I came out of a plate.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't make sense, but I had no idea

[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_01]: they poured it over Sonic games to the PC.

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I had no idea.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: This is the first I've heard of this.

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you're gonna love this

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: because a few months later,

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like,

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: a few months later

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: because once my dad got me soxity that was it.

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That was like, yeah, it was all downhill from here

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but also they were getting my brother and I

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: a few other computer games.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean we got the edge of tape games.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, jumps start for kids.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_00]: There was like this dinosaur one that I absolutely loved.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: 3D dinosaur adventure.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I did dinosaur adventure.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say yes.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say yes.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: That thing is bang.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I had that one on my packer belt,

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01]: on my 486 packer belt.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_01]: When those 3.1, the out was great.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say that was it.

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But it was, you know,

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm bummed down because I remember

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't really remember the entertainment games

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: on that much.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It's more of the, you know,

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: the fun stuff because my parents were like,

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: okay, for fun video games,

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: you only have an hour.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you want to put educational games,

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: then you get, we'll give you a little bit more time

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: because you'll pitch educational.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I also remember that game.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: They got me in a lad in,

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: on a lad in math game,

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: which I'm 99% sure Rob Williams voiced.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it was dead.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Castleneta.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But I had to look that one up.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But oh.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so on CD was like,

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: so on CD was the catalyst.

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And then about a few months later,

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm shopping with my mom

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and we see Sonic and Knuckles collection

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: for the PC as she buys it for me on the spot.

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_01]: That's that's some good parents stuff right there.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_01]: That's some good parents stuff where

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: they recognized you're into something

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and there was not even a question.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: That's, that's really very, very, very cool.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We were just like,

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: we were just shopping through.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say it was like a pig and save

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and like the night in,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say it was pig and save in the 90s.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And there it was.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, Bob, Sonic is she's like,

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: oh hey yeah, as she just picks,

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_00]: it had Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles,

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Sonic the head, Chuck 3 and Knuckles.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And it had like every iteration of Sonic 3 at the time.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was just super excited because when I got home

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and I opened it up,

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: it also came with a comic book.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It came with the first issue of the Knuckles

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: that kid, the mini series that Marci was putting out.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And fun fact, I still have that comic book too.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It is it.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: That's so good.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Or a book edition.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh sure, it's Tara.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you read it a thousand times too because you have to.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You had to read it.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I just flipped it out.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, right, right, right.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: So again, you're kindergarten.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_01]: You're the first second grade.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yes, they'll learn all that.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But even my grandmother was,

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: my grandmother was so sweet.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: She gave, she bought the a song

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: to the head shop subscription from Archie Comics.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Every year, every month I was getting a song

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: to head chakra and then I was just so happy.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was just like, look through the books.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But so many times I'll read through these books

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and then I just read through our read air quotes.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I would look through them so many times.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: The covers would fall off.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh sure, absolutely, absolutely.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I definitely, yeah.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: The first not that I've never got.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Not only the cover fall off, but I'm losing,

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I miss I'm missing a bunch of pages too.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's, it's, I'm sure you remember them though.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: You probably could have I've almost committed to memory at this point.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Those missing pages.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, thankfully before, a little while before Archie and Sega

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and the whole, um, which call it,

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the whole losser with Kenpender's happened.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: The Archie was rereleasing their older books as Sonic Archives.

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_00]: So, thankfully, I do have a completed version of that issue.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I have the entire, cool.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I have the entire printed archives run

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: before Archie stopped printing them

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and then they lost the license to Sonic and they gave to IDW.

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So, or IDW one of the license for Sega.

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Right, right, right, right.

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know what's tonne about Sonic.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I have a friend in the, uh,

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_01]: community, one of the gamers we can meet on games with coffee

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_01]: who's the biggest Sonic fan I know, one of the two.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: There's two who fight for that spot.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And now he was telling me the whole story of like, uh,

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of the comics and that whole loss of the licensing.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was in this world like, I had no, I mean, again,

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_01]: now this was years ago now, but, uh, whole thing is this wild.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, it is a, it is a crazy story, but uh,

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if I could just move my camera,

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I actually do have a little, I don't know if I have like a tiny little,

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_00]: you weren't socked the hedgehog shrine.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if my, my desk is, my dresser,

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to put my popsars really messy, but, yeah, I have, uh,

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a tiny little shrine.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I have a little upset that's not finished,

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, building, being built.

