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[In retrospect, I wasn't getting paid for any of this... wait a minute.]

1

Podcast Discussion / Episode 974: When I Was Getting Scraped for Horace Showpony, I Wasn't Getting Paid

« on: May 09, 2026, 06:47:29 PM »

In retrospect, I wasn't getting paid for any of this... wait a minute.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/75492/episode-974-when-i-was-getting-scraped-for-horace-showpony-i-wasnt-getting-paid

This week we recorded before Nintendo announced their quarterly numbers. This means we were two hours too early to hear about the price increase for Switch 2.

I want you all to applaud me for fitting in every possible homonym for "to" in a single sentence.

Business James, who for the purposes of ongoing litigation is a distinct person from James Jones RFN Host, was eating this week. The suddenly announced and released Star Fox Direct was an adoption of his FOMO on the News technique. It called for a Nintendo communication strategy requiring eternal vigilance from consumers. If a Direct could descend upon us at any time, then eyes must stay fixed to the skies. Nintendo lists YouTube and other video services as their competitors - attention is the currency of Nintendo's realm - and the price of this patrol is your Twitch Watch Streak.

There is a particularly perverse series of thoughts that RFN worked through when we first confronted the future of Star Fox, following his featured role in the most recent Mario cinematic content - I dare not say "movie." We explicitly identified a city upon the metaphorical map that we would regard as least interesting to visit, which Nintendo seems to have likewise identified as most affordable location for their mercenary business convention.

We will struggle to spend our entire per diem, given the recently instituted two drink limit. Technically, the policy does not proscribe the meal the drinks should accompany.

Ever the unpredictable, RFN starts this week with the big news of Wednesday - which as we noted was still the most recent news. And, of course, the news of the week (at least as of that moment) was Atari's acquisition of the Wizardry franchise. Except perhaps they didn't. I am utterly unable to tell you what Atari is at this moment, and I suspect they could not either. What separates us is I am aware of this weakness; evidence suggests they are not.

After this deliberate attempt to avoid the elephant in the room, we then pivot to the actual news of Wednesday - which again, was still the most recent news at this juncture: the new boot-up screen for Xbox Series consoles. Team Xbox is resurgent, what with their new @xbox email addresses and boot screens. The leaks have been patched, the bilge is pumped, and we are now upon the open seas of success. This is a lie.

Alright, assuredly the dilettantes hosting this show have run out of things to talk about that are not the big news. In a sense, no. This is where we talk about Star Fox 64 remake (#2) unhelpfully named Star Fox, which is the title of a different game entirely. At the time, as I painfully remind you, this was the big news story of the week. Obviously that is not the case anymore, assuming you are not in a very specific demographic. As can likewise be surmised from this article, the overwhelming response of our hosts is largely "why?" But hey, now I can bother people playing any piece of Switch or Switch 2 software, while wearing the face of a space pig. Sadly, vtubing as RFN favorite Panther Caroso is not an option.

After a break, we answer two emails. The first advises us on where someone - say a Nintendo podcast host - could find advice for playing Pokémon games. The second asks us to replace infinite remakes with infinite demakes. You can demake our inbox here.

• (00:00:31) News - Atari be bussin'.
• (00:15:25) Xbox be flailin'.
• (00:27:27) Starfox be loopin'.
• (01:24:22) Listener Mail - Pokemon strategies and where to find them.
• (01:32:43) Enough with remakes, time for demakes. And more remakes.

[Not a one of those fronts are actual progress.]

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Podcast Discussion / Episode 973: Progress is Being Made on Multiple Fronts

« on: May 03, 2026, 04:51:00 PM »

Not a one of those fronts are actual progress.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/75410/episode-973-progress-is-being-made-on-multiple-fronts

I tried to write this article as a choose your own adventure, no intention to violate trademarks, podcast article. This absolute folly required I write the article asynchronously, and then make sure that I can weave it together in various paths so that all sections can be hit and that from every segment it is possible to reach all other segments - short of the introduction.

