Ep 130: AMA and State of the Show Address - Spring 2025

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome to episode 130 of A Gamer Looks At 40. I'm Bill Tucker and this is the Spring 2025 edition of the AMA slash State of the Show Address. Thank you so much for checking out this very strange, random, and hopefully entertaining episode of A Gamer Looks At 40.

[00:00:32] Today I'm going to be talking about what to expect for the next few months from the show and answer a bunch of random questions from my very random friends who asked me, well, very random questions. It's a very strange selection of quandaries here this week. So let's just jump right into what we'll be doing over the next couple of months or so here on A Gamer Looks At 40.

[00:01:01] So, quick personal note. Without getting too much into it, without going too deep into the weeds, it's been a very challenging few weeks for me on a personal level. I don't want to get too much into what's been going on. The topics can be a little triggering for some people.

[00:01:23] So to keep everyone safe as we are listening to the show, I'm going to be very vague about the things that have been going on. Suffice to say, I'm going to have to invest more time into my mental health starting around mid-May. That's about the extent I'm going to get into it. I'm going to be doing a program that's pretty intensive.

[00:01:49] It's a short-term program, but it's something that's going to take a lot of time. So I'm not sure how much show is going to be produced during the next, let's say, basically for the rest of the summer, I would say. I'm safe. Everything's fine-ish. I am not in any danger. So if that's a concern, don't worry about that. But I need to start taking my mental health and my physical health more seriously.

[00:02:18] For my physical health, I've actually started with a personal trainer at my local gym. He's fantastic. I don't feel intimidated by the weight machines anymore, and I just started a couple weeks ago. So that's been great. And to go along with the focus on physical health, I also need to work on my mental health as well.

[00:02:41] So a large chunk of the summer is going to be dedicated to doing just that, which is going to take precedence over a lot of things, including video games and including show stuff.

[00:02:55] So it's a short period. I don't think it's going to warrant an actual hiatus, but be aware that if shows start coming out slowly or start dribbling out, if there's breaks in between, that is really the reason why. So I don't like being inconsistent as a person who creates things. I don't want to be the once in a while post a thing up type of person.

[00:03:20] But and I've never wanted to be that. But I feel like at this stage of my life and at this stage of the game, I need to put some things in perspective. So that is what I am going to do and hopefully come back better, stronger and saner after the experience.

[00:03:42] But for the next round of episodes, next week starts collecting month. May is collecting month. I don't I really tried hard to think of a snappy title, like a snappy M thing for May. And I just couldn't think of anything. So it's just collecting month. It's going to be a series of four, maybe five conversations with collectors.

[00:04:06] We're going to be talking about what they collect, their big gets, the white whales stories behind their video game collections and why they do all of it in the first place. I've already conducted two of these interviews. They were awesome. Some brand new voices to the show, some voices you have heard since the very beginning. It's going to be a really fun range of just stories about the world of collecting retro video game stuff.

[00:04:33] So if you did collecting, this is going to be a fun month for you. And it also gives me time to prepare and complete the interviews for Final Fantasy eight and nine. That is all starting in June. Final Fantasy eight and nine. I'm conducting interviews for that as we speak. They have been very interesting, a wide range of ideas and opinions and experiences. I think you're really going to dig it. But it's not going to be as big as seven.

[00:05:03] Seven is the biggest series I'll do in the Final Fantasy saga. That's just going to be it. There's no way I'm doing 11 episodes on like Final Fantasy 12. Like that's not going to happen. The next biggest will probably be X or 10. But Final Fantasy eight and nine, I'm thinking two to three per based on kind of what I have right now. And I'm going to be pretty selective with what I'm going to include in those episodes.

[00:05:31] That way I can keep these narratives pretty tight while still giving you a wide array of opinions and thoughts and perspectives, which is what I like to do. And then after that, I literally have no idea. I don't know if I'm going to keep going with 10. The Final Fantasy series will definitely include 10. That is for sure. I don't know if I am going to keep on keeping on after that, though. I have to make some strong decisions about Final Fantasy.

[00:06:00] What is really retro? Do I go all the way to 16? Do I stop at 11? Because I'm sure 11 will have some really cool stories. Do I consider 12? Even because you can play 12 on the PS4 and maybe even PS5 at this point. So anyway, I have to make a decision on that, but we will definitely do 10, definitely do 11.

[00:06:20] And then after that, we will see because there are some other episode series I'd like to do on the show before I even consider transitioning to other things. So, yeah. Also, one final thing before we move on to the AMA portion of the show. If you are a patron and are considering becoming a patron, you may or may not know I do two shows on the patrons-only feed.

[00:06:46] One called Rolling Credits, which is a show that I talk about games I recently beat with a fan of said game. And we just talk about the game and descend into non-sequiturs just like we do with Tales from the Bargain Bin. And a second show called The Uncut Archives, where I produce or give you or present the full interviews that make up the cut-up portions of the episode.

[00:07:12] I give you – and what's really fun about those is it allows you to really see how the sausage gets made. A lot of the content in those interviews have been scattered around multiple episodes. But I like to put those in because they are often really good just as regular interviews. And also gives you a little window into what things were like back four years ago when I started doing this show. I always think kind of fun. Like, hey, what were people talking about back in 2021?

[00:07:40] We were still in COVID panic and everything else. So, those are the two side shows that you get if you join as a $5 patron, which is, I believe, the friend tier, I think. I think. I don't remember what they are off the top of my head. But it's the $5 tier, $5 a month gets you those two extra episodes.

[00:07:59] Now, the thing with that is since rolling credits depends on me playing games and I don't get a ton of time to play games, there's never a guarantee you're getting one every month. And there was a stretch there for maybe a few months where there were no rolling credits episodes because I hadn't played any games. That has changed. I've been able to play a lot of games.

[00:08:21] And so, if you sign up for that $5 tier starting next week and for the next at least six months, you are going to get monthly episodes of rolling credits and uncut archives because I have all that stuff. And I'm already starting to interview for those games and I'm getting those into the hopper. So, if you've considered becoming a patron and kind of are on the fence, now is a great time because you'll get all these old episodes and you're going to get extra content moving forward.