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, what you need to do someday.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Nice, very nice time is the time is the enemy to us all, though,

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_01]: when it comes to that stuff, unfortunately, right?

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. Um, so yeah, man.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So, uh, what other said did you continue with PC gaming?

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Was that something you did like all as growing up or were you,

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: was that more of your entry points,

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_01]: you'd end other consoles and things like that?

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: PC was definitely where I started.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I would play video games before because back, uh,

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: before I moved, when I'm, where in the city where my younger brother was born,

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_00]: we had an extraordinary birth. He had Sega Jasses.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_00]: That was my first introduction into video games.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to say my first introduction to sock the hedgehog,

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_00]: but then of course I saw there's a television show,

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: a few television shows actually, and then, you know, the complox,

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and you know, sock became a very thing in the world.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Um, when we finally got a PC, that's, that was my introduction again because,

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: of course, Song CD, this, uh, sports game,

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: my mom would get me, uh, sock, the, the sock and uncles collection.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And later down the line, I'd also get some arc as they've put it back to the PC.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also remember saving up as a first grader, saving up my money

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to buy Sonic's schoolhouse. Now you would think,

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: it was an entertainment game starring the hedgehog.

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought you got the place on the hedgehog.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Spoiler alert, it sucks.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: It sucks.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: This is really bad.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Looking back on it, it was, and also, you would think for an entertainment game,

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: my parents would be all for buying it.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the reasoning was, but they're like,

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: nope, you're setting up your money for this one.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, but it's Sonic, and I get to learn with Sonic.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And my parents were like, no, you got to save up for it.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So I saved up.

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I even remember, I took the money out of my piggy bank.

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And I counted up all the change I had and actually it went up because I kept saying

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: it was like $30.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And once I got to the magic number of 30,

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I ran into my parents and said, I got it. I got the money.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, no, you don't. I'm like, but it says $29.99.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_00]: That's that's $30, right? You, if this is 99, you just add one more.

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: You're to round number. I have it here. I counted it.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I triple counted it. It's the, I have the money.

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I learned about taxes for the first time.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_01]: No, they made you made the tax on it.

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: No, I think I, I think they were going to it first,

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: but then they saw how distraught I was.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. About how, because every time we went to the store,

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw a price, I thought it was, you know, that price and

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_00]: living California. I didn't know taxes were a thing.

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Taxes are a thing. Oh, no.

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: It's funny. My son, my son is seven whenever he buys something with

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: this money. I always cover the tax on it. I always say,

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll spot you. I'll spot you. Do you actually three bucks?

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think I got you. I can totally see how.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I think after my parents saw how distraught I was, they were like,

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah, we'll pay the tax for you this time.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just like, it's time. We'll cover you.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I was so bummed. I was like,

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: this is a, this is a lie. That was my first.

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Schoolhouse. I'm looking at screenshots of Sonic's

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_01]: schoolhouse. This looks heinous. It is. It was.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I horrible. I think you could just play it now on a band and wear.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I think you can just get it and play it at some point.

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I even want to boot up the game. Like, the first time I boot up Sonic CD

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_00]: or the first time my mom and I installed Sonic CD,

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I was going away because you got to see the opening video,

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: just, you know, the beautiful anime of Sonic Boom.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was just absolutely blown away.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I saw the graphics when I got Sonic R and it was went from 16 bit to 32 bit.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And just for me, I mean, looking back at Sonic R,

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: the graphics are not the best, but to me, you know, when you're a kid

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and you're going from, yeah, totally like that,

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_00]: it was amazing. It's like, the audience can do this.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my gosh, this is amazing. And also the soundtrack was just absolutely there.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I, on my, I felt I still have a bunch of the songs from Sonic R.

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, as I've grown older, I played it again on the Gems collection a few years ago.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, look, Sonic R may not be the best game in the world.

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It's got some problems, but you know what?

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember having a fun time playing with playing it as a kid.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I will dial on the hill that's super Sonic Racing is a banger.

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I have never played Super Sonic Racing, but it's, uh, it's,

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_01]: oh, is that the, is that the 3D one, like a 3D?

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Hang on, it was, it was a Sega Saturn.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like the one Sonic Sega Saturn game, but it was, it was, so Sonic R was, um,

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: obviously it was, it was, it was a Sonic Racing game because you would think it's like,

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: you know what, it's, it's not runs really fast. It should, there should be a Sonic Racing game at

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: some point and which was, which was makes sense, yeah.