This took a remarkable amount of time for a joke that was near-instantly threadbare. As an example:

Section 2
Reunions are upon us. Guillaume and Greg both return this week. For Greg it was a single absence that gave us the depressing state of the industry episode last week. For Guillaume, he's been gone a solid five episodes - ignoring the fact one of those episodes did not actually happen. He may be unaware of this, and James can continue to leverage his spotless hosting record.

This is already very weird. Are you:
A: Already sick of this joke and just want to get on with it? Go to Section 4
B: Curious if the title had something to do with this elaborate exercise that surely wasted half an hour to write. Go to Section 1
C: Desire the infinite reassurance of a loop without end. Go to Section 2

Why would I do this? Well, you see I am suddenly freed up this week as I do not need to also edit the podcast because Guillaume is back! Not only is... well I guess you saw that in the example text above. I hope you picked Option A.

Greg and James have both set out to escape the Moon and embrace paternal obligations with Pragmata. Both have finished the game, and James has completed the postgame content as well. This turns into a fairly lengthy discussion that takes up just under half the episode. It is as spoiler-free as possible, though contents from the demo are largely fair game.

After a break, Guillaume tell us about his trip to Japan. This includes a stop at the odd Nintendo Museum and a look at the sad state of the Japanese arcade ecosystem.

Jon is on some weird stuff. Note, that this stuff does not include Oblivion. He's playing Housemarque's newest game Saros, some pay-to-win Tecmo Bowl-likes, and Pokémon with the assistance of AI. Oblivion is his enemy and my ally.

• (00:01:28) New Business - Pragmata.
• (00:54:22) Guillaume's trip in Japan.
• (01:44:31) Saros.
• (01:48:15) Retro Bowl.
• (01:53:19) Pokopia. Playing Pokémon Sword with Claude riding shotgun.

[The ultimate guide to fully healthy industries like: gaming, carriage building, and commercial whaling.]

3

Podcast Discussion / Episode 972: Jean Ubisoft's Business Travels

« on: April 26, 2026, 05:07:00 PM »

The ultimate guide to fully healthy industries like: gaming, carriage building, and commercial whaling.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/75333/episode-972-jean-ubisofts-business-travels

I want to be rich.

Not morally "wealthy," capable of taking care of my family and giving them a shot at achieving their dreams.

I want to be rich.

I want my banker to pay house calls, just to see how I'm doing.I want parking for my yachts to be a chief concern to my company. Plural.

I cannot be caught dead on Mr. Jones Wednesday Whirlwind on a Thursday.

I want to exploit my way to generational wealth. I want to create a Roblox game.

Here's the pitch: we are going to steal a bunch of 12 year old's phones, and pull up their TikTok feed. Let's be honest, they shouldn't have a phone anyway - this is a societal service we are providing.

We are going to craft Roblox items based on whatever trending memes we find. Nobody owns them - allegedly - so by Internet law they're free. Then we are going to make a very basic game where you can win those items. Everyone playing is competing against every other player - and it is expressly pay to win.

Not a "pay for advantage."

Victory is expressly conditioned on outspending your opponents.

We are going to reproduce this game every three months with new memes from freshly-stolen iPhones.

And by we, I mean you. I am an ideas man - here to collect the wealth. You are the one at risk of a theft charge. We are not the same. I have to supervise the cleaning staff while they wax the deck of Monday's Elysium

Anyway, Greg is out this week but we're joined by Syrenne. We talk about... oh.

Uh...

Well you see, kids have a seat. We have some news. It's going to be difficult for you to hear.

Okay, we talk about the state of the industry.

It's... not great.

Hopefully you learn something. The house isn't on fire, but someone is building a remarkable amount of the non-load bearing walls exclusively out of matchsticks and oil soaked rags.

[It's legally distinct and even if it isn't Congo Bongo doesn't give them a lot of leg to stand on.]

