Games We Grew Up With
Join Chris and Katie as these thirtysomething siblings journey through their childhood archive of cartridges, discs, and emulators to relive the cherished and challenging times of their video gaming youth and find out once and for all if the classics of the 80s and 90s game consoles hold up to a modern playthrough. From NES to PS2, Genesis to GameBoy, and even a PC game here and there, they’re reminiscing, replaying, and reviewing some of the all-time retro classics, and maybe a few all-time clunkers too.
S3 E17 · Wed, July 03, 2024
Episode 54 - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
"But morning is when you're SUPPOSED to farm!" This is just ONE of the many nuggets of wisdom one can learn from this episode, along with the pros and cons of virtual gamified polygamy, giving weeds to people who are willing to buy them, and much, much more! That's the kind of high-octane, action-packed, information-fueled podcast we deliver over here! This time around, Hosts Chris and Katie are journeying back to the farm, going Back to Nature (see what I did there?), and ... Harvesting a Moon, or something? Either way, this dating-sim-masked-as-farming-game came out, it consumed hundreds of hours of at least ONE host's life, and you'll have to listen to find out who! From spreadsheets to sprites, romancing to roma tomatoes, this one's got it all... and to get even a slice of that "all", you've gotta click that play button and dive on in!
S3 E16 · Wed, April 24, 2024
Episode 53 - The Oregon Trail
Let's all hop along, hop along onto the wagon... why? Because we've got a trail to ride my friends, a trail to O-re-gon! And what'll we do on our way way over there? Why, we'll... Get dysentery! Get robbed! Break limbs! Get stranded! Go hungry! Die of thirst! Get bitten by snakes! ...and fail to ford a few rivers! Because that's the way it goes, down yonder O-re-gon way! Guess what this episode's all about? If you were in elementary or middle school around when we were, you'll be having flashbacks about now to the greatest text-based edutainment game located in every school in the country right about now! If not... hop on in and get your learn on! TO OREGON!
S3 E15 · Wed, March 27, 2024
Episode 52 - Super Mario World
It's a-me... YOSHI! After 51 warm-up episodes, the hosts of the show have finally gotten enough podcasting under their belt, and are ready to tackle the most important game in history, SUPER MARIO WORLD! Why is it the most important game ever? Well obviously, because it was the debut of ME, Yoshi! Not some stupid horse, not a sidekick, but the hero of the series. Letting that bumbling Mario get where he needs to, protecting him, eating everyone he can't beat by himself... let's be real, he'd never have found all those level exits without me! Now, what did these two intrepid hosts think of my game, going back to play it? Did they like the new and expansive world? Did they love my auto-scrolling levels? Were they enthralled by the colored Switch Palaces? How did they enjoy re-visiting all of Bowser's minions? There's really only one way to find out... twirl-jumping yourself over to hitting the Play button and checking it all out, of course! And don't you DARE think about sacrificing me to my doom just so you can make a particularly long jump! I REMEMBER....
Sun, March 10, 2024
Random Non-Rose 6: Super Mario RPG (Remake)
It's-a-me, AGAIN! Geno and Mallow (and, I guess, Mario, Peach, and Bowser) are back (tell a friend!)... in SUPER MARIO RPG! Not to be confused with Episode 5 of our dear podcast, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The heroic journey is undertaken once more, and our favorite heroes and all their early-Nintendo snark are ready to save the castle from Mack... I mean, Claymorton, and Smithy. With the help of Frogfucius and his KeroKero Cola... I mean, Frog Sage and Croaka Cola... Ok, so there are definitely SOME things that changed, but overall? Like 95% the same game, and that 95% is glorious, and of the changes, beyond the renames, we got our very favorite thing... QUALITY OF LIFE improvements! (Sorry, Producer Lisa). Was this a joy to come back to and play? (Spoiler: it was). Was it beautiful? (Spoiler: it was). Do we miss needing to save manually? No spoilers, gotta listen to find out THAT important detail! A beautiful remake, an amazing original game, almost the entire script kept in-place, and a great Mario property... talk about a recipe for success! Jump in and hear the full thoughts!
S3 E14 · Wed, February 28, 2024
Episode 51 - Disney's Aladdin
Everyone remembers the lyrics to that famous song... "I come from a land down under, where rubies do gleam and lamps thunder..." -- that's the one, right? Well it should be, because the Cave of Wonder definitely qualifies. We're going far, far into the future (look it up!) and to the land of Agrabah, to join everyone's favorite street rat and everyone's even-more-favorite monkey companion... DISNEY'S ALADDIN (and Abu!), to defeat Jafar, and have very little interaction at all with Genie, which is a crying shame. Darn you, Disney, and your pissing off of Robin Williams by breaking your word to him! If ever there was a game that would do well with this crew, it's one with difficult platforming, stress-creating levels without save points, poor texture graphics, and significant differences depending on where you played the game. And this one's got it all! What did they forget while playing? Why, the number one rule in Agrabah, of course.. Gotta keep One jump ahead of the breadline One swing ahead of the sword Only steal what you can't afford (that's everything!) Did they make it? Did they save the princess? Did they save Agrabah? Was Jafar defeated? THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO KNOW! Hop on for this magic carpet ride, and give it a listen!
S3 E13 · Wed, January 31, 2024
Episode 50 - Pokemon Red & Blue
Fiiighting Trainers by moonlight... Maaaaking friends by daylight... Never running from a real fight... they are the ones called Pokémon! What do you get when you cross a senile old man who can't remember his own grandson's name, a pair of eleven-year-olds who are cast out into the world to fend for themselves in a never-ending Battle Royale of literal MONSTERS, a pair of people who are out there to destroy you for really no good reason, and the world's most powerful creature (Magikarp)? You get Pokémon Red and Blue, of course! Comin' at ya from the good old Game Boy, we've got Weedle, we've got Rattata, we've even got ourselves an ONYX! Come one, come all, and explore the glory of a world that's just totally ok with kidnapping countless creatures, tossing them into pocket-sized balls, and making them fight for their lives until you decide you're done with them and discard them! So grab your red-and-white ballcap, tell the old man what his grandson's name is, and go off and complete his life's work for him while he hangs out in his lab! IT'S POKEMON TIME!
Wed, January 24, 2024
Random Non-Rose 5: Assassin's Creed 2
Who's that jumping off the building up there? Who's that calmly walking amongst a group of courtesans as though he's not quite obviously not one of them? Who's that jumping into a pile of hay and saying "shhh, you can't see me in here!"? It's Easy-O! Etch-Ee-Oh! Eez-yo! No, it's EZIO! The hosts are back... err wait, what's that? It's an all-East-Coast VERY SPECIAL EPISODE? Featuring Host Chris and SPECIAL GUEST HOST PRODUCER HOST LISA? Woaaahhhh! Freshly back from a tour across the pond, wandering along the other ponds (obviously I mean "along the canals of Venice, across the Atlantic Ocean"), living the Assassin's Creed 2 life for a while, and they decided to share it with us all, after playing through AC2 upon their return! Where else can you get lessons on murder, technology, renaissance Italian politics and art, and relative comparisons of street widths in modern Venice, than on GAMES WE GREW UP WITH? So cut off a finger, jump off a building, commit random acts of murder, and listen to a discussion of watching yourself be conceived in the past! It's Assassin-in' time!