[00:08:50] So, patreon.com forward slash agamerlooksat4040 if you are interested. Enough with the self-promotion. Let's go to the Ask Me Anything portion of this episode of A Gamer Looks At 40. So, this time around, I kept my question asking to just my Discord and on Twitter and Blue Sky.

[00:09:19] Not a lot of responses on Twitter and Blue Sky, interestingly enough. But the folks on Discord more than made up for it. So, let's jump right into those. So, mawagak89 on Discord had a bunch of questions for me. So, I'm going to go through them one at a time here. First one, is there any style of game that is an automatic no when I see it? Usually, those are roguelikes.

[00:09:49] If it's a roguelike, I am not a fan of roguelikes. Although, there are a few that I have come to appreciate. I know Vampire Survivors is one of the biggies. I believe they do consider that a roguelike because your progress resets. Another one really is anything that has to do with RTS. I'm not a real-time strategy person. Again, mostly because I don't have a lot of experience with that genre. And I'm sure there are great RTS titles out there.

[00:10:17] If there are some you can recommend, come to my Discord and let's talk about it. Because I don't know the genre well. So, I just avoid it because I know they can be very crunchy and I don't have enough experience with the genre. But as far as automatic no, like, no way. I'm not going to play it. This is simply not a thing I am interested in. I think I'd have to say anything that involves world building. So, for example, like Civilization games.

[00:10:46] Now, I like me some SimCity and SimWorld. Those are SimCity. Those are fun. But anything that requires me to build, like, a planet, that is too much for me. That is too much game. So, those Civilization games are really an automatic no. So, I guess those would be the three. Roguelikes, RTSs, and anything that's like a Civilization-type game where I need to, like, command armies of countries against armies of countries against armies of countries.

[00:11:15] And anything that's multiplayer only. If it's multiplayer only, that's an automatic no for me. Has to have a single-player campaign in order for me to be interested. That's probably the big one. I should probably write these down first. That would be the biggest one. If it's a multiplayer only game, I'm usually not interested. The second question he asks is, What game from your childhood was the most difficult to go back to when you tried it later in life?

[00:11:45] So, this is an interesting question because there's lots of different facets to the answer I could give. Is it most difficult because it was just hard on the old mangled thumbs? Was it difficult because it wasn't as good as I remember? One of those games that was difficult because it's not as good as I remember was Captain Skyhawk on the NES. I played that game at my cousin's house all the time. And I remember really digging it.

[00:12:14] And for some reason, it doesn't hit with me like it did back in the day. It's a very interesting mechanic. I love the fact you have altitude in this kind of, like, vertical side-scrolling shmup situation. But for some reason, I don't have any fun with it whatsoever. So, that's a tough one to go back to. One that's also difficult for other reasons, just because I'm not as twitchy, is probably Marble Madness.

[00:12:40] I used to be really, really, really good at Marble Madness on the NES. I think I've done an episode on Tales from the Bargain Bin. It's been recorded on this show before. And while I'm still pretty good at it, I'm not quite as good at it as I used to be. And that drives me nuts, because I used to be great at Marble Madness. Great at it.

[00:13:07] It was kind of weird that I was good at that strange Milton Bradley game. But, yeah, that's probably the one I would say has been challenging to go back to when I go back to it on the old emulators, for sure. Other than that, though, games really hold up for me, for the most part. Those are the two, though, that stick out very, very strongly. His third question is, when it comes to modern consoles, how do I choose which games to uninstall if I need more space?

[00:13:36] Honestly, I'm shameless. I just, I uninstall. Literally, if I haven't played it in a month, I uninstall it. And I am pretty shameless about it. I have a lot of storage on my PC. I have a lot of storage on my Steam Deck. So I really don't run into this issue too much. But here's a perfect example. There are some games I leave on my PC at all times because I know I can just pick up and play and have fun.

[00:14:03] Doom, the newer Doom was one of those where I can just pick up and jump in at any point. Bioshock is one of those where I can jump in and pick up at any point. And it's not huge. So I'm not taking a ton of space. Let me actually go to my little desktop. My little desktop. My huge desktop. Got a bunch of big old monitors. Big dork when it comes to it. Final Fantasy VI is always on my machine because, again, that's a game I can just pick up and play. New Vegas is always there.

[00:14:31] It never goes away because it's heavily modded. And I don't want to go through all that work again. The days and days it took of me downloading mods and installing them for New Vegas. That never goes away. Vampire Survivors never goes away. Control never goes away. Basically, if it's a fun game to just pick up and play or if I use it to benchmark my computer when I'm doing tweaks to it, those games stick around. Example of a benchmarking game is Dirt 5. I got that game for free from somewhere.

[00:15:01] I forget where. Maybe it was a Humble Bundle. I forgot where I got that game. But it's a neat game and it's a fun one to just throw on the benchmark to make sure things are running properly and make sure my fan curves are correct. Like, do all the geeky piece of the stuff I do. That's the one I like to benchmark with. Even though it's a little older, it's not a terribly demanding game. It's one where smoothness matters because it's a racing game and you have to make sure that the smoothness is on point.

[00:15:28] But if I'm uninstalling it, if I've played it already and it's taking up a lot of space, then it usually goes away. A good example of that is Cyberpunk 2077. When I got my new graphics card in November, I kind of saw the future a bit and said, We're going to have some tariff madness going on, I think. Methinks.

[00:15:52] So it was like Black Friday of last year and I just went ham and basically rebuilt the computer from scratch. And got a new RAM, got a new motherboard, new CPU, new graphics card, the whole nine yards. Got a lot of good Black Friday deals on stuff and saved a good chunk of money. So once I got those games, once I got that new equipment, rather, I decided, you know what? Let me play some games that the thing can use.

[00:16:21] That's why I started Control, which wasn't running well on my old system. Runs beautifully now. And one of those games was Cyberpunk 2077. I got about two and a half hours, maybe three hours into it. And it just didn't hit. I'm just, I don't, again, it's going to be one of those games where I suspect I will try it again at some point and love it. I was playing with keyboard and mouse.