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. That was the first one. Is that the one where they, there's one, so last night,

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: um, I mean, if I've a friend of Getson and X level, he was doing a Sonic, um,

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: he con, which is Getson next level. Yeah, I don't think that. He was on the show.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, he's awesome. He did his, he did a, he's a G-Con last, yes, there was

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: his last day and he was doing the Sonic Streaming and he was streaming a Sonic Racing game.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: That was like there was five racers here to pick up with little icons and, and metals

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and badges and the soundtrack was amazing. We all like late 90s house music.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. And I'm like, I want the soundtrack. I am, I was sitting there editing,

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_01]: just listening to the soundtrack and I'm like, this is awesome. Oh, that was Sonic R 100%.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not a car. Okay. So I'm sorry. Good. How funny. I literally last night, I was

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_01]: jamming along with the Sonic R. I was like, this is like legitimate that in late 90s,

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_01]: deep Chicago house. Like, this is eight. Oh, super into this. Oh, no, it was awesome. Like,

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: when I was a kid, I finally got all the chaos generals, not only unlocked the final race track,

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: but also unlocked super sonic. And once I started that race track, you actually got to hear

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_00]: the full version of the song, the super sonic racing. I was like, oh, this is my chair.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the gameplay is, it's, it's a gameplay is not the best, but I will still down the hill

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: that super sonic racing can you feel the sunshine and even radical cities like those are certified

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_01]: bangers. Yeah. I was very, I'm like, I can't, this doesn't look like terribly

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_01]: fun to play, but boy, my enjoy listening to this. This is a lot of that. This is cool.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Which is a good contrast to Sonic's schoolhouse because yeah, that was heinous. And I did,

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: no cool what the heck was going on in that game. I was like, I thought I was going to play

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: as Sonic, but then their like Sonic is like the teacher slash head teacher. It's like,

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: we're, and there's like this, like this math thing where you're walking around a mad room,

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to solve problems, but you have to go find the numbers, which are the answers.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's these just bad clip or at least let's clip part from official sonic games just

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: on the walls as posters. I'm like, this isn't Sonic, this is just so bad.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Really, Rob, I'm looking at this right now. It looks like a nightmare. It looks like a child's

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: nightmare. This is not the Sonic I know, Dan. No, it's not like it doesn't teach. He goes fast.

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[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_00]: today. Of course, due to the fact that I was a huge game in my house as a kid,

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I would tell my friends, I've also told other guests on my podcast based market

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: positive that I somehow want a cosmic lottery where my parents were 100% fine with letting

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_00]: a six year old and a five year old, the five year old being my younger brother played doom

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01]: with no parental supervision. That's great. When you said doom, I keep track and I take

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_01]: notes as we have these conversations and I'm like kindergarten, do what that's good for them,

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: good for them, you know. I think so a little bit of backstory in my dad worked in law enforcement

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_00]: he's retired now. When he would show his games like that, he would make sure that especially

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_00]: when we were super young, he's like now boys you know this is playing pretend, right? This isn't

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: real. They yeah, of course these monsters don't exist. This is a video game. I think we got lucky

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: because we were very we were very we knew we were kind of steeped in reality but then there

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: were times where we weren't steeped in reality. I remember when I was a kid and I was just so

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_00]: much into the Pokemon craze. I was neck deep in Pokemon and I just wanted Pokemon to be real

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: so bad and I even thought that okay because there's like a map of the world, right? You see

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_00]: a map of the world but then I thought to myself but what's on the other side of that? I thought

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that was like oh it's on this is only part this only half the planet and then my dad was like

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00]: not know that's the whole planet, there's no other side we're all this fantasy stuff exists and I was

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_01]: dang it. I love that. I advice Sun's variant to Pokemon now to he's seven so he's right in that age

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_01]: record where he's he loves the cards and everything else and so now by extension I like the cards

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_01]: because he likes the cards so this is we've playing the game and all that. I never grew up a

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Pokemon I'm much older than you I was, but when I was like 96, 97 I was in high school and I kind of

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_01]: miss that wave I was kind of that was like little too kiddie probably for me at the time. Oh no

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's kind of cool now seeing my sun being into it like like my like I probably had friends who

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_00]: were into it back then you know so. It is I will not lie it is definitely a trip

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_00]: being a Jen wonder if you will because I just don't remember the day my parents came home and they

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: had copies of both red and blue and I've been the oldest they have that they let me pick first

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and interesting yeah because they I don't know how I think they were talking with another parent

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_00]: when they were picking my brother and I up from school and that parent was talking about these

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Pokemon games then the second my parents found out that you could that it was a two player game

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you had the SDD two different copies of the game but my brother and I could work together.