S3 E12 · Wed, August 09, 2023
Episode 49 - Kirby's Dream Course
Oh Kirby, you're so dreamyyyy... or at least, your golf course is! And what better way for a character who's known for being mostly marshmallow-cloud and gains power through eating enemies to celebrate the great athletic event that is golf, than... to turn into a golf ball with a variety of strange powers trying to get you to whack him into enemies and/or the hole! This one's weird, but this one, at the end of the day, is also... golf. Golf with some power-ups and 16-bit graphics, and a decidedly Kirby tone to it. Yet another of the hosts' OG gaming experiences, and since they played it as kids on a cross-oceanic flight with no manual, likely almost as weird as Super Bonk at the time. Was it great? Was it, as the kids say, "mid"? Was it an Albatross or a Double Bogey? Was it something else punny? You, "dear reader", will have to convert yourself into "dear listener", and find out from our sporting hosts as they dive into this pink-gridded, club-wielding, golf-y adventure!
Fri, July 21, 2023
Random Non-Rose 4: Vegas Dream
HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, GWGW! It's our third birthday (how did that happen?!?), so we decided to put out a special Non-Rose episode that throws wayyyy back in our hosts' gaming lives! Where else can you go to turn $700 into $10,000,000 than VEGAS, BABY? Or, more often... where else can you go to turn $700 into a sad $0 and end up on a bus out of town than VEGAS, BABY? Welcome to Vegas Dream, where all your slow-moving text, badly-randomized cards, robbery-filled, chandelier-dropping visions of grandeur and glory can come true! Play Blackjack and lose to the dealer's high 20 & 21 rates, Keno where it'll take an hour to input your numbers that then don't hit, Roulette which... well, it works pretty much like a Roulette game, and Slots, where you can struggle to figure out what does or doesn't pay! It's Vegas in all its 1993 glory! Jokes aside, this is a fascinating game with a lot more depth than it seems at first glance. Random events, risks to take, shows to be invited to, weddings to get stood up at, and millions of dollars to win to make your VEGAS DREAM come true! And beyond that, this is one of the first games EVER that our hosts played growing up! On one side you had Super Mario Bros. (ed. note: Episode 15, check it out!), teaching you the nuances of platforming and patience (learned well by Host Chris), and on the other hand, Vegas Dream, teaching you the potential benefits of YOLOing it and hoping for the best (learned well by Host Katie)! How does this 8-bit gambler hold up? How well does the episode work without a rose section? How many other games did the hosts have to go through before figuring out this is the one they meant to be playing? YOU'LL NEVER KNOW! Unless you listen to the episode, of course... VEGAS, BABY!
S3 E11 · Wed, July 05, 2023
Episode 48 - Super Bonk
Ever wonder what would happen if a group of video game developers were told to just go wild and make the weirdest, most confusing, least story-driven, crazy game possible, preferably including a man-child that grows and shrinks, Alice in Wonderland-style, and occasionally shouts out a ride-able set of stone letters spelling "RAGE!"? Neither did we! But here we are, and we all get to experience the ... experience that is SUPER BONK for the Super Nintendo! Somehow the 4th game in the Bonk series, this one comes to us courtesy of a long airplane flight in the 90s that our intrepid hosts took. One can only imagine how much stranger the Bonk experience is as a child on a long plane flight. Perhaps this explains a bit more about the adults they eventually became... hmm... Run, jump, climb walls by biting them repeatedly, turn into a weird meth-kaiju hybrid, and never forget that ... wait, climb walls by BITING THEM? Ok, I officially give up. This game's insane. Maybe the hosts had more luck understanding it. You'll have to pop in and give it a listen to find out!
S3 E10 · Wed, June 07, 2023
Episode 47 - Rhythm Games
Kick, punch, it's all in the mind! Well, I mean... that's ONE example of this genre, but this time instead of Um Jammer Lammy, we're focused in on the behemoths of the rhythm game genre from about 2005 to 2015... Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DJ Hero, and all those rock 'n' roll, guitar 'n' drum, rhythm-music games! These games were the life of the party for a good chunk of years, and as it turns out, might still be fun to play today! Our hosts and ONE producer may be musically inclined, but it turns out these games aren't always about how good your ear is... much to Producer Kyle's relief! From Weezer to Grandmaster Flash, Mighty Mighty Bosstones to Babymetal, these games are a great catalogue of popular rock music of the late 90s to mid-2010s, and if you can find your way into getting the instruments... are they worth pulling back out and jamming out? Only one way to find out... A-five-six-seven-DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE AND LISTEN TO IT!
S3 E9 · Wed, May 24, 2023
Episode 46 - F-Zero
Three, two, one... it's space-lights out and space-away we go! It's time to rev up those hovercar engines, blast around the semi-epilepsy-triggering track, bounce against strangely rubbery walls, and entertain futuristic billionaires by racing other poor unfortunate souls... and occasionally blow up! That's right, it's F-Zero for the Super Nintendo! This one is a doozy, for many reasons, not least of which is that as it turns out, the computer is a ch... actually, you know what? You have to listen to find out what the computer is. However, you CAN find out that this game was an absolute legend when it comes to pushing the boundaries of graphics, racing mechanics, and driving certain (ahem) podcast hosts crazy when replaying it in 2023. But was it fun? Was it exciting? Was it MODE 7? Did it live up to its glory days and bring back all the joy it used to? Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there? Hit play, let the green flag fly, and listen in!
Wed, May 03, 2023
Random Non-Rose 3: Half-Life 2
Rise and shine, dear listeners - rise and... shine. It’s another Random Non-Rose Episode! This time we are delving into Half-Life 2 for the PC! Looking back at a game many have said is one of the greatest games of all time is a challenge, but our intrepid hosts have their crowbars ready. Host Chris leads the squad in a live recording to talk about Gordon Freeman’s second (NEVER THIRD... we see you, Valve... we see you...) adventure fighting the Combine, head crabs, and sometimes OBS. OH MY! A game that does not fall into a single genre leads to rambling, inserted comments, and lots of snark. From the innovative gravity gun to dumb AI “SORRY FREEMAN,” Half-Life 2 has a lot to offer and a lot to talk about. Even if you joined us live on Twitch (@gwgwshow), Host Chris added in a little extra cause there was STILL more he wanted to say! Time, Dr. Freeman? Is it really that time again? Take a listen and find out!
S3 E8 · Thu, March 16, 2023
Episode 45 - Super Punch-Out!!