[00:16:49] I don't think that's the way to play this game, even though it is kind of like a first person-y type of situation. I, what broke it for me was I jumped in my car and someone just started shooting me out of nowhere. And I couldn't elude them and reloading the save didn't help. And I'm like, this is not fun. I don't know how to get myself to, like, the viewpoint where I can fire back at these people. And by the time I clumsily get to that point, my car is full of holes and I just repaired it. So I kind of jumped out at that point.

[00:17:19] I just wasn't having a great time with it. So that one, which is a great benchmarking game, I uninstalled it because it's 100 and change gigs. It's huge. And I uninstalled it. So basically the long, the short answer to that very short question is I keep certain games on here at all times. If they're lightweight or I play them a lot. And if not, then if they're just, I just don't want to see them anymore. I just uninstall them.

[00:17:46] That's kind of how I roll with modern consoles and the games therein. All right. And we have one more. Oh, and final question from Mauga89. What do you do during extra long, unskippable cutscenes, especially on replays? If I've never played the game before, I watch the cutscene. I just watch it. I hope there's a pause. If there's a pause, I'm okay. But I just stick through it.

[00:18:16] Once if if it's a unskippable cutscene and I've played it before, I go right to Pokemon TCG mobile and I download a few packs. And maybe I'll start a start a match against somebody and get wrecked. Maybe that's what I do. That's kind of my my go to. That's kind of what I do is is go to that. Otherwise, I just kind of just stick with it.

[00:18:42] But that is the one thing in modern games where you have to have skippable cutscenes. They have to be skippable. It's unexcusable in modern day to not have. I understand you want the story to be told, but give me the option to blow through it if I just don't want to hear it. Because boy, oh boy, the days of those Kojima style cutscenes where they just aren't skippable and you have to watch it over and over again if you die.

[00:19:10] Especially if you make me watch it over and over again when I die. Oh, that is that is torturous and should be a relic of video gaming gone by. So, yeah, I just do not pass go. Go directly to TCG mobile online and get a few rounds in while the characters drone on obnoxiously. Mike Albertson of Games My Mom Found asks a couple of questions, one of which I'm going to save for later because it's well.

[00:19:39] We'll just save it for later. Mike Albertson asks, what's your favorite Scarlett Johansson role? That is an excellent question. I know ScarJo is a perennial favorite of the great Mike Albertson. Let me go ahead and pull up the I'm not going to say under the skin. She's great in under the skin, but I'm not going to not going to troll you with that. That is not what I'm going to do to you.

[00:20:07] I think my favorite as I go through the list of performances and this is going to be a tough one. I may have to say her from 2013. It's interesting because that is a role where you never see her. She plays the AI that Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with. Her performance is extremely nuanced. It's extremely detailed. She emotes.

[00:20:36] It's just a very evocative performance and you never see her. So for Mike Albertson, you may not want to watch that. I don't know if you've seen her or not because you never see Scarlett Johansson, but you hear a lot of her. She's also surprisingly good as the porcupine in Sing. And Sing is a perfectly fine movie. I have not seen Sing 2, but the original Sing is way better than it has any right to be.

[00:21:05] It's a very enjoyable, silly movie with some pretty decent covers. And she's actually quite good as the porcupine in that movie. And of course, all the Marvel stuff notwithstanding. So yeah, I would have to say her. That's probably my favorite. And I'm sure there's a few I haven't seen. I've never seen Jojo Rabbit. So I've missed that one. I don't think I've seen The Horse Whisperer. I know she's in that one. I missed Asteroid City. I know she's in that one. So there's a few I haven't seen.

[00:21:33] But of everything on my list, that is probably my favorite, which is her. Mike Albertson also asks, am I going to play Atomic Heart made by my favorite creator who made Ken Levine, who made Bioshock Infinite? Always going for that. Always going for that. I'm not going to go on a rant about Bioshock Infinite. That will not be happening. I am going to play it. I own it. I bought it. It's in my Steam library.

[00:22:02] At some point, I may. I don't know how it reviewed. I didn't read much about it. It kind of came and went, which is odd considering it's a Ken Levine joint. I don't know how it reviewed. I don't remember much about it, but I do own it. So I must have put it on the old Steam wish list, paid 15 bucks for it at some point. I have it. And because when you mentioned that, I'm like, oh, yeah, Atomic Heart. I mean, let me look that up on Steam. How much is it? Oh, it's in library. Perfect.

[00:22:31] For me, it's free. So I will at some point play that game. Kev, which is one of my wonderful, wonderful editors on Discord. He is responsible, him and my brother-in-law, who you'll hear from later on in the show. They're responsible for cutting up the full interviews that I do with people into little bite-sized chunks. I then take those chunks and build the main episodes from them. They are vital to the show's success and survival.

[00:23:00] If it weren't for them, you would not get as many episodes as you get. That's just the reality of the situation. So many thanks to Kev and Pete Harney for their help with the show. Kev asks, what games do you want to or currently like to enjoy and play with your kids now or in the future? So currently with my son, I always like I'm always anything that beat him up is good for me because we can pick it up and play. We both feel like we're helping out.

[00:23:30] So Shredder's Revenge is one that we played to completion together. It's one of the few we played together. I like to I'd like to play more with him, although gaming is of a solitary thing for him because he's playing games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, and you really can't team up on that. But anything anything that we can do together is good. I just don't get a chance to do as much as I can. So when I read that question, it reminded me, man, I got to play more with my son.

[00:23:59] I don't want it to be a completely solo experience for him. Not saying that's wrong or it's not saying it's a bad thing to get lost in the world. But I don't know. I want to kind of make those memories a bit while he still wants to make memories with me because he's going to come to a point when he's a teenager when he's going to want nothing to do with me. And I am going to be as OK with that as humanly possible because I'm preparing myself for that now. I just that's just how kids grow up. That's part of it. So it's fine.

[00:24:28] It's part of growing up and becoming independent. So thank you for that question, Kev, because it reminded me I got to play with my son more because he's still the age where he wants to do that. But the big one for us was Shredder's Revenge. That was a big one. I really want to play. I can't wait until he's interested and I think he's getting very close to being interested in the classics I grew up with. The two the two big ones for me, which are Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI.

