The Best of Video Games: Console Edition

The Steves discuss their favorite video games across all the different consoles.

What are your favorites? Let us know @happylifepod

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

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Episode Transcript

Steve (00:02):
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners.
This is Steve Bennett Martin,and

Stephen (00:06):
this is Steven Martin Bennett.
And welcome to a Lifetime

Steve (00:09):
of Happiness, the podcast where we take you on our journey
through some of the movies,shows, and other bits of pop
culture that are helping to keepus happy while hopefully bring a
smile to your face along

Stephen (00:17):
the way.
And this month is award seasonfor our podcast and we're
keeping it going with presentingour favorite video games across
many of the different console

Steve (00:28):
generations, all the consoles were discussing.
And speaking of video gameconsoles, what was the first
console that you ever owned orgot to play with?

Stephen (00:39):
So, I don't know the exact timing cuz I was younger,
but it was either the Commodore64 or the in television.
The Commodore was also acomputer, so that was the first.
Place where I learned to doprogramming mm-hmm.
As well.
And the in television wasfantastic and it just had so
many games.

(00:59):
That was where I fell in lovewith like burger time.

Steve (01:02):
Right.
You're speaking of foreignlanguage to me cuz that was the
wild West of video games beingcreated back in what, the 18
hundreds, 1980s, but all right.
Okay.
Pretty much in video game terms.
Think of how far we've come inyour lifetime.
It, it's been a long time.
Yes.
My system wasn't that furtherbehind I would guess, but it was
the Game Boy.

(01:23):
I had a game boy before I, Iremember like my going to my
cousin's house growing up andthey had a Nintendo, so I would
play the Nintendo when I wasover there.
But I started with like my firstsystem that was my own, was my
Game Boy.
And that thing was attached tomy

Stephen (01:36):
hands.
I was either in fifth or sixthgrade when the Game Boy came
out.
Because I know Barry was incollege

Steve (01:42):
and it already had, like, I don't, I don't think I got it
when it was brand new.
I think it had been out for alittle while cuz there was a
good amount of games like rightfrom the get go.
But like, I remember havinglike, the, the Mario Land and
Tetris and all of those gameswere my first foray into gaming.
You know what's

Stephen (02:00):
kind of funny?
So I never had Super Mario Land.
My best, one of my best friendsgrowing up, his name was Craig
Gayer and he had the Game Boybefore I did, and he had Super
Mario Land and the first levelwas one of those.
Because, you know, they were allside scrolling and it was one of
those that was a forced likethis, the screen kept started

(02:25):
moving.
Yeah.
And you had to keep up with it.
Yeah.
And I didn't like that.
And so I never got The originalSuper Mario Land, which I
believe is the first time weever see Princess Daisy.

Steve (02:39):
Yes.
And that bitch was always inanother castle.
That's just a princess thing.
And they didn't have safe pointsback then.
So I remember how frustratingthat was though, that if you're
Game Boy batteries died, thatlike you lost whatever progress
you had or away if you were onthe final of like World eight
whatever and you died like itwas game over, start from one.

(03:01):
Okay.

Stephen (03:01):
So I have something to go along with that that goes
with our first category isfavorites games.
Yes.
So I'm gonna skip ahead to FinalFantasy.
Yes.
The original Go for it.
So I had never experienced agame like that before.
You sit off with your band offour people and it's a whole
epic quest.
And I remember like I.
Three quarters of the waythrough the game, your

(03:23):
characters morph into higherforms, Uhhuh.
And it was really cool.
It was my first ever RRP G buthere's what I remember from it.
So we were you know, I have like20 some first cousins and so
anytime we were at Grandma andGrandpa's house, everyone would
bring their NSS and we'd hookthem up in different rooms to
play.

(03:43):
And like my cousin, the Deansand mm-hmm.
My cousin Larry, we each had ns.
So some people would bring theirgames, some people bring their
systems.
And we were playing FinalFantasy, but they were working,
dad and other uncles wereworking to build a new shower
and bathroom in one of thebathrooms downstairs.

(04:06):
And they kept having to turn offthe power to the house.
Mm-hmm.
And they wouldn't let us knowwhen it was happening.
There's no auto saves on Anysgames.
You had to camp.
Yeah.
Or go to an in.
Yeah.
On Final Fantasy.
Mm-hmm.
So you could lose hours.
Hours, yeah.

(04:27):
Three times that day the powerwas turned off while we were
playing Final Fantasy and welost

Steve (04:33):
hours.
Well, you must have loved it ifyou kept on going back.
Yes.
Yes.
And I would say that cuz I, Inever really played.
Much on the Nintendo other thanvisiting family.
But the, the games that I chose,like Super Mario Brothers three,
like eventually, like I playedthat when out on the Super
Nintendo as part of all SuperMario.
Oh, the Super Mario All Stars.

(04:53):
Ugh.
And so like for me, I played iton the Super Nintendo, but it is
a Nintendo game and I loved it.
I mean it definitely like wasintroduced me to platformers,
like in a way that I felt likeit was easy to understand but
like hard to get good at.
And it was fun, like learningall the secret pipes and maps
and different things.

(05:15):
It was definitely very fun.
And

Stephen (05:16):
that was the first one.
They really truly divided thekingdom into the different
areas, like the desert worldwhere you had that sun that
would chase you.
Yeah.
And this is also the first videogame that was launched with a
movie, which was the Wizard.
You've never seen the, we'llhave to watch the Wizard.
It's about this.
And now you would say autisticchild who was a video game

Steve (05:38):
savant.
Now he would say someone, aneurodivergent child,
neurodivergent

Stephen (05:42):
child, someone on the spectrum.
Yes.
Yes.
Well I love Super Mario three.
The one that I replayed all thetime was Super Mario two.
Which is so funny

Steve (05:50):
cuz it's not even a real Mario game.
Not technically, but I loved it.
Was what?
Doki?
Doki.
Dory.
Dory

Stephen (05:55):
Doki Doki panic.
Yeah.
And I loved being able to playas the other characters, like
Luigi's big jump, toad beingreally fast, or the princess
being able to float.

Steve (06:05):
And I loved how they turned that into like the future
mechanics that we see in theofficial Mario games.
Yeah.

Stephen (06:10):
And at the end of the game, it would show you how,
which character you use themost.
Yeah.
And my whole goal was, I willnever finish this with Mario
having the most uses.
What's another game that youloved?
Ducktails.

Steve (06:24):
Cuz I loved the cartoon.
Oh.
And so I loved the game.
I wasn't as good at it as, as Ithink as other people, but I was
also little.
So little kids are stupid.
You love

Stephen (06:34):
this game a lot too, too.
I did too.
I played this game more timesthan I can count.
I knew where all the secretswere.
I knew where to hit to find thebig hidden gems.
And I, by the time I was donewith any, yes, I could beat the
game without taking one hit ofdamage the whole time.
I honestly believe this is thebest like non-video game IP

(06:54):
video game ever.

Steve (06:56):
Yeah, I can buy that.
Yeah.
You know what I also bought?
What?
Well, I didn't buy it.
It was gifted to me, my gameboy, as I mentioned.
Yeah, but

Stephen (07:03):
you're, you're skipping ahead cuz I have one more.
I don't know how to read.
We're doing things out of order.
I know.
It's so out of order and it wasmy fault for jumping to final
Fantasy, but you know that Ican't do something without
mentioning the legend of Yeah,it's hard.
Punishingly.

Steve (07:19):
So yeah, I didn't even bother

Stephen (07:20):
with it at the time.
This is the first game where Iremember talking to people and
they'd be like, oh yeah, youknow, if you light that bush on
fire right there, there's acave.
It was the first likecollaborative gameplay.
Mm-hmm.
And if you got stuck, you couldcall somebody and they might be
like, oh no, no, no.
So one screen over and rightthere, that is the entrance to
the dungeon and you were reallyforced to explore in the game

(07:44):
and it was the only way tosucceed.
And for the that time period,this was a huge adventure I can
imagine.
Now on to Game Boy.

Steve (07:54):
Okay.
Why don't you start with yourfavorite.