Float like a butterfly, sting like ... an unresponsive SNES Classic controller that disagrees with your assessment that you threw an uppercut instead of a body punch! That's how the phrase goes, right? We're in the ring for this one, the squared circle, not hitting below the belt, getting saved by the bell, rolling with the punches, givin' em the old one-two, not throwing in the towel... you see, because we're BOXING! From Gabby Jay to Bald Bull, Dragon Chan to Piston Hurricane, we're fighting our way through this cavalcade of racially-insensitive, overly-caricatured, or just weirdly-hilarious characters, trying not to break our controllers, and remembering that fighting games aren't always quite so well-made as, for example, Soulcalibur II or Street Fighter II. Side note, I just noticed of the 3 fighting games we've reviewed, all have been the 2nd main episode in their series. Weird! Mike Tyson's nowhere to be found to save us here, but drop in and give it a listen, and see if the game could stand on its own two feet, or if the ref called a standing 8 count and had the corner throw in the towel on it. INSERT ONE MORE BOXING PUN HERE. Enjoy! (Ding, ding)
Bonus · Wed, February 15, 2023
A Very Special GWGW - Co-Op Games
The more you know... about how we play co-op games, the more surprised you are we haven't hurt each other in real life! This very special episode of Games We Grew Up With is all about those magical moments on the couch, across the country, or both, when you get a group, perfectly in sync, working together on a puzzle, thinking as one... and then one person sets everyone else on fire, triggers a trap, and kills the whole group. If you were wondering, that person is usually Producer Kyle. From Super Mario Bros. on NES to Gunstar Heroes on Sega, all the way up through to Overcooked! 2 and Full Metal Furies (both of which you can watch us play on Tuesdays at 5:45pm PT/8:45pm ET on Coast-to-Coast Co-Op on our Twitch channel, https://twitch.tv/gwgwshow !), we have spent our lives playing these games together, working as a team to beat the boss, solve the puzzle, get the high score, and rescue one kidnapped friend or another. It's a unique form of gaming, especially when you can get 2 people on one coast and 2 people on another, all playing together, and in this episode, we do a deep dive on the different forms of it, how it's different, why it's fun, and why it means so much to all of us. And the producers even get involved (sometimes with similar outcomes to when we game together... ahem) Player 2: PRESS START!
S3 E7 · Wed, January 25, 2023
Episode 44 - A Link to the Past
Thank you Link! But our Princess is in another castle! ...wait, that doesn't sound right... wrong Princess and wrong mostly-silent Protagonist trying to save both the world and her! This is another LEGEND OF ZELDA, and this time we're finding A LINK TO THE PAST (for the Super Nintendo)! All the classics of Zelda games show up here... Link, Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce, a shortage of Rupees, a shortage of Heart pieces, long and winding dungeons with over-complicated puzzles, and some type of fowl to carry you around the world, of course! Listen in to our host's thoughts about our pink-haired (!) hero and his journey through the Light and Dark worlds, and this game as a cultural touchstone and defining element of what truly makes Zelda... well, Zelda! Gotta go fast! (Right?)
Bonus · Thu, January 19, 2023
GWGW's 2022 Year in Review!
2022... What a year it was for Games We Grew Up With! We laughed, we cried, we screamed at entirely-inappropriate ratings predictions for SimCity 2000 (or at least, some of us did...) From Mario 64 to Final Fantasy VII, General Chaos to Starcraft, Crash Team Racing to Super Metroid, we covered 12 new (old) games, across GameBoy, Sega Genesis, Windows, Super NES, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1. They weren't all winners (lookin' at you, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and General Chaos...), but some were just that perfect blend of quality and nostalgia! Shocking nobody, Host Chris had a full point higher in his ratings (8.4 vs 7.4), though the clear winner for the year score-wise was Final Fantasy VII, with each host giving it a 9.5... but was it their favorite game of the year, looking back? What might you have missed if you didn't stay caught up? Well, there's one good way to find out! Just click that "Play" button and listen to a re-hash of the year's fun! Let's-a-go!
S3 E6 · Tue, December 06, 2022
Episode 43 - General Chaos
Well well well, if it isn't the most aptly-named game of the show's history! Both for game content as well as what it took to even get the two hosts to be able to play (and stream) it to all our viewers on Twitch! This one digs deep into the archive, and pulls out a simple, complex, flame-torching, nut-punching, chaotic combat scramble that we're told ostensibly had some plot sitting in there in between melees and grenade launches. Pick a squad, throw all those cannon-fodder grunts against your opponent's, and see who comes out the victor and takes on some more land... a tale as old as time, and in this case, a game almost as old! So, how did this simple, colorful, action-packed, hardly-able-to-get-it-to-run combat sim hold up? Why, dear reader, you'll have to convert yourself into a dear listener to find out... hop in and hear what Hosts Chris and Katie had to say!
S3 E5 · Wed, November 02, 2022
Episode 42 - StarCraft
"GWGW, reportin' for duty!" It's time, it's time, it's finally time... IT'S RTS TIME! In this episode, the crew dove deep into the world of Terran, Protoss, and Zerg, in STARCRAFT! We collected minerals, we learned hard lessons about what dropships are, and we figured out that... well, the Zerg are just kinda weird and gross! Even better, we were able to have a 4-player online multiplayer game, coast-to-coast, and kick the snot out of some computer AI punks... Outstanding! This one throws us back to 1998, and into the heyday of Blizzard Entertainment really caring about making fun and engaging games, instead of simple money factories. Ahh, better times... Drop in, harvest some Vespene Gas, give it a listen, and enjoy... rock and roll! Ready to roll out!
S3 E4 · Wed, October 05, 2022
Episode 41 - Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Alpha, get me some teenagers with attitude! Well, we may not be teenagers anymore, but I think anyone who has listened to even part of an episode of this podcast knows there's plenty of attitude to go around. And hey, if you check the show's title out, we DID grow up, way back when! And the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were a formative part of that growing up. Whether the TV show or the SNES game, you've gotta enjoy Rita Repulsa, the Rangers, and all that goes along with it. On the other hand... what the heck are the putties doing with KNIVES? This one is a bit of a deeper cut, and you'll have to listen to find out whether that risk/reward gamble paid off... suffice to say, opinions were a bit divided, and we nearly set a new score record! Hit "play" and find out in what way! It's morphin' time!
S3 E3 · Fri, September 09, 2022
Episode 40.7 - Final Fantasy VII Remake
Forty and three-quarters... a perfectly reasonable episode number, right? Really, if we're talking about "Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade INTERmission", I think 40.7 is quite appropriate! And who's that voice? That's not Host Chris! Well-spotted (heard), dear listener! That's Producer Kyle, dropping in to share some of his thoughts along with Host Katie on this special episode... so pull out your rotten fruits and veggies and get ready to review the backbencher in his debut starring appearance! We're talking FF7 Remake, from Cloud to Sephiroth to the epic dancin' Andrea, and everything in-between! We ramble (thanks Producer Kyle), we discuss shocking plot twists (thanks Host Katie), we fight houses (thanks battle arena), and generally speaking, we do that thing we do, and tell you everything that needs to be known about this newest-gen Game We Grew Up With! So sit back, relax, and enjoy this very special (decimal) episode!