[00:24:55] I really want him to I want to be there when he experiences at least certain parts of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, because I think that's going to be a very interesting moment. He's already reading some Harry Potter books. He's reading the Percy Jackson books. He's an avid reader, so he likes fantasy. And we're starting to get him into some things that are a little not more adult, but more above his age pay grade, so to speak.

[00:25:22] And there are things in Final Fantasy VI, obviously, that are are very challenging and very difficult. And there's things in Chrono Trigger, which are very challenging and difficult. I don't think he's quite there yet emotionally. But when he is, I'd like to be alongside him when he has these experiences and experiences these games for the first time. I just want to I want to enjoy them again through the eyes of a first timer, because,

[00:25:48] again, those are the type of games that I wish I could erase my memory and replay again for the first time. And I know I can't, obviously. But watching him play it for the first time as a kid, as someone who's just in the pocket for that kind of adventure will be really satisfying. And I'm looking forward to that. So sitting alongside him and watching him play Chrono Trigger in Final Fantasy VI, that's up there with introducing him to Jurassic Park and Ghostbusters for the first time.

[00:26:17] Those are things I want to do and be there for him with. Mike of the Distorted Illumination YouTube channel, TheMadMonarch himself writes, Any old school RPGs you missed out on that you may that you had been meaning to play? Yes, lots of them. The Lunar Series is one that people love and I've never played. I missed out. I definitely want to do them again, especially now that we are in remake territory.

[00:26:44] But the big one, the big chunky one that I want to play is the Dragon Warrior or Dragon Quest series. I've only played a bit of Dragon Warrior, the original NES one, and obviously have never played any of the others. They're hugely popular in Japan. They were up there with Final Fantasy. I would love to know what the hubbub is all about with the Dragon Warrior series. Again, sorry, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Quest series. Make sure I'm saying that right.

[00:27:14] Dragon Quest series. Okay, hang on. Dragon. Yeah, so Dragon Quest is really one I'm looking forward to playing. I know some of them are coming out on the Switch, hopefully just the regular Switch, not the Switch 2, which I will not be purchasing right away because I ain't got cash for that. But those are the big ones for sure. The Lunar and the Dragon Quest series are definitely ones I want to catch up on because I have no experience.

[00:27:45] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's talked about how they were recording on a Saturday, but it wasn't Saturday.

[00:28:14] It was Skastarday, which is interesting because back in the days when Ska was popular, it was very in vogue to put Ska on everything. Like any band name, you know, the Skatalites or Skavoovy and the Epitones or everything had the word Ska in it to make it Ska. My favorite, of course, being Mephiscopheles, which was satanic Ska music. And they're so good.

[00:28:42] Um, but so they, they just said on Skastarday, we, we Ska and you can do whatever Skat you want. You want to do no doubt? Well, it's a Skat. And I think they've been trying to keep it up. Like, but I haven't noticed it in later episodes. It may be hidden. Maybe I've just missed it. I've had my ear out for it. I'm behind by a few episodes, two on stage select, but Justin Ham out of nowhere says Skastarday. So you know what? Philip was new to me too.

[00:29:09] And I'm, I'm actually hurt being a long time fan and continue to be a fan of the genre. I still get my Ska on now and again. I've been known to throw on the toasters in the middle of the, in just on a car ride, just be when I need a little endorphins, when I'm feeling a little hyper and I need music to match my mental intensity. When my brain is bouncing and everything else needs to bounce along with it, I will throw on some toasters. I'll throw on some Edna's goldfish.

[00:29:39] Not afraid of that. A little less than Jake. Never hurt anybody. Uh, in case you don't know, I grew up in the summer of Skat was when I was in this, a junior slash senior in high school. I did Ska radio in college, the Skank and Hepcat show. I did a Ska podcast. That was my first podcast back in 2005. I, I, I, I very much so enjoy Ska music and I still do unapologetically. Uh, yeah.

[00:30:06] And I, I'm well aware of some of the pitfalls. I'm well aware of some of the, uh, some of the issues of the genre. They can't all sound the same, et cetera, et cetera. But I like everything from the early two-tone stuff to the early, early, um, you know, Desmond Decker and I, again, Scottalites and madness. And from the British two-tone scene, English beats fantastic. Uh, so I love not just the Ska music of the nineties, but even the early stuff when they

[00:30:36] were on sound systems and, and doing and mixing on, um, on Jamaican sound systems. I love all that stuff. Anything that's got that old school reggae vibe is great. And actually what I like to do maybe like once a month on Twitch is I pop on and play random games and listen to Ska music. And the only Ska music I listened to are stuff that I actually have on MP3 in the bowels of my computer. I have a huge library of Ska music from all over the country and sometimes all over the world.

[00:31:05] I had an old, like 160 gigabyte iPod. Remember those things, the big beefy iPods. And about a third of it was all Ska music. Uh, so I, cause I used to collect it, especially during that era. So I have lots of stuff that I play. You see, if you listen, if you go to one of my Ska, just hang out, play random games and listen to Ska music, uh, Twitch dreams. It's a lot of fun because I play stuff you've probably never heard of. And I really like to keep the playlist very diverse.

[00:31:34] All these old compilations I'd buy at hot topic for $3 had two good songs on it, but the two songs were slamming. Yeah. I have a lot of that in the archive. So, uh, yeah, I, I was not consulted on Ska yesterday. I was not consulted. I don't even know if Julian knew I was a fan, but, um, I, I hopefully next time Ska today is announced, I am, I am consulted. I'd like to be a consultant on the next Ska today because I think I have a lot to offer.

[00:32:03] I think I have a lot to give to this endeavor from the stage select podcast. The turbo forest, 1984 on discord writes favorite beat them up in the arcades. I love a good beat them up. It's, it's one of my favorite. Just turn off my brain and enjoy genres, especially now with the days of emulation. I, I think they're just a lot of fun because now I can actually get through them without spending a boatload of money.