Stephen (07:57):
So we already talked about my not love of Super Mario
Land, but I love Super MarioLand two six Golden Coins.
Yes.
This was my Mario game for theGame.
Boy, I love the differentworlds.
I loved how long the game was.
The mechanics were really goodand I would play this one again
and again,

Steve (08:17):
which just blows my mind then that you never played
Warrior Land, which is alsoknown as Super Mario Land three.
I did not, and it is thedefinitive version.
I can't believe if it's on thevirtual console anywhere.
Like you have to at least try itbecause it takes the platforming
from Mario Land too, which Iwould've had on my list.
Yeah.
But like up its level ofplatforming fun, while also

(08:40):
giving you this whole new set ofunique powers because it's
warrior while like bringing campinto Mario, which, so

Stephen (08:47):
it's.
Warrior's.
The protagonist.

Steve (08:51):
Yeah.
Okay.
Warrior's.
The hero in the game.
And it's, but like the goal isto get all the goals, the goal,
the gold.
Yeah.
All the goals, but like thattracks.
Yeah.
But it was, it, it turned thatMario Games upside down, just
like Warrior's first Letterdoes.
Yeah.
And it just, I can't believe youhaven't played it.
I definitely recommend it cuz itdefinitely was my probably

(09:11):
favorite one when you don'tcount the obvious.
Yeah.

Stephen (09:14):
The, one of my others, funny enough, it's Final Fantasy
again, but it was called FinalFantasy Adventure.
And this is kind of like FinalFantasy meets Zelda.
And this is the story that beganthe Manna series.
Yes.

Steve (09:27):
In, in Japan it was called like, it was a manna
game.
It wasn't even called FinalFantasy.
They called the Final FantasyAdventure with the Western
release trying capitalize off ofthe final fantasy ip.

Stephen (09:37):
Yep.
And I, oh goodness.
It's a long game.
I remember spending

Steve (09:43):
a lot of time on

Stephen (09:44):
it.
I beat this one I know at leastthree times.
I

Steve (09:46):
remember also not being very good

Stephen (09:48):
at it and like, you know how you can name your
character?
Yeah.
They only let you have fourletters.
Yeah.
So mine was always S T E V.
Yeah.

Steve (09:57):
So I think I did that too

Stephen (10:00):
because I was like, I couldn't do the p or my name
would be Step and yeah.
Like, and nowadays I'd be like,I could have the people in the
towns calling me Step.
That'd be fun.
Yeah.
Or I could have done an F buteither way.
What about you?
What's your other favorite Game?
Boy game?

Steve (10:15):
The game that started a franchise that I hold near and
dear to my heart, Pokemon Blue,that is the definitive edition
of my playground experience fromsixth through, or like fifth or
sixth through eighth grade wasjust Pokemon.
Pokemon.
I had my link cables.
I had my friends that I wouldtrade with and battle with, and.

(10:37):
So much time.
I, I loved it so much.

Stephen (10:41):
And I did not discover Pokemon until I was 30
something.
I, I knew what it was.
I was gonna say, I didn't playit

Steve (10:49):
until I was 30 something.
You, you've earned your right tocall yourself a Pokemon maniac.
Since then, I have playedyellow.
Yes.
And you caught'em all

Stephen (10:57):
Most recently I did.
Now here is one of my favoriteconsoles of all time.
Yes.
The s n e S.
Yeah.
Tell me about one of yourfavorite games.

Steve (11:10):
I would say that Lu two Rise of the Sinistra was the
first time that like, I rememberjust bawling.
Like all sorts of tiersthroughout, all sorts of
different points of a story.
It's an rpg.
Mm-hmm.
It's a little lesser known.
There wasn't really a lu three,although there were different
attempts to have sequels andspinoffs and remakes and things

(11:32):
like that.
I have never heard of Luth.
It's a traditional turn-basedrpg and it's just the
storytelling.
It's just beyond this world.
It turns so many things that youcome to expect on its head with
the way that it's told itsstories with the way they told
their stories and broke so manylike standard tropes.
Like I know you're never gonnaactually play it at all, but

(11:54):
like I, it blew my mind thatlike you start off in a town and
quickly your first partymembers, like your, your
childhood best friend who'sobviously in love with you and
you would think that they'regonna be like your ride or die
or end game through the end ofthe game, dead after like three
towns.
She's like, I don't even knowwhy I am with you.
You don't love me the way that Ilove you and I'm going back
home.
Wow.
And like, and like that was likeafter you had met the person who

(12:17):
ends up becoming your wife, andthen there's like a time jump
involved.
So you actually like get to thensee like what the world chain's
like over the time that you, Ilove when they do that.
And there were, there, there,there were multiple times, like
party members either lefttemporarily and you weren't sure
whether they were okay or not,or like you saw them die.
And I remember like crying whenparty members died, crying of
happiness when like the happy,like I was never so emotionally

(12:39):
invested into a game.
And then on top of that, the wasa mix of traditional like rrp G
battles, but you entered thebattles through an overworld
where it was like a legend, aZelda game, except that.
Enemies were on the map.
And then every step that youtook, they took, and it's when
you would have your sides meetthat you initiated the battle,

(13:01):
but while you were navigatingaround enemies, it was all these
puzzles too.
Like you had all the Zeldatrips, Uhhuh, so like you had
bombs, you had a hook shot, youhad, you know, levers and
puzzles like it.
I spent, I could replay thattomorrow if it was on the switch
or a readily accessible console.
It just was amazing.

Stephen (13:18):
Now there was, I think it was, they called it Final
Fantasy Two on the S N E S, butit's actually like six, I think
in Japanese.
Oh, final

Steve (13:26):
Fantasy three on the S N E S was

Stephen (13:28):
six.
Yeah.
And there were these twins thatwere part of your party.
Mm-hmm.
And I remember at one point theevil guy who's usually an
emperor Yeah.
Tricks you into this room andthe walls start closing in and
the twins turn themselves tostone to keep the walls from
closing in further.
I remember losing it because Iwas like, they were kind of the

(13:50):
sweet comedy comic relief andthen they sacrificed your, that
was the first time I'd ever beenlike

Steve (13:58):
you had feelings, a perma death about a character.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, and I'm sure partof it's nostalgia, but like
I've, I replayed it in mytwenties.
I've done it like, not in mythirties, but like, cuz I know
how you feel about like, usingROS online and all of that
stuff.
I do, but it's just a like aperfect game.
But I mean, in general, I wouldsay the S N E S was all about

(14:18):
the RPG for me.
Now

Stephen (14:20):
speaking of a perfect game mm-hmm.
I believe that Super Mario Worldwas a perfect game.
Yes.

Steve (14:25):
And I didn't even have to worry about thinking of adding
that to my list cuz I knew thatyou would.

Stephen (14:29):
Yeah.
Like I think it's a 10 out of 10no notes.
The levels are amazing.
The challenges are real, like,That rainbow road, those things.
Oh, we played it together.

Steve (14:39):
We did recently and it holds up very well.
Just, I would say we had morefun doing that than I think for
the newer Mario games.
We've done two players.
Yeah.

Stephen (14:47):
The Cape is my, probably my favorite power up of
all time.
The music is so iconic.
Like whenever you finish a levelthat just sticks with you, like
Super Mario, like if they everhad a Super Mario World two.
Mm-hmm.
Not Yoshi's Island, super Mario,world two.
Yes.
I would love to see that.

(15:07):
Excellent.
What about, what's a second onefor you?

Steve (15:10):
Chrono triggered just again, another splendidly told
RPG story.
Similarly has like a mindblower,about two thirds of the way
through your main character, youdie.
And like, that's crazy.
The rest of the party has tospend like another eight to 10
hours of gameplay revisitingthrough the, that.