S3 E2 · Wed, August 31, 2022
Episode 40 - Final Fantasy VII
It's here! It's here! 2 years later, and it's finally here! It's FINAL FANTASY VII DAY!!!! Rejoice, for it is a day of celebration across the entirety of the pizza. Err, across the entirety of Midgar. We laugh, we organize materia, we (*cough* Host Katie *cough*) snicker when one of the leading ladies gets violently murdered before our very eyes, and we SNOWBOARD! Final Fantasy VII, the game that spawned your very favorite podcast on the internet, has finally reached its place at the front of the line, and in this EXTRA, EXTRA-sized episode (especially when combined with last week's Episode 40.5), we dive in deep! SOLDIERs, Turks, Ancients, Jenova cells, HOOOOJJJOOOOO, stolen identities, terrorist groups, and once again... pizza cities. Download, stream, osmose, take in this episode in whatever your favorite way is, and remember... AVOID THE TONBERRY AT ALL COSTS! Unless you've got Knights of the Round and a spare 15 minutes or so. With Love, Sephiroth (on behalf of the GWGW crew)
S3 E1 · Wed, August 24, 2022
Episode 40.5 - Final Fantasy VII - Rose-Tinted Thoughts
HOOOOOJJJJOOOOOO!!!! We're back... but NOT back from the past... not quite yet! It turns out that, since Final Fantasy VII was the main game that this podcast was started for, our intrepid hosts have more than a few things to say about it! A few weeks ago, we all sat down to record the "Rose-Tinted Glasses" segment of this episode, and when we went back to listen to it, we realized that it was the length of a full episode! And rather than editing 2/3 of its content out just to fit into a regular episode, why not just put it out there as an "intermediate" episode, and let everyone hear the unfiltered, quite verbose, thoughts on this absolute classic of the Final Fantasy series, and Playstation gaming in general? Next week we'll be back with the "back from the past, back to the present" portion of this episode, and it'll have its own longer-than-usual content as well, since it won't have a Rose segment to deal with! Until then, sit back, relax, crack open a can of materia, and take a listen to the dulcet tones of siblings yelling about giant blocky forearms and what species an imaginary cat-thing is!
S2 E13 · Wed, July 27, 2022
Episode 39 - TIE Fighter
Power! Unlimited power! Or at least, that's what the Empire would have you believe. Join them in TIE Fighter, and work to exterminate all that Rebellion scum. Even more importantly, this episode we talked about this game LIVE, and streamed it to YouTube (where the extended cut is still available)! But just for you, our dear listener, we've made a handy podcast version, and distributed it to all your favorite platforms. Don't you feel loved? Good! In this episode, Hosts Chris and Katie pilot all sorts of Empire vessels, interrupting Rebellion trade routes, destroying transports, and in general trying to get rid of all those annoying Skywalkers and their like. Sometimes, being the baddies can be fun! How did it go? Was the game good? Was the live recording a mess? Are mid-90s space piloting controls easy to use in 2022? Well, give it a download and find out! Let the hate flow through you!
S2 E12 · Tue, June 28, 2022
Episode 38 - Crash Team Racing
3, 2, 1... race! Get your boost on, drift around the corners, and take out Mario, Bowser, and Peach! Oh wait... no... hold on, that's... Coco, Pura, and Dingodile! Why, that must mean that we're in the world of CRASH TEAM RACING! Why yes, you brilliant clue-deducer you, we ARE! We've gone back to the Playstation 64... err, I mean, Playstation 1, and we're hoppin' into our four-wheeled carts of fury to race to save the Galaxy from the nefarious hands of Nitros Oxide by proving once and for all that we, Crash Bandicoot (or Coco Bandicoot, or your favorite racer) are, in fact, the fastest racers in the Galaxy, and save ourselves from eternal parking-lot-based doom! (Trust me, this makes sense once you hear the episode). So join us as the hosts struggle with a "classic" mode that's maybe too hard, drifting that's DEFINITELY too hard, and a recap of a real-life Crash Team Racing tournament! Plus, more information about our upcoming LIVE EPISODE (ooooooohhhh)! Let's a-go!
S2 E11 · Thu, June 02, 2022
Episode 37 - Super Metroid
Samus is a WHAT? Well, if you're out of the loop, you'll just have to listen in and find out... as the GWGW crew discuss Super Metroid for the Super NES! Exploring the wonders of the MetroidVania genre with one of its earliest and best variants, Hosts Chris and Katie wind their way back and forth (and back and forth, and back and forth...) through the planet Zebes, trying to plow through aliens, monsters, bosses, movie references, and even a René Descartes philosophical thought experiment, the "brain in a vat"! There's hidden rooms, puzzles without clues, platforming galore, and merciless penalties on death, so you just KNOW that Katie's going to have a rockin' good time with this one... This game has been called one of the best games of all time, so how about you click on that Play button and find out if this is one of the best EPISODES of all time? It'll just cost you an hour of your day (about how much Katie lost to badly-timed deaths). All that, and a TROPE OF THE DAY! What more could you ask for? Come on, start listening already!
Tue, May 17, 2022
Random Non-Rose 2: Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
WhatwhatWHAAAT? No rose segment? Wasn’t that just a weird one-off thing that Host Katie did for Jak 3? Why no, dear listener, it was NOT! Our "Random Non-Rose" series continues, this time with BOTH of the hosts, playing through Dr. Mario… err, I mean, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, for the Sega Genesis! Not familiar? Well, think of Tetris… make it two-player… get rid of the weird shapes… fill it with awkward portraits of enemy "bosses"… add a Dr. Robotnik storyline… completely omit Sonic entirely… ok fine, so it’s not like Tetris, jeez, it’s a SIMILE, ok? Give a producer a break! Listen in as the Hostblings talk through this wordplay-filled, broken-difficulty-curve-having, battle puzzle "Sonic" game, including some modern-day references to it from the STHCU! PS Tails should have been included.
S2 E10 · Wed, May 04, 2022
Episode 36 - Super Mario 64
Its-a-us, GWGW! For our 36th episode, there was no better choice than a game with a completely DIFFERENT number in it, Super Mario two-to-the-sixth power! I mean, Super Mario 64! Back to the favorite console of everyone with three hands, the N64, and all its three-dimensional glory! Hosts Chris and Katie run, jump, triple jump, wall jump, side jump, slide jump, and... I don't know, probably some other kind of jump, taking everyone's favorite red-hatted, pipe-plumbing, badly-caricatured-Italian plumber, Mario, through adventures in 15(ish) worlds, fighting 3(ish) Bowsers, and saving 1(ish) Princess Peachstool. So act like Mario, and JUMP (Get it? Jump? Like him? JUMPMAN? See? Get it? Don't worry, you'll laugh at it when you think about it later...) Ya-hoooo!!!
S2 E9 · Wed, April 06, 2022
Episode 35 - Final Fantasy VI
KEFKA PLEEAASSSEEEE!!! We're back... not just back with a new episode, but back to our FINAL FANTASY series! This time, it's the Internet's number-one favorite of the entire series, Final Fantasy VI! (Or III, if you grew up in North America in the mid-90s...) The last iteration of the wrongly-numbered Finals Fantasy, the hosts finally got to have a rose-tinted glasses segment for this one, since they have finally caught up to themselves, and played this one growing up... very exciting times! With parties chock-full of dozens of characters, they worked with Magitek, found Espers, fought Kefka, and most importantly, BODY-SLAMMED A FREAKIN' TRAIN! Hop on board (but not on board the body-slammed train, that thing was freakin' evil, and also, we do not recommend being aboard trains while they are flipped upside-down, for the health and safety of all involved), click play, give it a listen, and then go ahead and leave a five-star review (hint, hint!) Let's do it!