[00:32:33] My go-to answer for this is always the six person X-Men arcade game. The one with the three screens that was in our local pizza hut in Clifton, New Jersey. Uh, that is probably one of my favorites. Although I have played it recently on main and it, there's not much to it. It's a pretty slight game. Uh, there, if you have unlimited quarters at your disposal, you can blow through that in about 40 minutes and be just fine.

[00:33:03] Um, another one, the Simpsons game I always liked, but I was never good at for some weird reason. The Simpsons, of course, Ninja Turtles, of course, that's the classic, but I have to, I want to bust out one or actually two, one that's not really a, a, uh, not really a, uh, deep cut Knights of the Round. Um, I think it's a, well, it's a Capcom game and it is an exceptional beat them up. And I think that counts. And I always love that game.

[00:33:32] And it was, it was in one arcade. I remember growing up and I don't remember which one, but I always remember gravitating towards it again, Knights with swords and archers and all sorts of fun stuff, a really great beat them up. But the other one that I, I always remember is Die Hard Arcade. And I believe that counts as a beat them up as well. I remember that game and I think it was released on the Saturn. Let me look this up real quick. Yes. It was on the Saturn and PS2.

[00:34:02] Okay. Saturn PS2 and PS3. Okay. Weird. Uh, I remember in the arcade and for some reason it's a really strange, it's not strange. It's just a weird beat them up with guns and explosives. And it's basically Die Hard the movie in the arcade. And for some reason I really enjoyed it. I, it was always one I would plunk a few quarters in, never got very far. I was never great at those games.

[00:34:30] Uh, but those are the two more deep cuts that I remember. Uh, again, so X-Men six player was always my favorite, but I think Die Hard Arcade and Knights in the Round are also both very, very good as well. So those are those games. It is time once again to thank my wonderful patrons for their amazing patronage.

[00:34:57] Starting with Lucas Thompson, Lindsay Harney, Phillip Becker, Joey Coro, Terry Kinnair, Greg Seward of the Player One Podcast and Generation 16 series of videos. The one and only Games with Coffee. The Let's Play Princess. BT Goebles. Julian of the Stage Select Podcast. Seth Sergill of the All-End Media Network. And as always, the editor extraordinaire, Pete Harney. If you would like to join these amazing human beings in their financial support of A Gamer

[00:35:26] Looks at 40, go to patreon.com forward slash agamerlooks at 4040, review the tiers and sign up today. Let's jump back into the episode. Cypher Zero, who also goes, or goes by, his name is Pete Harney. Hey, good old Pete, the other editor and editor extraordinaire of the Gamer Looks at 40 podcast. He has a couple of questions.

[00:35:55] His first one is, if I could be reincarnated as any animal, what would it be? You know, it's funny for the longest time I would have said elephant, but after going to Thailand and riding an elephant, I don't think I want to be an elephant anymore, especially an elephant in Thailand. I don't want to know how those elephants are treated. I want the fantasy to be in my head. I want them to, I want to pretend they are beautifully cared for, that they are treated

[00:36:23] like the princes and princesses that they are. I'm sure that's not the case, but my brain, I'm not going to let my brain think about that. These elephants are taken care of beautifully. No one hurts the elephants. The elephants are safe. The elephants are secure. Long live the elephants. So that is where I'm going there. But I'm stepping back from that.

[00:36:49] I think, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I think I'd want to be a cat. Not a dog. Because a dog needs things. Dog is very needy. The dog is always needing something. Either attention or treats or scritches or stretches. Dog is needy. My cat needs nothing. If I croaked tomorrow, my cat would be just fine for a good long time. She'd figure it out.

[00:37:18] And as much as I wish I had a big, cuddly, lovable cat, my aloof, sometimes cranky, sometimes, frankly, bitchy cat, I kind of is very endearing. I think I just want to be a cat and just do what I want and have new expectations. That's the beautiful thing about a cat is people expect the dog to behave. They expect the dog to sit, stand, catch, do things, perform for me.

[00:37:47] Nobody asked that of the cat. The cat does what it wants. It's very independent. She's an independent feline. She just does what she needs to do. And it's great. And she just sustains and exists in her own plane. And it's wonderful. And she's super cool.

[00:38:07] So I think I'd want to come back as a cat because, man, but a house cat, not like a cat outside fending for itself, scrapping to survive. And I want to be a pampered house cat that can just do what it wants to do and have no expectations set upon it. I think a cat would be pretty, pretty awesome. Maybe that says a little bit about my mental state as well. I don't know. Maybe these are all clues.

[00:38:36] Maybe these are all little breadcrumbs to what's going on in my brain. Uh, the second question he asks is if I could have one superpower slash magic ability, what would it be? This is an easy one. Teleportation. The ability to teleport from one place to another instantly wouldn't be fantastic. That is time savings. That is energy savings. I wish I could be like, hey, I want to go to Paris. Boop.

[00:39:05] Now I'm in Paris. Walk around Paris for a bit. Boop. Teleport back home. Boom. Done. No, especially after traveling to Thailand. Um, I was in Thailand about four weeks or so ago on a mission trip with church. Uh, it was an awesome trip. Uh, it was, we were there for 12 days. It was 24, 22 hours of travel. I'm sorry.

[00:39:32] 22 hours of airplane time and about 35 total travel hours. And we were literally on the other side of the world. So if it was 11 a.m. In Thailand, it was 11 p.m. In Texas. And after dealing with the jet lag coming back from Thailand, which was absolutely brutal and took a solid week and a half to recover from because I'm old, I guess. Uh, I, I would love a teleportation.

[00:40:01] If I could just teleport to Thailand, have dinner and then come back home, that would be amazing. If I could just teleport to Thailand and get Thai tea and then come back with it and have it still be cold. That would be amazing. That would be so good. So teleportation would be it. Now, I don't want time travel. I don't want time travel. I, I don't, I have no interest in going back in time. I have no interest in seeing the future.