(15:31):
That's where I first got in,like familiarized with different
timelines, uhhuh and kindauniverses and realms.
And it was cool seeing the waythat like when you changed the
past, you changed the future.
So

Stephen (15:42):
you were all prepared by the time you I got you
reading X ma'am.
Exactly,

Steve (15:45):
yes.
But yeah, k chrono trigger.
Just again, just anotherperfectly told story on the, on
the S N E S and at and like in agame, like a time when the
battle systems were generallyvery generic.
Generic, yeah.
Just telling amazing stories iswhat made the games for

Stephen (16:00):
me.
Now I know that some of myelections are gonna sound
repetitive, but my favorite s ne S game is the legend.
Is Zelda linked to the

Steve (16:09):
past besides Super Mario Worlds, right?

Stephen (16:11):
Yeah.
But whether it's nostalgia orhow amazing the game it is for
many years, this was my favoriteZelda game of all time and my
favorite video game of all time.
This set up the Zelda trope ofthe three Dungeons, get the
Master Sword Mini Boss, sevenDungeons Gannon and Fight that
would follow for many Zeldagames to come.

(16:33):
And because we're only pickingtwo, it needs to be said that
Super Metroid would've made thislist if I had had three choices.

Steve (16:40):
Yeah.
And I would say Super Mario rpg,would it have been on my list if
I had three choices?

Stephen (16:43):
Absolutely.
That's also another fabulousgame that I wish we had had
more, more of.
Yeah.

Steve (16:50):
Yes.
All right.
And PlayStation might be alittle quicker cuz you've never
been a real big PlayStation

Stephen (16:55):
or Except that I have games.
Oh, well there you go.
Go for it.
So I got a PlayStation when Iwas in college.
My cousin had gotten one and wewere playing over Thanksgiving
break.
And we were playing this game,all of us, Barry, the cousins

(17:15):
and stuff, this game calledDriver.
And it was the game thatconvinced me to get a
PlayStation.
And I think we played until likeone 30 in the morning.
And you know, the whole thing isyou're driving the car to get
away from the police who can ramyou, and you're trying to see
how long you can keep driving.

(17:36):
And so it became a competitionto see which one of us could
have the longest time periodthat you kept the car going
before you were either stoppedby the police or the car died
because you ran into so manythings.
We were laughing so hard becausethere'd be people on the streets
and you, you, a phone pole wouldlike come outta nowhere.
And I, that was the type of joythat I had been missing in some

(18:01):
video games.
And oh gosh, we had the besttime.
Awesome.

Steve (18:04):
Yeah.
And then I have to give a shoutto Resident Evil.
I never owned a PlayStation one.
I, I was able to experience alot of these games later on cuz
the, that was back whenbackwards compatibility was
Yeah.
More common and easilyaccessible.
So I played the Resident Evilthough I remember at my friend
Drew's house, at sleepoverparties growing up and just

(18:25):
having like, you know, three orfour or five like young, like
boys between like 10 and 14,like at the time, like over the
years, like we would play thedifferent ones.
But I just remember that firstone, like, and again, like we
would start a new file, likeevery sleepover and the goal was
trying to like beat it beforethe sun came up.
And like, I was always asleepbefore that happened.
You, but I got very through you.

(18:45):
Some things never changed, but Igot through the first part of
the mansion multiple times.
Oh.
And I just remember how scaryand fun it was.
Yeah.
And I didn't like the controls,but

Stephen (18:56):
I got it.
No, the tank controls were notgreat.
I remember playing this and Iwas so excited to get it.
And I was like, oh, what agrownup horror.
It's a horror movie video game.
Yeah.
And I'm playing along and youlike 20 minutes into it.
I'm in the upstairs hallway andthe dog jumped through the

(19:19):
window.
I threw the controllers and Inever played it again.
Oh no.
It scared me too much.
I was like, I can't do this.
And so it years later I playedit again.
Yeah, of course.
But

Steve (19:30):
like, I, I would say the game cue was the, the version of
it if you were to go back andplay it today, right.
Yeah.
But

Stephen (19:37):
I was like, nope.
I have better things to, to dothan

Steve (19:41):
get I was gonna say, yeah, we'll talk later, but even
now you have me play the scarygames.
Yes.

Stephen (19:46):
Now.
Some of them, but like there'sones that I like having you play
and it's like I get to watch ahorror movie.
Exactly.

Steve (19:53):
Again, that seems or sounds scary, but you love

Stephen (19:56):
Castlevania Symphony of the Night.
This was Kmi perfecting the 2DCastlevania games.
The gameplay was refined, it wasbeautiful, had an amazing
soundtrack, and they, the 2Dgames never, no matter what
system they were on, neverachieved this perfection again.
Yeah.
Like the Ds had some great,great castlevania games,

(20:22):
symphony.
The night was just perfect.
Yeah.

Steve (20:26):
And then I have to add, similarly, when I found ditching
on World three on thePlayStation, when I had like
PlayStation two, it just tookthe Pokemon formula of like
having pet monsters that youraised but like made it
difficult and it had an actualstory and it was challenging.

Stephen (20:43):
Being thrown out into the world by your single mother
and forced to live on the roadas a 12 year old is a story.
I know it

Steve (20:53):
is a story, but like this was also cool cuz like the whole
concept of Digman is that thereal world exists and that
you're from the real world andyou get transported to this
world rather than it being inthis fantasy world.
Didi

Stephen (21:02):
man, digital monsters.

Steve (21:04):
And so I just, I have so many memories associated with
the game.
Like I can remember like themusic that I was playing at the
time, I remember like, yeah, itjust, I remember being in my
bedroom in my like little cozychair like we had had in the
living room for so long.
Yeah.
And just playing that game somuch.

Stephen (21:24):
Now Game Boy Color.

Steve (21:28):
Yes.
Which is a different system.

Stephen (21:30):
Which is a different system require different
hardware.
Yes.
I had the Clear

Steve (21:35):
Purple.
I don't remember what color Ihad.
They

Stephen (21:39):
came in a lot of ones, but I was blue.
I loved the SeeThrough

Steve (21:43):
Purple one.
Yes.
And what was your favorite game?

Stephen (21:45):
Shock of All Shocks.
It's the legend is Auto LinksAwakening dx.
Yes, so it's a sequel to myfavorite game Linked to the
past.
This was released on the RegularGame Boy and I bought it and
played it there, but it got anupgrade with color and they even
added a new color based dungeon.
The characters in the game arequirky and fun.

(22:06):
I love the Trading side quest somuch.
It's a great game if you'regoing to play it.
Play the remaster on theNintendo Switch.
It is the best version.
Yes it

Steve (22:17):
is.
And I loved Dragon WarriorMonsters, which was like
Pokemon, but like imagine ifPokemon, where if you had a
party and you bred a Pikachu anda Squirtle that they made a
completely new creaturealtogether and they take that
idea.
But then like when breeding, youlose the parents I think or

(22:39):
something.
But I don't know what happens.
But I remember just spendinghours and hours in that game.
That was the first game that hadlike such an extensive like post
game where I beat the game afterso long and then I played at the
game for like twice as longafterwards with the post game.
I've just like reading and axingand having so much nerdy fun in
the very early days of theinternet where it was all like a
word based, a text baseddocument that I was reading.

(23:02):
Now

Stephen (23:03):
again, I said I was gonna sound repetitive for a
little bit here.
My other favorites are, thelegend is Auto Oracle of ages
and seasons.
Yeah, it's a one-two PunchCompanion games that use the
Awakening Engine.
One was Puzzle Heavy, the otherwas Combat Combat Heavy.
And together they tell one bigawesome story.
And honestly, I would love tosee this get the the, the

(23:28):
awakening or treatment from theswitch with that engine.
And you get both games on oneconsole or one cartridge.
That

Steve (23:37):
would be awesome.
And then everything I love aboutPokemon Blue was dialed up to
11.
When you take the sequel andthen give it its third version
Pokemon Crystal.
Just again, so much time playingthe Pokemon game.
We've done enough Pokemonepisodes.
I don't need to say more.
Yes, I can't wait to move on toNintendo 64 where I'm sure we're
gonna have two new ips of yoursthat we haven't heard you

(23:58):
mention yet at all.

Stephen (24:00):
Just kidding.
It's the Legend Zelda offeringof time slash MA's mass.
That
is

Steve (24:05):
definitely cheating.
Those are definitely twoseparate gains.