S2 E8 · Wed, March 09, 2022
SimCity 2000
"Aliens! Earthquakes! Riots! FIIIRRREEEE!!" At least, if you ask Host Katie, that's the plot summary of SimCity 2000... Producer Kyle might instead go with "Electrical grid, taxes, bond measures, and population growth!". Any way you cut it, SimCity 2000 changed the world of simulation gaming. An unbelievable level of depth, especially for its time, truly set it a cut above anything else of its era. It can be played a thousand different ways, from super hard and slow to cheated and money-filled and plowing through to the endgame, and you can see it in the DNA of all the simulation games to come, definitely including the smash-hit Sims from them later on. So hop in that Launch Arcology, blast off your podcast player, and just remember kids, nuclear power is a good thing!
S2 E7 · Tue, February 08, 2022
Mega Man
CUT! CUT! Little android man, born without a soul... Cut Man, along with Guts Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, Elec Man, Ice Man... even the evil Dr. Wily himself... a long list of enemies for our hero, Mega Man, to defeat, on his way to saving the world. It's back to 1987 this time, for the start of a long-running series with blasters, androids, interchangeable weapons, and much to our hosts' chagrin, neither ducking nor sliding nor wall-jumping... just a classic early platformer with a weaponized twist! Join us as we dive into this Capcom classic, enter the year 20XX, and save the future! Never, never, never trust a little android man...
S2 E6 · Wed, January 12, 2022
The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s… it’s… a giant multi-colored, winged whale with a kaleidoscopic paisley pattern all over it, that’s for some reason named the Wind Fish! Come on, how could you not see that? For this one, we’re headed back all the way to the … Continue reading Episode 32 – The Legend of Zelda – Link’s Awakening →
S2 E6 · Wed, January 12, 2022
The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's... it's... a giant multi-colored, winged whale with a kaleidoscopic paisley pattern all over it, that's for some reason named the Wind Fish! Come on, how could you not see that? For this one, we're headed back all the way to the GameBoy, and checking in on everyone's favorite green-robed (in the COLOR version), pointy-hatted, jar-smashing, rupee-stealing hero, LINK! He's in need of some awakening, and who better to do it than Chris and Katie? Nobody, that's who! Katie on some retro-OG hardware (the new Nintendo Game & Watch), Chris trying out the remaster on Switch. Time to go to... NOT Hyrule, but rather Koholint Island, and try to save the world, yet again! Time to collect some instruments, play some music, fight some bosses, crack some eggs, meet up with a whale-fish, and in general, just Link the heck out of this thing!
S2 E5 · Wed, December 15, 2021
Commander Keen In "Goodbye, Galaxy!"
“Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.” What’s that, you ask? Is it fate, come knocking? Is it a raven, rapping, rapping at your chamber door? Why no, in fact, it’s COMMANDER KEEN! More specifically, Commander Keen constantly slamming his (helmeted) head into the top of whatever was above him, as Hosts Chris and Katie pogo sticked their way through the levels of this 1991 classic, inflicting only a minor amount of CTE upon our dashing hero. From the creators of Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, comes this 2D side-scrolling adventure loaded with candy, strange monsters, and a surprising level of difficulty… and without it, perhaps those other world-changing titles would have never come into our game libraries, so… we have to respect our elders! Drop in, give it a listen, and get all sorts of fun background, find out just how well our intrepid video gaming hosts fared while collecting candy bars, jawbreakers, chewing gum, and everything else your parents told you not to eat at that age… WHAT REBELS!
S2 E4 · Wed, November 17, 2021
Final Fantasy V
SALSAAAA!!! It’s in everyone’s top-5 favorite dips for tortilla chips, and it’s the very poorly-translated name of one of the lead characters in this episode’s game, FINAL FANTASY V! We continue our grand tour of the Finals Fantasy, and this is the very last one that will come WITHOUT a rose segment… VI and onward, and Hosts Chris and Katie have actually played them before… what a novel concept! This one was a struggle… not to beat (though neither did), but rather, to figure out how to pronounce all the names. Galuf, really? And we were one step away from naming the main hero Guacamole, after some of the other poor translations. Listen in and see why! Spoiler alert, this was a great time for everyone, it had more depth than any of the prior games, the music… well, the music existed, and overall, it was a lot of fun! Also, check out the PIXEL REMASTER of the game, which came out just last week! They’re really well-done, and the better it does, the more remakes they’ll put out, and we like them! QUESOOOOOO…
Tue, November 09, 2021
Jak 3
What’s this? An episode of Games We Grew Up With… with NO rose-tinted glasses segment? With only HALF of the hosting crew? Yes, my dear friends, your wishes have been granted! It’s Host Katie, accompanied by Host Katie, with a dash of Host Katie for good measure, talking about Jak, Jak, and Jak again… because it’s JAK 3 TIME! With this new format, it’s more of a “quick-hit review” of a game, just chatting about it… no rose section, less about the publisher, and just “Hey, I played this game recently, here’s my thoughts!”, and we decided to break it in with the end of the core Jak trilogy. So pour yourself a tall glass of your favorite beverage of choice, dim the lights, sit back, relax, and enjoy listening about FLUT FLUTS and PRECURSORS and BETRAYAL and AWKWARD LOVE TRIANGLES and… of course… the star of the trilogy, the man himself, the myth, the legend… DAXTER!
S2 E3 · Thu, October 14, 2021
Spyro the Dragon
It’s that time again! Time to dive back into the archives and pull out another classic title to frustrate one, the other, or both of our hosts! This time it’s fire-blasting, boost-jumping, dragon-saving, key-fetching, and platform-gliding with everyone’s favorite winged protagonist, Spyro the Dragon! Back to platforming, back to the PS1, and with the added bonus of Host Katie’s favorite element, flying levels! (Note: refer back to episode 12, Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat, for more detail on just how much she loves flying in video games!) Insomniac Games brings us this one, and this one launched a great series of games, including a recent remaster that one host played, while the other stuck to the original. Different? Better? You’ll have to listen in to find out! One is DEFINITELY worse with loading screens though… Hop in, reignite, float over, whatever way you want to say it, give it a listen and maybe find a copy to dust off and toss into your system of choice!
S2 E2 · Wed, September 15, 2021
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a giant baby? Come to crush us? As we try to save our neighbors from giant worms, roaming zombies, and 6-foot-tall ants climbing over the hedge maze that we really shouldn’t have put into the backyard in the first place? I know, I know, everyone loves a first-person maze (particularly Host Chris), but maybe we should have thought about the zombie infestation in the neighborhood FIRST! This time around it’s a LucasArts classic from 1993, where Chris and Katie take over as Zeke and Julie, saving their neighbors and neighborhood from all of the crazy, creepy-crawly, brain-eat-y monsters that have taken over! They might even grab a burger along the way from their neighbor who, against all logic, is still grillin’ up a storm! Hop along for the ride, and let’s find out just how good Zombies Ate My Neighbors really is!