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Podcast Discussion / Episode 971: Professor E. Gadd's Mean Bean Machine

« on: April 19, 2026, 06:17:34 PM »

It's legally distinct and even if it isn't Congo Bongo doesn't give them a lot of leg to stand on.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/75209/episode-971-professor-e-gadds-mean-bean-machine

Getting stranded on an island seems to be a literature trope in all seafaring societies.

I doubt much of Western Liao's Khitan-language literature dealt with the struggles of sailors - not that we'll ever know; we can't read it.

Go look at ancient Greek literature. The sea-fairing people of the Aegean, Black, and Mediterranean Seas included the idea in some of their most cherished works. Both Odysseus and his predecessor Jason each suffered numerous shipwrecks in their respective stories.

It was really the Age of Sail, mass literacy, and the printing press that made dramatic stores of stranded sailors part of mainstream fiction. This tread continues to this day in literature, film, and TV.

It also shows up in video game formats, both literally and also as an architype. Think of Samus, or Olimar. They're not stranded on an island, but they may as well be. So it's not surprising that all these names come up with the RFN crew is tasked to construct their island survival team.

It might be more surprising that Jon is the one who really leaned into a team of former marooned space mariners. He constructed a team of experience, focus, and ingenuity.

Greg accepted the conditions as they were; we are told the island cannot be escaped and he accepted this. He opted for comfort and companionship. He drafted a team of man's best friends. Horses, cats, and dogs. This is about staying sane and saving his body.  

James challenged the world. James challenged himself. Jon wanted experience escaping the island. Greg opted to make the island home. James wanted a warzone. Tyrants, malcontents, adrenalin junkies. People who look nature in the face and don't just challenge - they demand it bend the knee. They each have immense power, skill, and strength but their temperaments are toxic. He believes he can channel this and he is wrong. His island will erupt. Escape is declared impossible but this crew fears no god. They should. It is a lesson Odysseus could teach them, but I'm not sure Raymond Bryce can read.

This week James channeled his inner Saw puppet  and asked his colleagues to play a game. He grabbed three Nintendo characters who have never starred in their own games and who have known personality traits to draw from. The goal is to design a game that fits this character. He had a list in the dozens and he used random chance to whittle it down to three. You tell me how to make a game about Groose!

Two Point Elementary School w/ Principal Groose has a ring to it.

After a break, we tackle two email. The first is the aforementioned desert island problem. The other asks us what events from gaming history we'd like to see someone research. You can ask us to research your island here.

That sounds lewd.

• (00:02:04) A silly game about Nintendo characters: James and Groose, together at last.
• (00:29:59) Jon and E. Gadd and some coffee.
• (00:43:08) Greg and General Pepper: ruthless accounting.
• (00:59:03) Listener Mail: A silly game about being stranded on an island with Nintendo characters.
• (01:34:03) Industry stories we would love to read about.

[I am going to fill this TSI with Greek philosophers and force Jon to ID them.]

5

Podcast Discussion / Episode 969: Plato's Allegory of the Electro-Thermostatic Refrigerator

« on: March 28, 2026, 05:35:01 PM »

I am going to fill this TSI with Greek philosophers and force Jon to ID them.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74943/episode-969-platos-allegory-of-the-electro-thermostatic-refrigerator

Let's talk about merchandise. This week we talk about the fact Nintendo of America will no longer have price parity between eShop and retail prices.

This makes a logical sense, a digital product can't be resold and costs zero to produce. From Nintendo's perspective, they also don't have to cut in a retailer. Even for third party games, the pie is split two ways - not three. There's no risk of unsold stock rotting on the shelf, there's no manufacturing lines to maintain. It's a huge win to sell digitally. Using pricing to incentivize consumer behavior is wise.

However, the other half of this transaction - the retailers - are obviously going to be concerned by this trend. They are now the more expensive way to acquire a game, and the transition to digital had already been moving against them.

We know Nintendo values the relationship with retailers - the fact they had clung to the pricing parity for as long as they did speaks volumes. Retailers take the brunt of console launches, they provide co-marketing for major releases, they keep your brand in the eyes of consumers who aren't following the gaming industry all that closely.