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that was enough for her to convince them to buy these games for us because that's what

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_00]: they did they bought both red and blue we both had Game Boyz at the time hard-fought Game Boyz by

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00]: you. Because originally my parents were just one of the ones Game Boy but I wanted my own so

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah you had your own come on and share that they finally were lent it and good thing

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that they did because after I got my Game Boy here comes Pokemon and they're like okay

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: so they come to my brother and I or they call us into the kitchen and there they are on the

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_00]: table so of course I got to I picked red version excuse me I picked up red version which thankfully

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: my brother didn't want because he thought last was was a cool Pokemon he picked up blue and also

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: they bought some late cable because you needed the late cable to play but they bought

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_00]: the third party one but still it worked and it was awesome but once again this came out and

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_00]: we got our games in 1898 we I was in like first second grade at the time still didn't really

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_01]: understand how to play Pokemon. But it was still accessible and fun yeah my oh yeah it's it's funny

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_01]: how my son he he went to a summer camp a couple years ago and he came home and he was like

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_01]: daddy I want Pokemon cards I don't know where because somebody at the summer camp had brought

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_01]: the binder of cards now I live in this world and I know what these things are so he can't fool

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_01]: me too much on this and I'm like dude man I don't know if you do all your chores for the week

[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_01]: and maybe we'll see about getting you know a set or something so he does so I go online I'm like

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_01]: hey internet what do I get my son to play the Pokemon game my want to learn how to play

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I get a more starter set with like the battle academy has bored with all the counters so you can

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_01]: play the game yeah and I'm trying to teach my son how to play this game I don't know how to play it

[00:29:33] [SPEAKER_01]: he doesn't know how to play it he can barely read because he's probably five or so at the time

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_01]: and all of a sudden like you know what I need to learn this game for myself it's my wife and I that

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_01]: spent two hours learning how to play Pokemon the card game so I could then teach it to will

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_01]: the next day and we had a blast for him this is actually a lot of fun I never played a deck building

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: game I had friends were being into magic and I have a brother-in-law who's huge at some magic

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_01]: never played a deck building game I'm like this is kind of neat this is kind of fun so

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_01]: fast forward now I bought him I was at PRGE in October I bought Will his first graded Charizard

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_01]: got a nice graded Charizard is first one he didn't go like here's like can I play with this I'm like

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_01]: no you don't take it out the package it's a graded card you're not gonna stand what does it

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_01]: it's really fun so it's a lot of story short it's it's cool to see that still kind of because you

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_01]: have a couple cards up there behind you on the wall there so oh yeah so yeah those are like my

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah those they had like the oversized starter sets to celebrate I once think of this Pokemon's 25th anniversary

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and they had oversized versions of all stars and I hung up my starters from the game so of course

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I have Charmander, Syndicul you probably can't see I skipped Gen 3 and then I went to Gen 4 I picked

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_00]: up that and I started with her twig instead because my I bought the game because a few friends

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_00]: were playing and they said I'm gonna be the starter you be another starter so I got turtweak instead of

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_00]: chim chart and then I restarted my file and I got Jim trying to wait so nice nice but yeah

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_00]: very very very very and it's a hilarious how you and your wife learned how to play the Pokemon

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_00]: TCG because I mean I was in the middle of the Pokemon craze stop telling a Pokemon

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: for a hot second we'll give back to you. No I'm totally fine with this this is fine yeah

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and when I I was at PRGE two years ago and I was looking around and I saw a copy of the game

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Pokemon training car game for the Game Boy color and after you know how to go hit pick it up

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and after 25 plus years of loving Pokemon of falling out of the Pokemon card phrase

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: card phrase and just like looking at it now like you know I'm just give this a shot

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_00]: dude I am so mad because when I was a kid I tried to learn how to play the game so many times

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: my parents were tried to read the instruction manual so many times but they could not make heads

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_00]: or tails of it and every time now I tried to read the instruction manual I will always remember

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_00]: there is this page and instruction manual that says do not read this instruction mail unless you

[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_00]: play Pokemon a few times and I'm like what does that mean? Where how do I get the first version

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_00]: of this instruction manual I want to learn how to play and never happen so I had to find

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_00]: or I had a bunch of Pokemon cards got rid of them when I was like a teenager because you know