[00:40:28] I have especially have no interest in seeing the future because I don't know how far forward I can go. I don't want to be like, hey, I'm going to go forward 300 years and boom, there's nothing left. It's like apocalyptic wasteland and I just die instantly from the fumes of the irradiated wasteland that is the fallout universe of our world. I don't want that. I know I would go too far. I don't kind of like step forward if I were going to go forward, but I don't even want to step forward like 10 years. I don't know what's going to, I don't know if we're going to be here in 10 years. Nevermind a hundred.

[00:40:58] So I have no interest in going forward and going back. I'm afraid I'm going to get some disease that we haven't like cured yet or we have cured, but we forgot about curing it. So it's now still there, but I don't know. I'm afraid I'm going to get really sick if I go back in time. So I'm going to stay in the time period I'm at, but I would love to teleport places to just save me time. Hey, I have a doctor's appointment at 11 o'clock. I'm going to leave at 10 59. Boop.

[00:41:28] There I am. Hello. Boy, would my mood be so much better if that were the case. Bask 99 on discord asks, if you could play with only one console and its library of games for the rest of your life, which one am I choosing? I'm choosing the super Nintendo. And this is a, this is a no brainer stone cold for me. Not only does it have a wide variety of games, some of the greatest games ever made are on that console.

[00:41:56] It has everything you could want from racing to sports, to RPG, to action. You name it. It's got it. And some of the classics are on there. Some of the games that I can play forever, like King Griffey Jr. And Mario world. I can play those games endlessly. And so if I were on the desert island and I only had one system to, uh, to play with its full library, it would definitely be the super Nintendo.

[00:42:25] That's no question. I mean, again, so many classic games on that console. I don't think I'd ever get bored. So that's, that's the stone cold easy one. Now, uh, Magua, I say Magua, not Magua, Magua 89 had one more question, which is the counterpoint to this one, which is why I didn't say it during his initial segment.

[00:42:48] He asked if you could, if I could force my enemy to only play one console for the rest of their lives, what would it be? That's a no brainer as well. Virtual boy. That, that, that is a fate worse than death. Imagine, imagine the only console, and not an emulated one, not one. No, no, no, no. You have to put your head into the headset.

[00:43:12] You have to load the batteries into the console and force your eyes to figure out how to make that thing work. That's actually a fate worse than death. That's almost a fate. I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, but boy. I mean, if I got to punish somebody, if I got to punish somebody, I'm putting their head in the virtual boy. Now, I understand the Wario game is really good on that system. No question.

[00:43:42] Somebody, no question. And I could have gone like CDI, where the only decent, where you got, you know, your plumbers don't wear ties and flowers of Mapplethorpe and all those weird encyclopedias to go through. Yeah, I could have done that. But just the pain and the strain and the eye-searing oblivion of the virtual boy. That, that is what I, when I think enemy and punishing someone, I think virtual boy.

[00:44:12] So, and it has to be a real virtual boy. It has to be a real thing. You have to put your face against and your eyeballs into. That is my answer. Going to Twitter and Blue Sky, Joe Cade, the one and only Joe Cade, who you will be hearing in a couple of weeks on the Collector episodes. We had an awesome conversation this past week. It was great, so I can't wait for you to hear it. Joe Cade says, and I'm going to say this very dramatically because it's Joe Cade. It's Joe Coro.

[00:44:42] I have to do this. You're approaching the buffet table. There are two trays of meat, barbecue ribs and buffalo wings. Which one, Bill? Which one? I sure that's how he said it when he wrote it. This is a much harder conversation. This is a much harder decision than I think I gave it credit for when I first read the question. I love ribs.

[00:45:11] And I really love wings. Now, I don't love wings as much as my brother loves wings. My brother Bobby is a buffalo wings connoisseur. He loves wings. I like wings. But here's my thing. It really depends. And yes, I'm going to put an asterisk on this. I'm not going to just give you an easy answer. Depends on where I'm getting it. Because barbecue ribs, when made properly, are sensational.

[00:45:38] When made poorly, they're inedible. Where buffalo wings, it's hard to find a bad buffalo wing. I mean, there's excellent buffalo wings. And there's good wings. And there's a wide variety of decent wings. It's rare to find bad wings. And I'm sure it exists. I'm sure my brother will hear this. And be like, dude, you have to. Dude, you should have went to this one place. The wings were horrendous. I can imagine if they're scrawny. If they're all bone. There's not enough meat on. Maybe the sauce isn't tangy. Whatever.

[00:46:07] But buffalo wings are oftentimes masked with the stuff you dip it into. Like blue cheese or ranch dressing. And of course, the answer is blue cheese. It's always blue cheese. That has to be the answer. I will dip in ranch if that's my only option. But blue cheese is, I think, the correct answer. But it does depend on what kind of sauce is used on it. Because you don't want the blue cheese to overpower the sauce. And when those two things are in perfect harmony, the buffalo wing is gorgeous.

[00:46:35] But a beautifully made rib, like Texas barbecue ribs. And I'm not talking about slathered with sauce or anything. Just give me barbecued meat. Ribs are something from another planet. Ribs were given to us by aliens. We did not know how to make those things. Human beings are not capable of barbecuing good ribs. They were passed down from alien generations.

[00:46:59] And we are now blessed by our extraterrestrial forefathers who are the masters of meat. If all things are equal, if it's now best place each, I go ribs. I definitely go ribs. Because getting my hands on good ribs is a wonderful experience. And I would go ribs.

[00:47:24] But yeah, if it was like the best ribs available and the best buffalo wings available, I would have to reach for the ribs. Excellent question, Joey Coro. Julian of the Stage Select Podcast on Twitter writes, Who are some of your white whale guests? I've been actually thinking about this for a while. I have some in my head. I've actually reached out to a few white whale guests. Just kind of these pie in the sky, let me see what happens type of guests.

[00:47:52] A few of them never got back to me. I would love my big white whale guest, I will say, for the Final Fantasy series is what is his name? I should probably know his name if I want to reach out to the man. I would Ted Woosley. Is that right? Ted Woosley. Yes. Ted Woolsey. Sorry. Ted Woolsey, who was the translator for Final Fantasy VI. And I think Final Fantasy IV as well.