Stephen (24:08):
I know it's cheating, but I had to combine them
because what a link to the pastbegan.
Karina began to perfect.
Yes.
This was the first time seeinglike Hy Rule Field and it was
all spiral Jaw

Steve (24:20):
dropped.
Yeah, and I got a boner.

Stephen (24:23):
They added more lore and peoples to the games and
then you come to Mare's Mask andthey created a game like any
other Zelda game that repeatingthree day cycle, all the side
quests in the town.
Both of these games are madebetter on the three

Steve (24:38):
Ds because by that point you're able to understand how
the three day cycle works,right, babe?
Yes.

Stephen (24:43):
Somehow, as a 20 year old, I did not know how to do
the three day cycle on MA'smass.
You got stuck in the intro.
I did because I was like, okay,the three days are almost up.
I need to get back to the townbecause I need to be up there
and see the skull kid and thenplay it.

(25:04):
So I wasn't able to get very farand I didn't realize that.
Like you could be anywhere inthe world and reset the clock.
Yes.
I didn't get that until that'sthe three Ds, but I have beaten
it now twice and it's great.
It is great.
But the three Ds versions arethe definitive versions of the I
would have to

Steve (25:23):
agree.
And then I would've to say, aswe recently learned in the Super
Mario Brothers movie, that whileMario seems to make the cart
racing all the cool thingnowadays, back in the day, it
actually started, or at leastwas perfected.

Stephen (25:36):
I was gonna say Mario Kart

Steve (25:37):
came first.
I know, but it was perfected inDiddy Kong racing where you take
a racing game, but with, in likea, a world map ala like Mario
64, that you navigate by drivingaround in your car and you would
talk to characters that wouldgive you side quests and special
races and had boss battle racesand what.

Stephen (26:00):
This was also another game I couldn't figure out how
to play.

Steve (26:04):
Oh no.
Diddy Kong racing was so muchfun.
I remember I loved playing thelittle baby girl dinosaur.
Everyone should have known I wasgay by that point.
But I played the fuck out ofthis game.
And like, I'm not normally aracing fan, but like I got like
all the, whatever their versionof stars were on the game, I got
a hundred percent Loved it.

Stephen (26:21):
Yeah.
I didn't, I couldn't figure thisone out either.
I was like, what?
You're supposed to collect thesethings, but you also have to be
first.
How?
How are you going to do this?
And I didn't realize you didn'thave to do the both at the same
time and mm-hmm.
It was a whole thing.
And yeah, that one I would loveif they ever did a new Diddy

(26:42):
Kong racing or even took the oldone and remastered it or
whatnot.
It's on

Steve (26:46):
the Ds

Stephen (26:47):
I think.
Yeah.
I don't think we own DSSanymore.
Yeah.

Steve (26:53):
Or if they do, they don't have a battery life.
Yeah.

Stephen (26:55):
Yeah.
That was a, that's one where Inow as an adult, I'm like, I'm
too stupid for this.

Steve (27:03):
No, you're

Stephen (27:04):
good.
My other one again.
And super Mario 64.
This game changed theplatforming games forever.
It was able to createplatforming in a 3D world that
worked.
There was so much to explore, somany secrets defined.
And this was the beginning ofMario saying, Woohoo, or it's a

(27:26):
me.
Yeah.
And it finally, you could hearit pronounced.
So you realized you weremispronouncing his name.
I

Steve (27:32):
was saying it wrong my whole life.
I also remember like thisChristmas morning when we got
it, spending the first like,Hour just playing with his face
on pulling face.
Different title screen.
Yeah.
We didn't even like get startthe game until after the family
gathering cuz we were justhaving so much fun playing with
his face.

Stephen (27:48):
Now I do have to give honorable mention to Golden Eye
oh oh seven.
Yes, it, but my

Steve (27:52):
friends as close together as it did push us apart.

Stephen (27:55):
Yeah, that was the first multiplayer game.
Multiplayer game I fell in lovewith.
We played it so much.
Like we had You couldn't be oddjob.
Yeah.
Because he was too short.
Mm-hmm For regular shooting.
Also Wave Race 64.
That was the game that made mefall in love with water effects
end games.
I played the, knocked the out ofthat game.
Yeah.

(28:15):
Yes.

Steve (28:15):
And I have to say, and I know you're gonna because did
you ever play banjo Kazu?

Stephen (28:22):
I Banjo did Noti.
Okay.

Steve (28:25):
I have to admit that Banjo Kazu would not exist if it
were not for Super Mario 64.
However, it took everythingabout Super Mario 64 and
perfected it into this amazing,you might have to say, is better
than Super Mario 64.
I've heard that like between thecollecting the notes, the
characters are quirky andlovable.
It like pokes fun at itselfwhile doing its own thing.

(28:49):
Just, I love Banjo Kazu andBanjo Tui were like a good one
two punch.
But like Banjo, Kazu inparticular, I just, that was a
platform or game that like, I, Ilove Super Mario 64 and had so
many feels and experiences withit, but like Banjo, Kazuo would
be the one I would play againtomorrow if I had to pick the

Stephen (29:06):
two.
The 64 was that era where I wasfinishing high school.
Mm-hmm.
And beginning college, I was abusy boy, so I missed out on a
lot of 64 things and then I wasso busy in college, I didn't
have time to game that.
I didn't really pick up gamingagain until I was in Cincinnati.

(29:28):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, but around that same time,we also have the most successful
game console of all timecurrently.

Steve (29:38):
Really?
The PlayStation two.
PlayStation

Stephen (29:40):
two.
Well, what's your favorite gamefor the Okami?
Well, or common?
Well, you

Steve (29:44):
play that on like every

Stephen (29:45):
system.
I do.
I play it on every system, butthat's where it started.
Yeah.
You get to control AMSU, the SunGoddess in Wolf Form.
It has an amazing visual stylethat looks like a storybook.
You get to clean the world,which is all kind and remove
like a, all these evil spirits.
The cherry blossom trees are sopretty.

(30:06):
It's a truly epic game.
You get many, many hours ofgameplay out of it.
There were a couple times whereI was like, well, that's the end
of the game.
And no.
They were like, that's thehalfway point, bitches.
Boom, boom.
And you get to change people'slives.
I love it.
Love it, love it.
I played it there.
I played it.
On the we.
I played it on the Switch.

(30:27):
I played it on the Switch, but Ithink I also played it again on
Theu.
On the Weu.
Yeah, it's, yeah, it's great.

Steve (30:36):
Yes.
And Kingdom Hearts one and twoalso cheating cuz

Stephen (30:40):
you did.
I was gonna say, as long as youacknowledge that my legend is El
is there, I'll acknowledgeyours.
Yes.
But you

Steve (30:47):
take Final Fantasy and Disney and mix them up into like
a love baby with like its ownunique story.
It just,

Stephen (30:56):
I loved it.
That is the one series that Iwish I had played.

Steve (31:01):
I know it's on the switch now, but it's the cloud version,
so it's touch and go.
Right.

Stephen (31:05):
You know, like, because America doesn't have a strong of
a wifi system as Japan does.

Steve (31:11):
Yes.
But then what about another

Stephen (31:12):
one for you?
So beyond good and evil, thiswas a game that didn't get
enough love upon its release.
Mm-hmm.
Jade is a great and appealingmain character.
The storytelling was fun.
And who doesn't want to try tosave the planet from invading

Steve (31:25):
aliens?
I would leave it to you.
And then of course, residentEvil four.
Oh.
With Leon, the part of my videogame Sexual Awakening.
Absolutely.
I had

Stephen (31:37):
Leon Hair when I lived in Cincinnati.
Oh, I would've

Steve (31:40):
begged you so hard.

Stephen (31:42):
I, I took the game cover to my stylist was like
this, yeah, I need this.
She's like, we can do that.

Steve (31:49):
Awesome.
Yeah.
And you loved it too.
Oh yeah.