S2 E1 · Wed, August 18, 2021
Wolfenstein 3D
MEIN LEBEN! It’s the start of year 2 (Season 2? Are we doing that?) of the show, and what better way to kick off such a grand occasion than killing a bunch of Nazi scum, and destroying Mecha-Hitler with WOLFENSTEIN 3D, right? It’s time to go back to DOS, it’s time for some Shareware, and it’s time for Host Chris to share some of the great stories he just finished reading in Masters of Doom, about the game’s developer, id Software! Mazes, hidden push-walls, low-quality sound effects, dog food, a chain gun, and mostly, feeling shame at choosing the “Can I Play, Daddy?” difficulty level. Let’s do it! HOT DOG!
S1 E26 · Wed, July 21, 2021
Sonic the Hedgehog & Sonic 2
Happy Birthday to us… happy birthday to us… happy birthday, dear podcast… happy birthday to us! It’s episode 26! It’s episode ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! It’s a COMBO episode! It’s a SPECIAL GUEST STAR episode! It’s an EXTRA LARGE episode! Everything’s coming up Milhouse today… SONIC! THE HEDGEHOG! TWICE! And also Tails, I guess… if we have to (sorry, Katie!). In this episode, we have our great friend Tom from the awesome “Will Run For…” Podcast joining us, sharing his insights and thoughts, and agreeing that the underwater drowning music is the worst thing EVER! It’s been a great year, we’ve loved every moment of it, and we’re looking forward to more episodes coming over the summer. For now though, it’s all about zoom zoom zoom! And after you’re done listening to this episode, go find Will Run For… on your favorite podcasting platform, and check them out! It’s great fun, and they’re super entertaining. Even if, like Host Katie, you claim to hate running (I’ll tell you a secret though… her 5K and 10K PRs from this year beg to differ…) So, give ’em a listen, give them a 5-star rating to make Guest Host Tom run 5 miles, and tell them that GWGW sent you!
S1 E25 · Thu, July 08, 2021
Final Fantasy IV
It’s time! Final (final, final, final) Fantasy again! Maybe they should have named the series The Neverending Story. That’s not taken, right? Final Fantasy IV! Where, unlike the previous games, you have to… fetch the four elemental crystals? Deal with a sad backstory involving orphans? Fly in an airship that Cid gives you? Hmm, there has to be something new… oh right, ATB! You get to attack less often than the enemies! Well, as they say, repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer. Still fun, still exciting, and still a classic Final Fantasy experience! Listen in as Chris and Katie break down the details, walk through the plot, and talk about how it felt to go through this game for the very first time! You spoony bard!
S1 E24 · Wed, June 23, 2021
Halo: Combat Evolved
I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that… err, wait, wrong AI! This time it’s Guilty Spark, Cortana, along with the Flood, the Covenant, and everything else from 2001’s OTHER evil-space-computer-themed action adventure, Halo: Combat Evolved! This comes after the 24-hour birthday stream for Host Chris, during which the two hosts co-opped their way through the entire campaign in one giant (exhausted) marathon. Listen in and hear the trials, tribulations, caffeine, and fun of having everyone from the show in the same place since before our first episode! “Chief, we need to jump now!”
S1 E23 · Wed, June 02, 2021
The 7th Guest
Which way should we go now? I’ll give you a hint… straight to the “Play” button on this episode! Chris and Katie are checking into the haunted mansion of The 7th Guest for PC & Mac, and trying to puzzle (literally) their way back out again! Cake slices, lettered tin cans, first-person mazes, flipping photos, and a whole lot of dumb luck play into this classic that helped to popularize the CD-ROM drive back in the early ’90s… does it live up? Are the puzzles still hard? Or, as Stauf, the mansion’s owner might say, will we all be dead by the time they solve this? Hit the button, listen to the episode, and find out just how spooky things can get in 28-year-old badly-made FMVs! Otherwise… we’re going to have to start again!
S1 E22 · Wed, May 19, 2021
Kirby Super Star
It’s a (fat) bird! It’s a (pink) plane! No, it’s KIRBY! And he’s a SUPER STAR! Here for an appearance in the final Super Nintendo game before the switch to Nintendo 64, in an 8-in-1 side-scrolling & platforming adventure, inhaling enemies and exhaling pure, raw, fluffy, pink power! Hosts Chris and Katie hop back in time and dig deep into their memory banks for this one, and at least one of them made it just about through the whole thing (two guesses who…) – but both had a lot of fun! Cutters, plasma, floating, Grommet Races, and a debate about whether tomatoes are, in fact, fruits… this one has it all! Flap your wings, hit your A buttons, do whatever you like, and join us for another adventure in dreamland!
S1 E21 · Wed, May 05, 2021
Street Fighter II
Round 21… PLAY! We’re headed to Japan! And Brazil! And Thailand! And, apparently, the U.S.S.R.! Why? Because it’s Street Fighter II time, and we’re flying all around the world to fun fight locales, dragon punches, yoga fires, and tiger knees! Across the arcade, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo, this game showed up across a LOT of systems, and defined the 90s for a lot of kids growing up with fighting games. Not to mention, an AMAZING(ly bad) movie featuring the talents of Raul Julia, and Jean-Claude Van Damme hamming it up for an hour and 40 minutes. A new Trope of the Day, a frustrated Host Katie calling the computer a cheater, countries that no longer exist, and a small detour into a former game developer’s thigh fetish… this episode’s got it all! HADOUKEN!
S1 E20 · Wed, April 21, 2021
Final Fantasy III
Like blind hogs looking for acorns, we’re back to look for the best Final Fantasy games! This time, it’s Final Fantasy 3… no, not THAT Final Fantasy 3, the OTHER one! The one that only came out in Japan originally, and only came out on the DS in North America. And you know what? It was pretty fun! It’s too bad we didn’t get a chance to play it when it first came out. Join us as we work through saving the world with a bunch of teenagers who were told to do so by… a crystal? Sure, why not! Floating continents, frozen time, ancient evils, old people with parrots on their shoulders, and dogs with 9 heads. None of it makes sense, except when you’re Square, building a Final Fantasy game! Kweh! Fat chocobo says hop on and take a ride! Or listen!
S1 E19 · Wed, April 07, 2021
Mario Kart 64
Let’s a-go! This time we’re hitting the gas pedals on our 100cc karts and racing our way into 1997 and the game that took the Nintendo 64 by storm, Mario Kart 64! Hosts Chris and Katie hop in (both with Toad, they’re definitely siblings!) to join the Mario crew racing through Kalimari Desert, Koopa Troopa Beach, Wario Stadium, and of course, Rainbow Road! Drifting, drafting, blue-shell-ing, and failing miserably at finding the shortcuts through the tracks… it’s racing mayhem, and all that childhood frustration re-lived all over again… but with a shiny cup thrown up by an oversized Cheep Cheep at the end of it all, and doesn’t that make it all better? Jump in the passenger seat (of this one-seater kart?) and give it a listen, and remember all the hilarity and fun that came from this game, and some of its anti-frustration features along the way!
