LSG 006: Gwen Chase talks about playing Tomb Raider with her Dad, fighting fascists as Jak and Daxter, and the magic of playing Mario Kart DS in line at Disneyland

Welcome to Episode 6 of Load Save Game, a podcast where I talk to people about their personal journey with video games. I am your host Jose Eusebio. My wonderful guest today is my great friend Gwen Chase. Gwen is one of my oldest friends. We’ve gone to tons of conventions together like San Diego Comic-con, PAX, Anime Expo. In the episode Gwen tells me about her treasured memories playing the original Tomb Raider games with her Dad, fighting fascists and Mad Max Racing in the Jak and Daxter games, playing Mario Kart DS with our friends in line at Disneyland which felt so revolutionary at the time. We talk about those and many more great games. 

Make sure to subscribe and review Load Save Game on your podcast listener of choice. Follow us on socials we’re @loadsavegame on most platforms. If you have any thoughts or questions about the show feel free to email us at [e-mail]! I hope you enjoy the episode!

Thank you to Shaun Panado for the use of our theme song "One Shot One Kill Kestrel" off of the album Kind of a Big Deal Vol. 2. You can find his music and projects at his Linktree: https://linktr.ee/shonix

Show Art by: Jordan Maeve https://www.instagram.com/thejollity/ 

Corrections: Dead Space the original game came out in 2008 on the Xbox 360. The Game Gear could run 3-5 hours off of six AA batteries according to Wikipedia. The villain in Vectorman was named Warhead. Gwen was most likely referring to Race the Sun (2013). Keira’s father is Samos Hagai in the Jak and Daxter series. Sonic the Hedgehog first turns gold in the ending sequence of Sonic 2, dubbed ‘Super Sonic’ and became a regular gameplay feature in Sonic 3. According to the Jak X wiki page, the reason for the racing is that they are all poisoned essentially at someone’s funeral wake and must win a racing championship to get the antidote. Wild. Gameboy Advances originally sold for $100 at launch according to Google. According to a Reddit post I found, the minimum number of rounds in Mario Party DS is 10. Technically the Nintendo 2DS XL was a later released hinged version of a 2DS, but the original 2DS lacked a hinge. I actually cut out a part where Gwen says she couldn’t remember a single Gameboy Advance game she played, but I’m too lazy to go back and re-add it.   

Games Discussed: Pikuniku, Dead Space (2008 and Remake), Ms. Pac-Man, Tiger handheld: Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Batman, Simon’s Quest, Sonic 1/2/& Knuckles/Adventure/Adventure 2, Vectorman, Shadowrun, Space Harrier, Race the Sun, Barbie Genie, Swamp Gas, Elroy: Hits the Pavement, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur, Rhythm Heaven, Dance Dance Revolution, Samba de Amigo, Tomb Raider 1/2/3/Angel of Darkness/4/(2013)/Rise of the Tomb Raider, Jak and Daxter 1/2/3/X Combat Racing, Uncharted, Kingdom Hearts 1/2/3, Big Brain Academy, Brain Age, Mario Kart DS/7, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, Elroy Goes Bugzerk, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Party Hard