Stephen (31:52):
It's just such a great version is great.
Because the IR aiming with theWe Moat is so neat because you
get that little laser pointer onthe screen and you're like, ba
bam, ba

Steve (32:02):
bam, ba bam.
Yes.
And if it was portable, Iprobably already would've beaten
it, but I am enjoying playing iton the PlayStation as much as,
well, I played it on the Switch.
No, but I mean like with thePlayStation for the remake.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
That I forgot that I'm playing.
And then we have the Game Cube.

Stephen (32:18):
Hey, and I'm not going to mention.
A Mario game because I'm goingto mention Metroid Prime one and
two because I picked two

Steve (32:26):
Mario games for you.
Yes, you did.

Stephen (32:28):
So what is amazing about the Metroid Prime things
is you take a side scrollingaction game like Metroid and
they turn it into a three Dfirst person adventure.
And it doesn't even seempossible on paper, but the end
result was astounding.
Hours of beautiful gameplay.
The story went so much deeperthan ever before.

(32:48):
I love two d Metroid alwayshave, always will, but the Prime
Games captured a part of medifferently.
Yeah.
And for anyone interested, theMetroid Prime remastered on Len
Nintendo Switch is thedefinitive version.
I just replayed it this winterwhen it came out.
It's even better than before.

Steve (33:09):
Buy it.
All right.
And then I have to give a nod toPaper Mario and the thousand
year door, because it just,Mario, you had an rpg, you had
quirky, lovable characters.
It by nowhere went to the levelI feel like that Super Mario RPG
did.
But it definitely was a goodsolid RPG in a system that I had

(33:30):
trouble looking through it tofind a lot of different options.

Stephen (33:33):
I've heard that this was an amazing game.
Yes.
You next.
Okay, so because it's me, it'sThe legend is all Zelda, the
Wind Waker.
Yes.

Steve (33:43):
I think next week we should do an episode where we do
things by genres so that they'renot all Zelda.
Yeah.

Stephen (33:48):
That's what we're gonna have to do.
Because I realized going throughthis, I was like, well obviously
my favorite games on therearen't going to be Zelda games.
Yeah.
It gets better as we get intonewer systems.
There we go.
But so you have Legend is out ofthe wind Waker.
Yeah.
After AC Karina.
Everyone was inspecting,expecting a realistic grownup
link.

Steve (34:07):
Yeah.
I remember they had like thetech demo that they showed off
and everyone's like, oh my

Stephen (34:10):
god.
Yeah.
What we got was Tune link and agiant adventure across the sea
while not Beloved when it cameout, it aged extremely well and
now most people truly love it.
If you like had a Weu.
The Weu version is also thedefinitive version I would like

(34:31):
until

Steve (34:31):
they put one on

Stephen (34:32):
the switch.
Right.
I would like to give Honorablemention to Luigi's Mansion.
Mm-hmm.
Mario Cart double dash, whichI'm sad that we have never had
another double dash again.
Yeah, because that was GoodTimes.
Animal Crossing.
I loved the original and justFishing and Eternal Darkness,
sanity, Requiem which messedwith the player.

(34:55):
Mm-hmm.
I remember like.
As you get in sanity thingshappening, there was one where
your screen starts messing upand your screen flashes and it
looks like you've take, it takesyou back to the start screen and
there's no save file.
Mm-hmm.
And you're like, I've beenplaying for 12 hours.

(35:17):
Where's my safe file?
And it's just messing with you.
Yeah.
And then after hearing aboutthat, after about 30 seconds, it
comes back and you're like, whatthe fuck?
Mm-hmm.
Like that everyone's beensaying.
Every generation that eternaldarkness needs a remake.
And Nintendo does keep renewingthe copyright on it so we can

(35:39):
hope.
Yeah.
Now you promised another Mariogame.
Give us another Mario game.
Super

Steve (35:44):
Mario Sunshine, which I remember just like, I mean, it
was beautiful.
Yeah.
It was.
Vibrant.
The music was beautiful

Stephen (35:53):
and tropical.
It was totally different thanany other Mario game.

Steve (35:56):
And I remember just how also like really hard it was
like, especially like near theend, like you can make it
through the story, but if youwere at a hundred percent that
game, like it made Super Mario64 feel like a walk in the park.
Any of

Stephen (36:09):
those Bowser levels where like you could not fall
off a platform.
Yeah.
Or you fell to your doom.
That was hard platforming.
Yeah.
That was.
And because, and you had this

Steve (36:21):
and the Super Mario Odyssey ending once or just
super hard,

Stephen (36:25):
like with that you had gotten used to like having a
little bit of a cheat with yourplatforming because you had the
water cannon Yeah.
To like give you a little boostor something.
Mm-hmm.
But when you go into thoseBowser levels, they take the
water cannon away so you're notASEP used to it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, so Game Boy advanced.

(36:47):
Yes.
Now was I did not own a Game BoyAdvance.
I ended up getting Game BoyAdvance Games for my

Steve (36:53):
Ds.
Well, there you go.
Yeah.
It was an interesting system.
It basically was a portableNintendo and Super Nintendo
player.
Like if you go back and you lookat the top games, oh, you mean

Stephen (37:03):
like Super Mario Advance is Super Mario Brothers
two or something like that.
But like

Steve (37:09):
every Nintendo game and Super Nintendo game pretty much
got a remake on that system.
But there are a couple ones thatyou wanted to start with.
Another metro.

Stephen (37:20):
Yep.
I, I love my Mario Metro andZelda, I admit it.
This is a lot more linear thanusual Metroids.
It worked out really well toplay in short bursts.
The story moved the main storyof the me like Samis and the
Metroids Forward.
It gave us.
It also led us to the perfectionthat is Metroid dread.

(37:42):
Mm-hmm.
On Game Boy Advance, there wasalso a Metroid Zero Mission,
which was a remake of theoriginal Metroid from the nes,
but with better visuals and gameploy gameplay.
And so if you had a Game Boy,advance Zero Emission was the
way to play the original Metro.

Steve (38:00):
Excellent.
And the Game Boy Advance is thesystem where I fell in love with
Fire Emblem by playing theSacred Stones.
I do have to admit that overall,the story in just what's called
Fire Emblem.
Yeah.
In the US on the Game BoyAdvance is probably a better
story.
But I love the gameplay of theSacred Stones that had like th
this like underworld tower ordungeon, like you can go to like

(38:22):
train up rather than onlyhaving.
Like a set number of skirmishesin between battle to power up,
so it's easier to grind in thesacred stones.
Mm-hmm.
But it's where I fell in lovewith the combat and you, it
won't be the first time you heartheir name on this list.

Stephen (38:36):
So again, the Legend of Zelda, but the Minish cap link
and is talking hat as low andyou have to collect kin stone
fragments and save the pcorithat are the diminished people
before Skyward sword, this wasactually the first Zelda game in
the timeline.
Mm-hmm.
It was also not made byNintendo, it was done by Capcom.

(38:59):
Interesting.
Yep.
Honorable mention on those listto Mario and Luigi Superstar
saga it, the Mario and Luigigames were the new Mario, r p g.
Mm-hmm.
And you had a team up where youcontrolled both of them on, on,
like you could climb on top ofeach other.
Use Luigi super jump things and.

(39:22):
They were fun, they were morecomical and they were, they're
nice.
It still doesn't make up for nothaving more Super Mario rpg.
Yeah.

Steve (39:30):
And then I also have to give an nod to Golden Sun, and
it did have a sequel, the LostAge, which finishes the story
that was started, but I love thefirst one better.
It just was though a lot of thereasons why I love it are kind
of what I loved about Lucia twoin the fact that like, it's a
mix of RPG plus puzzles and theOverworld map it.

(39:55):
I would've trouble going backand playing it probably now
because it's the Game BoyAdvance was one of those systems
where the, with the graphicsthat like at the time looked
really cool, you go back andyou're like, that's just a bunch
of random dots.
But just the story itself waslike top notch and just
emotionally invested and gettingto play with all the different
elements cuz those were thedifferent creatures that you
would kind of catch along theway to help you.