S1 E18 · Wed, March 24, 2021
Jak 2 (Renegade)
It’s time to go back to the past! Err… back to the future! Or… oh who cares, it’s BACK TO THE JAK! Chris and Katie are jumping into the pools of Dark Eco, picking up Precursor Orbs, and figuring out what’s new and exciting with the second iteration of the Jak & Daxter series. Taking a giant roll-jump forward from the first game in the series, Jak 2 adds flying cars, hoverboards, guns, time travel, politics, angry guards, and… let’s just say some new voices pop up! So hop into the speeder, take a listen, and enjoy a breakdown of a game that (spoilers) broke Host Chris down pretty well too!
S1 E17 · Wed, March 10, 2021
Star Fox 64
“Do a barrel roll!” This episode, our intrepid hosts are hopping into the cockpit again for some classic space combat from 1997 with STAR FOX 64. In doing so, they answer some of the world’s burning questions like: What’s the difference between a barrel roll and an aileron roll? What really makes something an aircraft? And most importantly, what are “space meters”? Chris and Katie take a deep dive into this rails shooter, trying to make their way to the planet Venom to fight and defeat Andross. Along the way, they get frustrated at the AI of their teammates, learn a bit about Leeroy Jenkins, and remember just how annoying the Nintendo 64’s controller could be (especially with the Rumble Pak in!) Take a listen, reminisce about the ’90s when flapping cartoon mouths were the pinnacle of graphical achievement, and enjoy!
S1 E16 · Wed, February 24, 2021
Grand Theft Auto 2
GIMMEYOURWALLET! We’re stealin’ cars, throwin’ molotov cocktails, and… turnin’ gangsters into hot dogs? Well, it’s GRAND THEFT AUTO 2, what do you expect?!? Hosts Chris and Katie are hopping into the driver’s seat and rolling back the odometers of their memories to check out this top-down, crazy, violent, tank-driving classic that helped spawn an era of open-world sandbox games, even outside of its hugely successful franchise. Listen in and find out… can Katie drive a stolen car better than she flew a plane in Chuck Yeager? Was Chris able to buckle down and finish all 3 zones? Was everything as good as the two of them remembered? Spoiler alert: No, no, and… shhh, sorry, that last one you really have to check the episode out to learn! Slam, baby.
S1 E15 · Wed, February 10, 2021
Super Mario Bros.
A big episode number calls for a big classic game… SUPER MARIO BROS! In this episode, Hosts Chris and Katie drop down the warp tube allllllll the way back to 1985, and give the OG of classic console games a run-through for the first time since it was near-new! Hundreds of tries on the last level for Katie, a surprise knockoff Mini console for Chris; this episode came with all sorts of surprises, on top of a HUGE hit of nostalgia, a deep dive down a cultural phenomenon that changed the face of video games forever, and learning that the fine motor skills of adulthood are very helpful when playing old games! How did it hold up? How much fun was it for the hosts to try again, and (kinda) succeed? Did they beat the game? Did they get emotionally broken down? Listen in and see!
Tue, February 02, 2021
Flight Simulators
It’s a very special NEW EPISODE DAY! Check out the first episode of our new bonus series, “Chris’s Tech Talk”! In these episodes, Host Chris will be joined by various guests to talk about the technology that goes into video games, and the challenges that developers face bringing their visions to reality! For our first installment, Chris is following up our Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat episode with a discussion on flight simulators and the nuts and bolts behind them. So hop in the audio cockpit and join Chris and his friends, with their 50-plus combined years of professional flight simulator experience, as they dive into what it takes to make a true flight sim, then (predictably) get distracted and forget that they were supposed to be talking about video games as they nerd out about planes! Let’s kick the low-polygon tires and light the 8-bit fires!
S1 E14 · Wed, January 27, 2021
Gunstar Heroes
HIYAAA! To quote Tank from The Matrix, “It’s a very exciting time!” This episode is the reason that GWGW exists in the first place, as Hosts Chris and Katie review one of their all-time favorite games from their childhood, Gunstar Heroes on the Sega Genesis! Jump in and take a listen as they break down the Clue-style cast of characters (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Black… such creativity!) and have a lot of debates during the Rose-Tinted Glasses segment about how the game works (spoiler alert: Chris was right over and over, sorry Katie…) A great co-op game, a huge trove of memories, and a replay that did a great job at living up to its prediction… hop on in!
S1 E13 · Wed, January 13, 2021
Soulcalibur II
Round One… FIGHT! It’s into the battle arena for Hosts Chris and Katie, as they foray into a fighting game for the first time on the show. Yoshimitsu pogo-sticking on his sword, Nightmare being a… well, nightmare, and Voldo being whatever the heck Voldo is. This one is more in Katie’s wheelhouse, and was a much larger part of being a game she grew up with, so it’s a chance for Chris to explore and experience it with fresher eyes (hey, after Chuck Yeager last episode, turnabout is fair play, right?) Stop on by, step into the ring, and see if you can find Soul Calibur, stop Soul Edge, and save the world from evil!
S1 E12 · Tue, December 15, 2020
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (feat. GamingAtTheEdge)
Our throttles are at 100%, afterburners are on, and we’re back with a special guest to talk about one of the best flight simulators of all time, Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat! This episode, we’re chatting with the host of a great retro gaming channel on Twitch, GamingAtTheEdge, who brings us a perfect background of video gaming and real-world flying to break down all of the great things about this classic. Unfortunately, we moved this episode up due to the passing of General Yeager, but we can celebrate his legacy and what he gave to countless future pilots, aeronautical engineers, and just general flying-fanboys/fangirls through this game. Take a listen, and find all the great things about the game, and just how well Katie did at following the advice Chris gave about how to properly take off!
S1 E11 · Wed, December 02, 2020
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey and Diddy! Cranky and Candy! The whole Kong crew! (And hey, don’t forget Funky!) It’s DONKEY KONG COUNTRY time, on the Super Nintendo! We’re rolling and jumping and launching our way through this jungle classic this week, and it’s barrels of fun (ba-dum-tss!). Swing on by as hosts Chris and Katie break it down, with a special guest-hosting appearance from Producer-Host (Prost) Lisa! Hear about her experiences and memories of it, and then the follow-up after all three played through the action… including Minecart Carnage, a.k.a. “THAT level…” It’s a great one, and what a palate cleanser after a pair of 30-hour-long early RPGs! Let’s do this!
S1 E10 · Tue, November 17, 2020
Final Fantasy 1 & 2
It’s here! Episode 10! Double digits! And what better way to handle that than to dive into one of the greatest game series out there, right from the very beginning? It’s FINAL FANTASY, 1 and 2! For some reason, we decided it would be great to celebrate it by doing TWO different 25-hour RPGs and shove them into one big episode! These are classic games from a classic series, but… maybe not GREAT games. The basics of the Final Fantasy series are clearly laid here though, and as a pair of gamers that absolutely love what Final Fantasy has become, it was a fun adventure to go all the way back to 1987 and see what they were like even before we were really gamers! Come on and ride with us through the foundations of an amazing series of JRPGs and see why, in the end… GAINING EXPERIENCE IS KEY TO AN RPG!