[00:48:19] He had like six months to translate, maybe less, to translate the entirety of the Japanese Final Fantasy games into English. That's why you have your Spoonie Bard. That's why you have all these fun little things that are in the games. I would love to talk to him. I've tried many times to find him. He has zero internet presence. I've gone so far as to find out what company he works for, but he does like private consulting now.

[00:48:47] He's a hard person to get a hold of. I actually signed up for a free trial of LinkedIn so I could reach out to him on LinkedIn. Because unless you're a premium member on LinkedIn, you can't just direct message somebody. You have to be in contact with them. I've tried to reach out to Ted Woolsey. And maybe it's because I can't pronounce his name right. Maybe that's why he never returned my email. But he's a hard person to get a hold of.

[00:49:17] Some white whales that I think are probably attainable, like Howard Phillips. I'd love to talk to more people from Nintendo Power because I find all that stuff fascinating. I would like to talk to Howard Phillips. I think he'd be a really fun interview. I think that's one of my kind of white whales as well. Uematsu, that would be a dream come true to the point where I don't know what I'd ask him. I don't know what I would ask Nobuo Uematsu. I just don't know. He's the composer, of course, for a lot of the early Final Fantasy games.

[00:49:46] I don't know what I'd ask the man. I would just stumble and stammer and be dumbfounded. I have a few that I've reached out to. Some YouTubers that I really like that kind of shot for the moon and said, hey, let me reach out to this person. Let me reach out to that person. I will name two of those people because they're both very nice. I reached out to the gaming historian to see if he would be on my show. I love his work. Who doesn't love the gaming historian?

[00:50:15] He was very nice. He returned my email within 24 hours and was like, hey, thanks for reaching out, but I don't do podcast. I don't do podcast interviews or something along those lines. But thanks anyway. Very nice. Very cordial. Responded back. Hey, thanks for the response. Didn't even expect one. And the other one was LGR. I think his name is Cliff. I think from Cliff or LGR of Lazy Game Reviews. I love his work. I absolutely adore it.

[00:50:44] And I reached out to him as well to see if he would just come on the show. Also very nice. But he was the one who said that he doesn't do specifically doesn't do podcasts. So there you go. So but he was very nice. Very responded relatively quickly. Super nice for somebody with, you know, millions and millions of subscribers. One person I'd love to get on the show that is he's very well known, but a little more underground or under the radar.

[00:51:11] Is Noah Caldwell Gervais. He is a YouTube essayist. Essayist? Essayist? Essayist? He's a YouTube creator who does very in-depth reviews and think pieces on different video games. His most recent one was an extensive, exhaustive review of the Fallout series from Fallout 1 to Fallout 76. It was incredible. I watched all nine hours.

[00:51:40] It was unbelievable. But the way he does his work is that he it's very easy to listen to because there's not a ton of you don't see his face. There's not fun production. It's just clips from the game and him talking over it. And it's a great listen. If not a watch. It's a wonderful listen. And I that's why I usually just listen to them while I'm doing work like I would a podcast. I find him to be endlessly fascinating.

[00:52:07] He is one of the most insightful video game creator types I've ever experienced. I love his opinions. I love the way he formulates his thoughts. He's just he he's one of those people that think deeply about games. And I love that. I love people who think deeply about games. He's definitely one I'd like to get onto the show. I may have to reach out sometime soon just to see if he'll be on a couple of there's a couple of white whales, too.

[00:52:35] But I think that's probably enough for now, because who knows? I may reach out to these people and I do sometimes. I sometimes just reach out to people and get nothing back. And and that's fine. But yeah, those are a few of my white whales for sure. But I think the biggest white whale of all those would probably be Howard Phillips. I just need to know. I need to know because he sounds like a fascinating human being. And I think he'd have a lot of great stories.

[00:53:04] Uh, Edward Vernell from the Boss Rush Network on Blue Sky asks, Do you think people will miss Nintendo's innovation if they ever close their doors? Do you think the industry can still have someone who can innovate and push gaming forward? All right. I kind of save this one for close to the end because I'm about to get a little hot taking and I don't mean to. But I do mean to because I'm saying the words. So, of course, I mean to. The purposeful thing.

[00:53:33] I'm not being disguising things here. I Nintendo is pushing is known for its innovation. I suspect Mr. Varnell is saying this in regards to the Switch 2. This was right around the Switch 2 announcement, the big trailer. I think the industry would be different without Nintendo. But I think it would still be innovative.

[00:54:00] I think innovations would still happen just on a different scale or different level. Um, I don't think the Switch 2 is all that innovative. I think the Nintendo, well, I think the Switch 2 is going to be a massive success. It's going to sell a bunch of units. It's going to make a lot of money. I don't think it's going to be the Wii U. I think it's like the Wii U in terms of iteration. Where the Wii was a complete genre change.

[00:54:30] Changed everything in games. That is one of the series I want to do on the show. Our stories about the Wii. Because I find the Wii to be absolutely fascinating and interesting. And I think there's so many good stories to be mined from the Wii's success. And then the Wii U shows up and it was an iteration of the Wii. And it was fine. And it had some games on it. It was good. But nowhere near the innovativeness of the Wii. And then the Switch shows up and flips the script again. And changes everything.

[00:54:59] Handheld console that can flop into the dock. And you have the accessibility. And it was the indie game. It was for indie gamer. Indie games were huge on it. And still, it was just this mass success. Switch 2. Switch 2 is not all that innovative. As a matter of fact, the Switch 2 is just Nintendo saying, Hey, we can't get away with our games being barely 1080p anymore. We can't get away with slow processors anymore.

[00:55:26] We need to build a competitive gaming machine. And the Switch 2 is just Nintendo catching up with the Joneses. Now we can play in 4K. And now we can do 120 frames per second. And now we have this. And now we have that. And now we have a camera. And now you can do Discord chat. And none of these things are innovations so much as they are moving up to...

[00:55:54] They're not innovations so much as they are catching up with what the rest of the industry is doing. Now the innovations are going to be in the games. And that's what Nintendo does well. They're not... They make interesting hardware to make interesting games with. Now the games are going to have to shine through. You're Metroid Prime 4 and you're the new Mario Kart game and all that good stuff. I think the new Mario Kart game is going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be innovative and interesting. I'm concerned about it.