(40:16):
And you'd have fire ones andwater ones and by mixing your
fire, people with water powers,they can make steam stuff to
solve puzzles.
So it was fun playing with theelements.
Now

Stephen (40:26):
the next system, if you got one of the originals, it
looked like a big gray brick.
Yes.
The Ds.
Yes.
And I had the brick, but then Ialso had the DS light, which was
nice.

Steve (40:40):
Well, which was your favorite games for there?

Stephen (40:42):
So.
Not a Mario game and not a Zeldagame.
Mm-hmm.
Oami Den.
Yeah.
So if you, it's based off ofOami.
It is, it is a side story, whichis what the den means.
It was well written.
It had a huge, overruled,gorgeous visuals.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Honestly, they go together verywell.

(41:04):
I would love to see You knowthat one, get an HD remaster and
to be released alongside ofOkami.
Yeah.

Steve (41:11):
And I really love the world Ends with You, which does
have a switch version.
I like the DS better cuz it madeuse of the dual screens.
Yeah.
It had a really unique battlesystem where it was like RPG in
terms of you had HP and attackand everything, but it was all
set by attack pins that youstore in a deck that you're
using by either scratching orswiping or doing different
things on the touchscreen.
Yeah.

(41:32):
But it was an RPG set in likemodern day Tokyo Uhhuh and it
was like you basically woke upand you're on the other side
like of death and you have thiscompetition where you can
possibly be restored back.
But like you meet othercharacters along the way and
there's sacrifices and there'stwists and it's really well told

(41:52):
story with a very uniquegameplay.
That's very cool and a coolsoundtrack.
I.
Of like J-Pop,

Stephen (41:58):
I was also obsessed with the Professor Layton

Steve (42:01):
games.
Oh, I was never smart enough forthem.
Those were ones where three orfour puzzles and I'm like, I
used up all my hints.
I quit.

Stephen (42:08):
So they were a lot of fun.
And like you said, theyalternately made me either feel
super smart or super dumb.
It was very knives out meetSherlock Holmes with a
touchscreen basis to it.
And I really enjoyed them.
I don't think I played themafter the ds.

(42:29):
I think they're still continuingon.
Yeah.
But for a while there I waslike, oh, they're logic puzzles.
I love logic puzzles.
And some of'em I was like, Ifeel so dumb.
Yeah.

Steve (42:40):
No, those are ones where I look up the answer and I'm
like, well, their brain worksdifferently than my brain.
Yeah.
And then I also love Shi MaTenay Devil Survivor Shi Kimmy
Timmy.
Yes.
But that's where I fell in lovewith the series.
It was cool like battling withthe monsters again.
It was set in modern day Tokyowith like an edgy story where

(43:01):
the demons are infesting andcoming into the real world.
It was like a dark adult game,like the shim shimmy Timmy Kimmy
games, like you like to callthem generally are, and it just
was really amazing the way thatit would let you visit different
locations throughout the story.
The order that you would visitthem would tell how the story
played out and you might like byspending too much time in

(43:22):
certain areas, might miss eventsthat would save other people.
Mm-hmm.
So your choices impacted the waythat those seven days played out
in a interesting way that had mereplaying it.
Probably like four or five orsix times.
That's

Stephen (43:34):
very cool.
Yes.
And now we're moving on to thePlayStation three.
Yes.
And you love Batman, ArkhamCity.
Yes.
That's my favorite of the Batmangames.
I love the mechanics of it.
Being able to be stealth andtake out people from the shadows
was really cool.
I would always kind of challengemyself in some of the rooms,

(43:55):
like, can I do stealth for everykill without having them be He's
here, the bat's here.
Yeah.
And I loved how all of thecharacters from all over were
there because I grew up withBatman, the animated series.
Mm-hmm.
I grew up with the, all theBatman movies and things.

(44:15):
So I knew all of those things.
And I had the 1960s Batman, so Ihad like years and years of
Batman and the world was soalive.
I loved it.
Yeah.
I thought it was great.
Yes.
I also

Steve (44:28):
loved biohack one, especially just like blew my
mind and changed the way I thinkof video games in a modern era.
I mean, would you kindly, it'sjust a twist that I never saw
coming.
Oh, I built this entire worldwhere I like, I want to visit
rapture.
Like, it just is a beautiful andstunning and underwater and

(44:49):
before or after the fall, Idon't care.
Preferably before it seems alittle bit safer, but how did
they think that that was goingto end?
Well, ultimately, I don't know,but yeah, the, the trilogy
overall is on this switch anddefinitely worth a play.
Especially that first one wasjust so cool.

Stephen (45:05):
If you're gonna play one, go ahead and play two Yeah.
As well, because I feel thatthey tell a full story.
Tell a full story.
I one and two are definitelysuperior to three.
I'm so happy I played all ofthem three.
Completes the

Steve (45:19):
story.
Yeah.
Question.
Did you play the DLC on three?
The separate

Stephen (45:23):
story?
I think it was all included in,yeah.
But, but like you, you

Steve (45:27):
saw the one where you go back Yes.
To Rapture and how they kind oftie together a little bit more.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was really well done.
But yeah, one was just, Iremember playing it and like
between getting the, thesuperpowers and the story, it
was just so well

Stephen (45:41):
done.
And you know that I love anygame that rewards you for
exploring.
Yes.
And that one definitely did.
Cuz the more you explored.
The more you would find thingsand I would be like, I'm gonna
be so powerful.

Steve (45:53):
Yes.
And then you face the big daddyand you lose everything.

Stephen (45:55):
Oh.
But it was worth it.
Like that was just a good game.
Yes.
Another one that I loved fromthat time period is Skyrim,
which is now released on everysystem known to man.
You can probably play it on yourfridge.
Yes.
It's an epic, epic game.
I love that.
You could play it any way youwanted.
You could be a villain and ahero.
I could be a vampire.

Steve (46:17):
Yeah.
Yeah, you could.
I could be a werewolf.

Stephen (46:19):
I was part of the Assassins Guild.
You could have a husband and ahouse.
It's a touch subject for me.
Somehow your husbanddisappeared.
I got so

Steve (46:29):
upset that like I found the best husband in all of
Skyrim married him, adopted acouple little shits off the
street, and then he up and likedisappeared and I couldn't find
him literally anywhere in theworld.
I spent hours trying to find myhusband.
When I couldn't find him, I quitthe game

Stephen (46:45):
and like I kept telling you, I was like, I found
something in my house that myhusband had been kidnapped and I
had to go save him.
I

Steve (46:54):
turned my entire fully decked out, perfect house,
upside down and inside out anddestroyed it, trying to manifest
my husband.
Oh, well it was a good game fromwhat I

Stephen (47:05):
played.
Yeah, I played that.
I know at least 150 hours, but Ifeel like it was more, yeah,
like that was a really good

Steve (47:14):
one.
Yeah.
And in terms of like modern daygames where like you're doing
violence and stuff, I feel likethe last of us just told this
amazing post apocalyptic worldstory.
The gameplay was fun betweenusing the stealth to navigate
around the clickers and thehumans and the way you would
fight differently depending onwhich ones you were fighting
against and crying at the end.

Stephen (47:35):
I did not play that.
I watched you play part of that.
Yeah, because you had it whilewe were in the early stages of
dating.

Steve (47:44):
I think the original came out on the PS two, but I cheated
in PS three.

Stephen (47:49):
Now, this next category is all you.
I, I have

Steve (47:54):
to admit, I mean, people listening are gonna be like,
wow, they're going from Nintendoto PlayStation, Nintendo to
PlayStation, Nintendo toNintendo.
Xbox was a system.
It does have games out.
I, our friend Greg loves it.
Good for him.
But yeah, I loved the FableGames for exclusive, like
fantasy RPGs on there that Ireally liked.
You could be either good orevil, and that was fun.

(48:16):
And then Dead Rising wasbasically just throwing yourself
in a mall with a million zombiesand getting to kill them however
you want, with whatever youwould find in a mall, which was
very fun.
But also, like, it is very dawnof the dead.
Yeah.
But like at the same time whenit came out, like, I think it
was like the Xbox.
Xbox.
So the moment that you putfifties zombies on screen, it

(48:36):
starts slowing down andglitching out.
So like, it didn't age well, butlike at the time, teenage boy in
a mall, getting to kill zombieswas so much fun.