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care about Pokemon anymore I'm a teenager now and even when I bought Diamond

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_00]: version I was expecting my brother to grill me about how I was like Pokemon is for children

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_00]: thankfully he did and he saw how I was playing and he said dude you got it oh my gosh

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard this game was so good I'm like what? I was very confused it was what it was like

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and finally after learning how to play the game 25 plus years later

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm now back into Pokemon cards I'm trying to build a tournament deck I'm playing the card game

[00:33:05] [SPEAKER_00]: on my phone I have like I have a friend at my job who gives me a bunch of the code cards for

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_00]: the T-Cythe and even and I'm teaching my fiancee how to play thanks to the T-Cythe

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and thanks to the Pokemon Game Boy Code game that's now on NSO the Nintendo Switch Online service

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm just like it took me this long and this game is actually really fun to play

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and I have having an absolutely lot of fun. It's a lot of fun yeah I said in

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_01]: we play it not often but we definitely we're still getting into like resistances

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_01]: like we're still easier way into like some of the harder things in the game like you

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01]: like resistances and stats effects but he's got the basics and he will play against friends

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and school and stuff and the kids will I know you're not playing it right you're not

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: playing you can't do this you can't have all this yet and he's kind of school and his friends

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_01]: on it which I think is actually very fun but yeah very very cool yes with our last few

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_01]: months so I'd love to chat about again continue on the PC train because what other games do

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: you remember as you were kind of exploring the PC for the first time or even as you kind of

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_00]: continued on what were you what were you into definitely PC was still very limited even when we

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_00]: got a great computer because obviously everyone was my 5-day last forever it got slower I got

[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_00]: bogged down but there's another PC game that I remember playing it was a sports game but it

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_00]: was one of my favorite sports games and it's still a game that I hope very near during my heart

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_00]: it was backyard baseball 2001 you're the 2001 or 2002 but it was the very first iteration of

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_00]: backyard baseball that had the major league baseball license and the official and the teams for the

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_00]: game now for those of you who aren't familiar backyard baseball is a sports game where you play

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_00]: as kids in a literal backyard or backyard or backyard's portal it's just a fun baseball sports game

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_00]: you go you do things in the game you get crazy bats get crazy pitches it's all fun but

[00:35:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the year when they finally brought it in major league baseball they said okay to represent

[00:35:09] [SPEAKER_00]: every single baseball team we're gonna have one player from every team represented as a kid

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and of course what do you go pick your roster you can put those kids on your team now of course

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_00]: there was like the regular fact your baseball cast which was like you know a bunch of fun cookie

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_00]: characters that everyone loves but for me I'm a big Dodgers fan so having of course

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Sean Green I had him on my team but also just to like rub salt in the mood for all the

[00:35:36] [SPEAKER_00]: giants fans that I knew having Barry bonds on your Dodgers team and have him win a backyard baseball

[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_00]: world series in a Dodgers uniform was just like it was good had to be evil cackly not only

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_00]: that Randy Johnson he was my starting pitcher for Arizona because he was playing for the time

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_00]: it backs at the time but it was just so much fun and even now online I've there a time to

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I scroll through TikTok or I'm just like looking through normal or I'm just looking through

[00:36:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Instagram real is just wasting time and there are people who are playing backyard baseball

[00:36:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're just commenting they're having so much fun with it and it's I would say it's a very

[00:36:19] [SPEAKER_00]: not a room there to the room entry game but it's definitely a good first like it's a kids game

[00:36:25] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's a kids game to get kids into baseball video games and then you know if they're interested in

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_00]: that what's like an older than could go to like say it will be the show where the more hard core

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_00]: simulated baseball games but this was more of our cave style and I loved it I even have a game boy

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_00]: advanced version of the game which I still really love even though the PC port is better because you

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_00]: got you have the commentators making better when you commentary you hear when your players

[00:36:55] [SPEAKER_00]: up to that you hear kids go hey you know that's good so I would tell you see that was another game

[00:37:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that was really into jump start for kids with something I liked second grade version specifically

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER_00]: because there was like a jukebox mode in it and I would just like just keep hitting the change

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_00]: button to because the whole point of it was like maybe you put in the right amount of money so

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER_00]: you can listen to the song I just found a weird hack route just like recycle and just like put

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_00]: money in it hit the change button so I could put my hand to listen to the song that liked

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's funny and then it just evolved in one and then Easter morning one day my brother