[00:56:23] I wonder how it's going to be competitively. I find watching people play Mario Kart competitively is fascinating. I wonder how it's going to be competitively. If they're aiming more for the middle casual user, which is nothing wrong with that. That's who I am. I wonder how the hardcore players are going to find themselves attracted to the new Mario world.

[00:56:47] But I think Nintendo is in a stage of iteration at this point. But I'm always curious to see what they're going to do next. And I think Nintendo thinks just differently about video games. Where I would be very sad to see them not continuing to push the envelope. However, I don't think that's what we're doing now. I think right now they are in a stage of iteration as opposed to innovation.

[00:57:16] I do believe they will get to innovation again. And I do believe they'll take risks. But as far as the landscape of games go, I will say if Nintendo were to close their doors, I think video games would be poor for it. For sure. There's no question. However, I will say this.

[00:57:41] If Nintendo stopped making hardware, I don't think we'd be missing much. Now, mind you, I'm not a visionary. I don't know. I think if they all of a sudden did the Sega thing and start releasing Mario on PS5 and Steam, I think we'd still be okay. I think if the next Zelda game was on PS5 and Steam and Xbox,

[00:58:11] I think we'd be okay. I don't think the hardware is really what makes them innovative. It's the games. And I highly doubt a... I can't imagine Nintendo ever closing their doors. They're so profitable. The Switch 2 is going to sell insanely well. It's just going to. And it's going to be impossible to get for years unless you get it right at the beginning.

[00:58:36] So I guess they answer that question in not a rambling way, which I am just answering it in a rambling way. I still think the industry will innovate and push things forward because gameplay will dictate that. And I think there's enough creative people in this world, especially in the indie space, that are willing to make innovative games and innovative experiences. Much like independent cinema still has interesting movies coming out and interesting stories being told.

[00:59:06] And Marvel movies still come out and they're still fine. So we can have both sides of the coin. I don't think Nintendo is required for innovation to happen. But I do think video gaming is much richer and better that they are profitable and successful and are able to take those risks. And then finally, one final question from the one and only Mike Albertson on Discord. I don't know why I missed this one, but let's just see what it says here. Oh, it says, oh, when are you starting Kingdom Hearts?

[00:59:35] Like with Final Fantasy. So I guess I'll save this for the end. I suppose I can say now if you've listened to this far, you've listened this deeply into the show. I think it's only fair that I can maybe announce unequivocally and for the first time, maybe not for the first time, but definitely for the final time. No, I'm not doing Kingdom Hearts. It's not happening. It is not happening.

[01:00:05] Maybe, maybe. And here's why I say this, because I, in case you don't know, Mike Albertson likes to tease me. And that's fine. And he's allowed. He teases me with Bioshock Infinite and he teases me with Kingdom Hearts. Because he likes Kingdom Hearts and I know a lot of people who love it. Ever since I started doing these Final Fantasy VIII interviews, evidently Squall is in Kingdom Hearts. He actually has a pretty important role in Kingdom Hearts.

[01:00:35] He's actually evidently interesting in Kingdom Hearts as opposed to Final Fantasy VIII where he is not interesting. But that is neither here nor there. So every, the last five interviews I've done, and my editors will attest to this, someone has mentioned Kingdom Hearts. And they've said, so Bill, are you ever going to do a Kingdom Hearts? Mike, are you planting these things in people's brains? Are you going around?

[01:01:05] Have you hacked into my computer somehow and you can see my schedule? And somehow, someway are whispering in all my guests' ears, Kingdom Hearts! Kingdom Hearts! Kingdom Hearts! I don't know what's happening. But more and more people are asking about Kingdom Hearts. There is like a million bajillion games in the Kingdom Hearts series. And from what I understand, it's insane lore. Like, it goes crazy places. It becomes very confusing. And it's Final Fantasy, which I love.

[01:01:35] And Disney, which I, I don't know, fine. I don't like Disney as much as the next person. But the two just don't seem to mix. Like, why would I do this? But people are giving me compelling reasons to do this. And I don't want to do this. But for some reason, people are still continuing. I don't know why. It keeps coming up. Mike Alberton, what are you doing behind the scenes? Things, I, I had to, I, I, I don't know.

[01:02:04] If I, if this becomes a gamer looks at 50, maybe then. I don't know. But gosh, I have two series I desperately want to do. And since I kind of teased that, I, I've mentioned this before. I want to do a series on the Wii. Uh, as like, I just, the Wii in general. Right? Like, just stories of the Wii. Uh, personal stories of the Wii. I, again, I find that console so interesting. And I gotta do Metroid. Metroid has to happen before I hang up the spurs on this show and go do something else.

[01:02:34] Uh, Metroid has to happen because Metroid is another formative series for me. I love Metroid. I have played almost all of the Metroid games. Uh, most of them of its time. I love Metroid. And I want to really explore that world with other people. So that is a series. Those two series are probably next on the list. And then after that, I don't know. I don't know. Kingdom Hearts? I don't know. Will it get a lot of clicks? I don't even know.

[01:03:04] I don't even know. People like these games. I don't know. But, uh, that does it for this AMA and Stayed the Show address. Thank you to everybody on my Discord and on Twitter and Blue Sky who responded to the casting call for questions. Really appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed it. Uh, looking forward to the next couple of months. If you'd like to ask, if you'd like to engage with the show and ask your own questions, join my Discord. There should be a link in the show notes. Go there. Sign up.

[01:03:33] We'd love to have you on there. I, uh, I try, I'm trying to be a little more active. I'm trying to be a little more involved in Discord. It's just hard with everything going on right now. Uh, but hey, listen, we could always use more people on there talking about games, sharing opinions, and, uh, just being, uh, as part of the community. So I'd love to see you on there. I will give you a stirring hello. How are you when you arrive? And, uh, I'd love to hear from you.

[01:04:00] And until next time, just be kind to yourselves and each other. And thanks once again for listening to A Gamer Looks at 40. Have a great week, y'all.