Stephen (48:46):
Now, One of the, this was, so I got the Game Cube and
I played it a lot.

Steve (48:54):
Yeah.
But then you had the system thateven your grandmother owned.

Stephen (48:56):
Yeah.
And this was the first systemthat I went to a midnight launch
for.
Yeah, the Nintendo, we

Steve (49:04):
Tell me more.
Cause I don't even know thisfirst one.
Oh.

Stephen (49:07):
So my favorite game for that was Zach and Wiki Quest for
Barb's Treasure.
I grew up playing point andclick games on the computer,
like King's Quest and certainthings.
And this was a point and clickgame using your WiMo.
It was creative, it was smart,it was magical.

(49:29):
It was an adventure game.
You had to solve puzzles.
Unfortunately it did not sellwell enough, which is sad.
For, and so we didn't get asequel to it, but it was one of
the prettiest games on the we.
Zach and Wiki were like thelittle kid wanted to be a
pirate.

(49:49):
Yeah.
And it was amazing.
I wish that like whenever theyannounced Monkey Island for the
switch coming back, likereturned to Monkey Island, I got
excited for a minute thinking itwas a sequel to Zack and Wiki
and it's not, but yeah.
Yeah.
Zach and Wiki Quest for barberstreasure, I absolutely

Steve (50:11):
loved.
Yes.
And then another game thatultimately the definitive
edition is the way to go andit's really long and I spent 80
hours in it.
So I have to say I love it,although I never beat it.
I was gonna

Stephen (50:23):
say you never

Steve (50:25):
finished it.
I told on myself, but I got farenough it was Zenna Blade
Chronicles,

Stephen (50:30):
which is amazing.

Steve (50:32):
Yes.
And it was funny when it cameout on the we, because it was,
they only print a set number ofcopies, I guess.
Didn't think it would sell thatwell, and discontinued making
copies of the game within monthsof it coming out.
And so it was one of the hardestones to find.
That's why I only reallyexperienced it later on.
I didn't

Stephen (50:52):
play it until it was on the three Ds, the new three Ds,
which had the more capablegraphics and everything like
that.
Mm-hmm.
That was where I beat it.
And as your note says, it's onthe switch.
The definitive version is theswitch.
I played it again a hundredhours.

(51:14):
It's amazing.

Steve (51:15):
Excellent.
Yeah.
And what else was amazing?

Stephen (51:18):
Legend is all the Twilight Princess, of course.
So this was the perfect of theold style of Zelda games for me.
Yeah.
It took what Karina did and thentook it to the next level.
I love the characters and thestory.
I can't see enough good thingsabout this game.
Honorable mentions for me withthe, we would've been Super
Mario Galaxy Games mm-hmm.

(51:40):
Were amazing.
Metro Prime three.
There was a side scrolling, handdrawn, gorgeous action game
called Mora Masa, the DemonBlade.
And then Of course Skyward swordcame out near the end of the we
run.

Steve (51:58):
Yes.
And what about the we you, Iremember you spent a lifetime on
this one game.

Stephen (52:03):
Oh, super Mario Maker.
Yes.
Oh my gosh, I made so manylevels.
I felt so creative.
I would come up with an idea ora theme for a level and then I
would like start plotting it outon paper and then I would start
building it and then playtesting it, then making the
level pretty, then play testingit again cuz I had to make sure

(52:25):
it was perfect as possiblebefore I even let you play it.
And then before I released it tothe

Steve (52:30):
world.
And I loved when you went backon later and you saw how many
people it beloved it.

Stephen (52:35):
Yeah, I did a good job.
You did.
And I liked being able to usethe a mebo to create characters
for levels that you could theme,like Metro or Zelda and stuff.
Yeah.
I had such a good time withMario Maker like.
That was ju That was a lot

Steve (52:50):
of fun.
Yeah.
And I gushed in our recent Zeldaepisode how much I loved High
Rule Warriors.
Yes.
Where again, the switch is thedefinitive edition, but you take
the Zelda characters across thedifferent games that you know
and love with the items and theenemies, and you put it into a
hack and slash beat'em up andyou have a recipe that could,
you could spend thousands ofhours

Stephen (53:12):
playing.
I did not think it would work asa game.
It works so good.
It's amazing.
It's bravo to.
The two companies are

Steve (53:21):
doing that.
Yep.
And next up for you Platoon.
Yes.
You love your shooters?
Oh,

Stephen (53:28):
well now you do.
I, I was gonna say, I don't, butthis, so this game captivated me
in a way I wasn't prepared for.
I would play it for at least anhour every night.
We would have

Steve (53:38):
fun with it for a while.
But you played it longer than Idid.
Yeah.
But even, we probably spenteasily 80 to a hundred hours
playing as a couple.
Oh yeah.
I'm

Stephen (53:45):
not a fan of online multiplayer games, but this one
I just couldn't get enough of.
It was really good.
It was Carl Full.
It was fun.
It had a great single playermode.
Yeah.
The worldwide Splat fest.
We so great.
And I love the music.
Yeah.
Like the Squid Sisters were socreative.
Mm-hmm.
And now I will let you do yourother one.

(54:06):
And then I'm, I've got somehonorable mentions because for a
system that not many peoplebought, The Weu had a shit ton
of great games.
Well, I

Steve (54:15):
enjoyed Piman three.
It's my favorite Piman so far.
I can't wait for the next one.
July

Stephen (54:20):
21st.
It was very fun.
So Honorable mentions I loveChild of Light Zombie U, the
wonderful 1 0 1, the Steam WorldSeries Captain Toad Treasure
Tracker, super Mario 3D WorldXena Blade Chronicles X, which
deserves a remake on the Switch.
And Mario Kart eight, which istechnically on the switch.

(54:44):
There were just a lot of really,really good games on the Weu,
and it's said that more peopledidn't play it.
Yes.

Steve (54:53):
Meanwhile, I play the hell outta my 3d.
S What was your favorite 3D Sgame?
Okay,

Stephen (55:00):
so unfortunately, back to some predictable things,
super Mario 3D Land is one of myfavorite Mario Platformers of
all time.
It was beautiful, challenging,and there was something about
the way that it was built that,yeah, you played in small bursts
and things, but I just keptwanting to play.

(55:21):
It felt so creative and itbrought a joy back to Mario
Platforming.
Mm-hmm.
I really, really

Steve (55:29):
liked it.
Yes.
And another game I could spendthe rest of my life playing was
fantasy life, which is a RPGwhere you start off in a town
with amnesia and the story isvery predictable and very cute.
But what made the game unique isthat in that main town they have
about, I think the number isprobably wrong, but somewhere

(55:51):
between like 12 and 15 differentlike guilds or factions.
And you can go to any of them atany time and do an entire set of
quests all along.
Becoming a blacksmith, becominga carpenter, becoming a baker,
becoming a fisher, becomefisherman, be like becoming
whatever you want.
As well as like battle classes.
Like becoming a maid.

(56:12):
Mm-hmm.
Or an Archer.
Or a Paladin or a knight.
And like the further you gotinto the story, you get new
areas where there are new itemswhich you can use for your new
crafting.
So it like helps to level up allthe different classes.
Yeah.
But I mean, I just could spendso much time playing that and
enjoying it.
It's just the perfect handheldgame to kind of tune out life

(56:34):
with

Stephen (56:35):
Predictable Me again, the Legend of Zelda.
A link between worlds.
Yes.
So this was great to revisit thelink to the past world.
It was cool to become 2d, like awall painting and be able to
move around the levels likethat.
There were so many puzzles.
The graphics were fantastic.
And funny enough, it, I knowthat that's not what a link to

(56:55):
the past looked like.
That's how you remember, butthat's how I remembered it.

Steve (56:58):
Looking then.
Yeah.

Stephen (56:59):
And then also your next one is the game that made this
series mainstream.