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_00]: woke up we walked out we walked to the living room because we had this little tradition of

[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_00]: watching this VHS tape with two Easter ish movies on it and we see our dad plugging in our PlayStation

[00:37:49] [SPEAKER_00]: that was our Easter present our big Easter gift was our PlayStation and nice he was kind of

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_00]: grumpy I don't know is because he just woke up late or he forgot to plug it in the night before

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_00]: but he was just like when he plugged it in my brother and I like whoa and he was like okay

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_00]: here's the game this is how you turn on this is what you do don't wake me up and he went back to bed

[00:38:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I love it that's that's definitely a me move here you go set up have fun yeah yeah

[00:38:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and once we got the new PC of course unfortunately songs he didn't it wasn't wouldn't install on that new

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_00]: PC and our PC gaming didn't really go anywhere we tried with half life but my parents were very

[00:38:33] [SPEAKER_00]: much into the whole we can't put games in the computer because it's supposed to computer down

[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_00]: even though that's that's technically not true but at that time it kind of because seemed like

[00:38:42] [SPEAKER_00]: it was the last PC game I ever bought was Sega Smash Pac-Floing 2 I had the first volume for the

[00:38:52] [SPEAKER_00]: second dreamcast but it didn't have Sonic the hedgehog too on it this one did so I got it and thankfully

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I was able it was an easy install a bunch of old jazz games on it which I was happy because

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like cool I can finally start too but then I just moved away from PC gaming all together

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and just focused on consoles because by then we had a PS2 we had an Xbox 360 we had it

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's the game I had a Game Boy Advance Nintendo DS I had a bunch of consoles at that point

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and PC games were just not the grace I tried to get to get into World of Warcraft when

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_00]: it was really big but even then my parents were like they didn't like the idea of playing

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_00]: video games online with other people even though my brother was able to get away with it with

[00:39:37] [SPEAKER_00]: half life it was still very tricky in a way like we didn't know how the servers worked we

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_00]: were because we were like no one was teaching us how to do this at all yeah right right okay I

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_01]: got figuring it out and trying to plug things in and make it work now I totally get that yeah that

[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_01]: makes sense my parental thing it's one thing to have it on your to play a game and be you know

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_01]: contained and anything to be online it's just a different vibe yeah I could totally get that from

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_01]: a parental perspective no that makes sense man yeah this back here baseball never heard of it

[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_01]: looks like looks adorable yes I like a really cute game I remember that era of baseball I was

[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I was a big hockey fan growing up huge hockey fan but I but baseball was a what was the

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_01]: of course the Yankees were you know I whole family or Yankee fans and so I remember that whole

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_01]: whole things that's really cool that they they gave you one real player yeah one real one that you

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_01]: can you get one you use your team up with that's really really neat very very very very hockey

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_00]: see I got no who's your favorite hockey team oh I'm a devil's fan go Kings go okay there you go die

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_00]: always the cut for the first time at the devil's expense I was on the one side I was in California

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01]: and that happened I was at a friend's I was in to mecular like I had a friend's wedding

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_01]: and I was there for a few days and it was right around the finals and I'm ever watching it

[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_01]: in the hotel room just going now Jonathan quick was too literally too quick yeah and yeah it was

[00:41:17] [SPEAKER_01]: not it was not to be it was a nice run and then what preceded what preceded after that was

[00:41:21] [SPEAKER_01]: 10 years of just terrible terrible hockey from my beloved New Jersey devil that was the season

[00:41:27] [SPEAKER_01]: ticket hold for a while I did a podcast for a while yeah yeah yeah yeah I love my my beloved

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_01]: New Jersey devil's finally they're good again oh they're good free right now they're they're

[00:41:38] [SPEAKER_01]: good again you're having a bit of a down year but they're not embarrassment but I'm embarrassed

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah thanks once again to Ben for taking time out of his day to chat with me about all

[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_01]: things games and about his passion for games as well he really loves this medium and it

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_01]: shows whenever anybody talks to him so please check out all of his work his main twitter is

[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_01]: you can be found on twitter at Ben Magnet 27 there's a links there are links to all of his

[00:42:17] [SPEAKER_01]: everything in his main bike thank you very much for checking out this edition of a

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_01]: gamer looks of 40 thanks as always to Kev and Pete for putting up these interviews when I send

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_01]: them to you thank you what's again for listening and until next time just be kind to yourselves

[00:42:35] [SPEAKER_01]: and each other