S1 Enull · Wed, November 04, 2020
Final Fantasy Special
And now, for a very special episode of Games We Grew Up With… FINAL FANTASY! All of them! From Firion in FF2 to Cloud in FF7, Terra in 6 to Lightning in 13, and Tactics to the MMOs, Final Fantasy has been impacting the world of RPGs for nearly 35 years. As our Hosts Chris and Katie have played many of them over the years, they decided to do one giant “rose-tinted episode” about the series as a whole. What they remember, what they love, what they love a little bit less, and what it has meant to their gaming lives. Listen in as they navigate their oceans of memories of these games, and predict how their future playthroughs will go (including our next episode, combining Final Fantasy I & II!)
S1 E9 · Wed, October 21, 2020
Ecco the Dolphin
“Ecco, PLEASE!” … for those who watched Host Katie stream this episode’s game, Ecco the Dolphin for the Sega Genesis, you heard that phrase MANY times. After many (many) weeks of putting it off, Chris and Katie are diving in and learning the ins and outs of this classic. The beautiful music and the playful graphics, of course! But also, the incredibly frustrating controls and lack of information to guide you through the game. There is a lot of great work done in this game, and a ton of creative and fun levels along the way. However, there’s also some times that both of our hosts definitely wanted to tear their hair out and rage-quit on trying to play through this game. Through those struggles and successes, a pretty fun game did shine its way through! Oh, and then there was a trip to Atlantis, time travel back into the past, and fighting a H.R. Giger-esque alien queen onboard her space ship. Because, why not? Take a deep breath, jump on in, and listen to the fun!
S1 E8 · Wed, October 07, 2020
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Hit that skate, bro! Chris and Katie are back to take us on a nostalgic journey down the half-pipe and grinding the rails on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the absolute classic skateboard and skate-punk game for the Playstation 1 in 1999 (and the brand-new remake!). Going through the skate park, downtown San Francisco, Area 51, and more, they’ll break down the grab tricks, the kickflips, and all the other fun pieces to this game. But mostly… THE MUSIC! Skate punk, ska, and (to Producer Kyle’s dismay) Primus… a playlist that helped shape the music tastes of the hosts for years to come. Five stars, classic all around! Drop in, listen up, and grab some air!
S1 E7 · Wed, September 23, 2020
GoldenEye 007
The name’s Up With… Games We Grew Up With. It’s Episode 007, which of course means we HAD to revisit the absolute classic multiplayer shooter from its era, GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64! From Severnaya to the Facility, the Klobb to Proximity Mines, Paintball Mode to Golden Guns, hosts Chris and Katie dive deep into this game that took the world by storm in 1997. Sit back, relax with your favorite beverage (shaken, not stirred), and listen to this super-sized episode about everyone’s favorite super-spy! We couldn’t nearly do justice to this amazing game in our normal episode length, so we decided to give it some extra time and dig deep. For England, James…
Trailer · Wed, September 16, 2020
Trailer
Welcome to the show! If you love retro video games, if you love some good banter, and you love laughing at people occasionally making fools of themselves, this is the podcast for you! Subscribe and give it a listen!
S1 E6 · Tue, September 08, 2020
Road Rash II
It’s time to hop onto our motorcycles (whether the Shuriken 400 or Diablo 1000 N) and hit the road for some high-speed, chain-whipping, cop-avoiding, bike-popping action with 1992’s Road Rash II on the Sega Genesis! In this episode, Chris and Katie navigate us through this classic and its blend of adrenaline, frustration, and yelling at the TV and each other growing up. Take a listen as they remember the fun of knocking each other off their bikes, spinning chains above their heads, and desperately trying not to get busted by the police, and then see just how well it held up almost 30 years later. It might not have the greatest musical score or graphics in the world, but this one kept the excitement going! Let’s ride!
S1 E5 · Wed, August 26, 2020
Super Mario RPG
It’s-a me, Mario! Chris and Katie are back and this time it’s to jump into the adventures of the world’s most popular plumber as he makes his first foray into a Role-Playing Game! In this extra-long special episode, our hosts talk about our team of heroes (Mario, Bowser, Peach, and new additions Mallow and Geno) as they work to defeat Smithy, but also discuss RPGs in general, the influence that developers Square had on an otherwise very Nintendo-feeling game, and Katie will learn just how wrong she was when she said there wasn’t any platforming to worry about during the rose-tinted glasses segment. So let’s dive in and take a listen, and reminisce about one of the most fun RPGs of its era, and the predecessor to an entire lineup of Nintendo titles that have followed in its footsteps!
S1 E4 · Tue, August 11, 2020
Um Jammer Lammy
It’s time for Chris and Katie to show off their musical chops! This episode, they’re going back to 1999 and rocking out with PaRappa the Rapper’s lesser-known sequel, Um Jammer Lammy for the PlayStation! They’ll be talking about their memories of the game, they might drop a Blockbuster Video reference in there, and they’ll share a bit about just how far rhythm games have come in the years since the genre started with PaRappa and Lammy’s adventures. As is becoming tradition, they’ll also do a deeper dive on a video game TROPE OF THE DAY, and see how it connects with Um Jammer Lammy. Take a listen as they dive into this colorful, catchy, and crazy frustrating rhythm game!
S1 E3 · Wed, July 29, 2020
Jak and Daxter
Chris and Katie are back at it with their retro video gaming nostalgia, this time with a classic PlayStation 2 platformer, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy! The first installment of one of Katie’s favorite trilogies of all time, this 2001 Naughty Dog-developed title has everything you’d want in a platformer. Running and jumping, punching and shooting, fire and ice levels… and a healthy amount of falling into pits and dying and blaming the terrible camera angles. If we didn’t know better, we’d think the game was called “I swear I hit the jump button!” based on watching Chris and Katie play on Twitch. Take a listen as our hosts dive into their memories of the game, their thoughts after playing through it again, and a breakdown of this week’s video gaming “trope of the day”, which just might be relevant to Jak and Daxter… Let’s talk games!
S1 E2 · Tue, July 21, 2020
Vectorman
Chris and Katie return for another retro game review, and this time it’s Sega’s 1995 run-and-gun platformer hit, Vectorman! Listen as they discuss all of the gritty, green, and gun-slinging action of this console classic. The two hosts will dive back in time in their “rose-tinted glasses” segment and share their memories of the game, how they think Young Chris and Young Katie would have scored it, then after they’ve replayed the game, find out just how accurate their memories were! Whether or not Vectorman was a part of your own childhood, listen in get a sense for what it would have been like through the eyes of Chris and Katie, and find out what our next game is going to be!
S1 E1 · Sun, July 19, 2020
Earthworm Jim
Welcome to the show! As Chris and Katie kick off their journey through their video-gaming youth, they are starting with a classic… Earthworm Jim. This Sega Genesis title from 1994 is full of vivid colors, cartoony artwork, fantastic music, strange enemies, and above all… a giant worm in a super-suit! In this episode, we learn about our two sibling hosts, why they’re starting a podcast, and what impact video games had on their shared childhoods. Then, they talk about the game through their “rose-tinted glasses” of childhood and what they remember, predict what they’ll think about it upon replaying it, and then see whether they were right or wrong. Take a listen, get to know Chris and Katie, relive some fond memories if you ever played Earthworm Jim, or if not, learn a bit about it and decide if it’s worth finding and giving it a play… Let’s talk games!
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