Steve (57:05):
And that's what I was gonna say is like up until then
I enjoyed the Fire Emblem games,but if I told any friend of
mine, oh yeah, I enjoyed FireEmblem, they, I would say what?
Yeah, it was like saying I lovethe hin Mame 10 say, or the at
Tiler games.
I can't believe I don't have anyTellier games on this list.
I didn't notice

Stephen (57:22):
that until Justin.

Steve (57:24):
No.
Okay, I see.
Are we right?
But yeah, fire Emblem Awakeningjust took the, the combat
mechanics, which you love in hisseries.
But then Megan, it, so they, oneof the strongest things that it
always had in its sense was thecharacters that they have.
And then you have thesecharacters that you bond with
over the course of the game.
But in this game, then they'relike, once you bond enough with

(57:45):
them, then they get married andthen you get to a certain point
in the game where they havechildren that then fast forward
and grow up and help you.
In your war.
And so it was so much fun tryingto like find the perfect
pairings, figure out whetherlike their personalities
matched, or sometimes two peoplewho were so incompatible, but
you were like, fuck it with yourstats.
You two are gonna make someperfect kids.
And basically just use thepairings as breeding horses.

(58:07):
I think

Stephen (58:07):
that is like very Nazi esque.

Steve (58:13):
It's all right.
It's encouraged in this game.
Okay.
So much that there are guides onit.
But yes, selective breeding infirearm, ble awakening was just
awesome.
And I love that game.
I remember like Sally Kellum, Ireally shipped real hard.
But yeah, a lot of the, like thecouples and the characters were
just memorable on their own.
But you add in the family aspectand it was just really

Stephen (58:33):
cool.
A couple honorable mentions.
Luigi's Mansion, dark Moon.
Yes.
Metro Sams Returns, which was aremake of Metro two that was
originally on the Game Boy andbravely default.
Yes.
Now, this next category isdefinitely more of yours, but I
can comment on

Steve (58:51):
several.
All right.
The Witcher three Wild Hunt wasa very fun engrossing story and
R P G action game.
It

Stephen (59:00):
was amazing.
This, I mean, it is right upthere ki, I mean, so Skyrim, you
got to make your own story.
Yeah.
Witcher three was just as big,but you had a set story you had
to do, but so many side queststhat it felt like you were
creating

Steve (59:18):
your own story.
Yeah, for sure.
And I love the story.
I also love Persona five Royale,A Game I could play over and
over and over and over again aswell.
Hip, cool, funky.
R p g set in the modern worldwhere it's all about building
your social relationships whilealso going through a really cool
story and time management anddemon breeding.

(59:40):
Awesome

Stephen (59:40):
fun.
You also have some games on thePS four that I consider my
movies.

Steve (59:46):
Yes.
I'll just rattle all four offcuz they all kind of blend
together.
But until Dawn and the Quarryare like interactive stories
with QuickTime events Yeah.
That tell good horror moviestories and that really

Stephen (59:57):
is just like watching and a very well animated horror
movie.

Steve (01:00:01):
Yes.
And then you have Resident Evilseven and eight which were fun
to play on the system.
And you enjoyed watching?
I did very much so, yes.
And then Monster Hunter Worldwas awesome and the new Monster
Hunter on Switch disappointed mecompared to it.
It was just very fun.

Stephen (01:00:16):
You played the monster Hunter on Switch

Steve (01:00:18):
a lot though.
Yeah, but not as much as Iwould've on world.
Yeah.

Stephen (01:00:22):
So now we're up to the switch.
So far the switch so far.
So for me I would say that XenaBlade two and three, now if
you've played Xena Blade one,two, and three, like they really
are a trilogy and it's greatbeing able to have all three

(01:00:44):
Xena Blade games on the switch.
It's a perfect epic saga playingall three of'em.
The story, the visuals, thegameplay, I loved all the side
quests, I loved the charactersand the interactions.
Each game is over a hundredhours.
Like these are excellent,excellent games and I'm glad,
you know, as we talked to, thefirst Xena blade was not big in

(01:01:07):
the West, but now it'smainstream.
All three of them are mainstreamnow, which is great.
Yes, they're even un

Steve (01:01:14):
smash.
Yes.
Yes.
And we also you're one dungeonin, but we love Zelda Tears of
the Kingdom.
I mean, it all started withBreath of the Wild And Breath of
the Wild is awesome and amazing.
And this game built on itthough, I feel, to create an
better experience.

Stephen (01:01:32):
It's crazy because I was like, how can you get better

Steve (01:01:37):
Did and the Lost World underneath High Rule as well

Stephen (01:01:39):
as the sky.
Yeah, it's craziness.
You're the same length, the sameworld.
It's been changed by somehorrible

Steve (01:01:48):
catastrophes to the point where I don't remember half of
these places where I vaguely doand they look so different.
And

Stephen (01:01:55):
it's just a fantastic game.
I would like to make note, thiswas not my entry on the list.
Yes,

Steve (01:02:02):
it was Your It was mine.

Stephen (01:02:04):
Mine is Metro Dread.
Yes.
It's technically Metroid five.
It was everything.
It was huge.
It was challenging.
The story was great and it was agreat way to finish off this
section of the Metroid story.
And I can't wait to see wherethey take the story of Samran
Erin next, since this wasallegedly the end of her Metroid

(01:02:28):
story.
Interesting.
And you

Steve (01:02:30):
have another one.
Fire emblem, three houses.
You played the shit out of thatgame.
If you can give me a game that Iwant to beat three to four
times, it's a good game.
Yeah.
And then, so out of all thesystems, what would you say your
top favorite systems of alltime?
I want

Stephen (01:02:49):
to stop one second.
I have a couple honorablementions, right.
For the switch.
Go for it.
The, we mentioned the linksAwakening Remaster.
Yeah.
Astral Chain is fantastic.
Yeah.
The Bayonetta series, I'veplayed those.
Star do Valley
you

Steve (01:03:03):
love.
I love you.
Never play multiplayer with me.
And I'm not salty about Hades.
We love Awesome.
Surprising gem.

Stephen (01:03:13):
Split two and two and three were great.
Luigi's Mansion three.
Animal Crossing New Horizons wasthe game that everyone played
during Covid to get through thelockdown.
Yeah.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land ison my list to play.
It's so good.
3D Kirby, it's fantastic.
And Super Mario Odyssey.

(01:03:33):
Just wonderful.
Now, f top three favoritesystems.
Yes, easy.
Nintendo, three Ds s n e s,Nintendo Switch.

Steve (01:03:45):
I top three, I would say Nintendo Switch, s n e s.
And just thrown a wild card atthe PlayStation four.
I was

Stephen (01:03:53):
gonna say don't pick the first one cuz he said he
didn't have it.
No,

Steve (01:03:57):
the PS four for whatever my Nintendo needs couldn't meet.
Okay.

Stephen (01:04:02):
Yeah.
The, the Nintendo Switch rightnow is my favorite console of
all time.
Yes.
I.
It's exactly what I would want.
It's the power of a homeconsole, portable.
I can play it on the screen.
I can play it on the go.
When's the last time you playedit on the screen?
When we had friends over to playa

Steve (01:04:20):
game.
There we go.
Yes.
But I, I do love the system.
It's

Stephen (01:04:24):
great for multitasking.
It is.
That was one of the reasons whyI love the we you, cuz we

Steve (01:04:28):
can cut on the couch while playing video games and
watch tv.
Exactly, yes.
Yeah.
And so thank you very much forlistening to our second episode
on the Legend Zelda series.
No, I'm just kidding.
Thank you for listening to ourepisode of all our favorite
games across all the consoles.
What were your favorite consolesand what were your favorite
games on them?

(01:04:49):
We wanna know.
Email us at happy life podgmail.com.

Stephen (01:04:54):
And you can get in touch with us on all the
socials, whether that isFacebook, Instagram, Twitter, or
TikTok at Happy Life Pod.
And next week we will be goingwith our favorite games by
genre, which means that I won'tbe able to list Legend Zelda for
everything.
Oh, no.

Steve (01:05:13):
Well, let's see what you recommend next week then.
And until that time, everybodystay happy.