I've spoken about the proliferation of Nintendo stuff on the Target shelves. While I'm not a frequent shopper, I'm there enough to have watched them creep across the electronics department and jump the firewall of the main aisle into the toy section. The upcoming movie has been a powerful catalyst for additional spreading of Mario merch. I suspect that this is part of the larger peace offering - more product for shelves tied to valuable brands, even as Nintendo starts to cut the retail market out of their core business.

As such, I decided to look into the 5" figurines available at my local Target location specifically for the The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - and rate them.

• Bowser Jr.: C+ Very nice texturing to create lizard-like skin. Messily painted bandana around his neck is accurate to source material. His paintbrush - used to frame Mario in a society filled with the dumbest species to ever wear shoes - can be held by his articulated hands. Points deducted for forcing me to spend time on Isle Delfino
• Rosalina: C- Ten points of articulation creates a lot of elegant-looking poses. I think this design hasn't aged well since the release of Galaxy; the half-covered face needs to go away. It strikes me as an emo signed up for cotillion. Accurate to her design but her single visible eye is open far too wide, as if she's been spooked by Isle Delfino's utter failure as a society
• Mario: B Extremely accurate to his movie model, though I don't love that he's been made a bit less round for his movie role. The articulation could be better blended into the model. Hair and moustache don't match, meaning he's dying somewhere. Presumably due to the stress of having been illegally detained on Isle Delfino
• Yoshi: B+ Yoshi is Yoshi. He also has the nicely textured skin, though the mold marks on his broad nose are too obvious considering the other detail. He has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to accessories: a New Donk City hat and satchel. Thankfully not on Delfino, because he would spontaneously explode.

Right, this week we talk about Nintendo's pricing changes. James is also mad about popcorn, or something. It's best to think about it. Then we have an argument about pedantry, nose removal and facial spite, and finally a break. God help us.

After this break we tackle some New Business. Guillaume is still at The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy but spends most of his New Business teaching his father to swear in the demo for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Greg has some time with new Super Mario Bros. Wonder DLC, Meetup in Bellabel Park. Lastly, Jon has forsaken Oblivion for the siren song that is Pokémon Pokopia. James is villainously rubbing his palms together. "Get f***ed, Oblivion."

No Listener Mail this week, but it is the priority for next week. So get them in!

• (00:01:33) News - The End of Price Parity.
• (00:39:53) News - Popcorn Scams.
• (00:49:34) New Business - Getting Nintendo Museum tickets.
• (01:03:45) The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream demo.
• (01:13:09) Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup in Bellabel Park.
• (01:29:32) Pokémon Pokopia.

[This title under protest.]

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Podcast Discussion / Episode 968: Now Not Offensively Poor!

« on: March 22, 2026, 06:03:36 PM »

This title under protest.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74813/episode-968-now-not-offensively-poor

Nintendo pushed an update to Switch and Switch 2 that created a new handheld mode of Switch 2 to test. Gui seems to be hitting the end of The Hundred Line. We now get a new look at Final Fantasy VII Remake from Jon. James gives coherent impressions of Pokopia this week.

This might seem like a weirdly slight article - and you're right. Normally it's the host's responsibility to write the article and I was not hosting this week. I was out binging basketball and observing my team mount a seemingly-impossible comeback, followed by me doing a seemingly-impossible amount of drinking.

That means it's a Jon-hosted episode, where I parachute in 40 minutes late and 2.5 sheets to the wind. I could have just sat this one out but I'm nothing if not a trooper. Also, I wasn't sleeping that night anyway.

We'll be having a bunch of weird line-ups in the next few weeks; people are going to be in and out for an extended window.

I do not believe there is a title too irresponsible for RFN, but I may not represent the majoritarian view on this front. I shall return to my Pokémon world, where I am both God and Tyrant. Do attempt to ignore the fact the image this week seems to reflect nothing of relevance to the title. I am too lazy to make a new one and I liked this one quite a bit.

Despite the reluctance of the interim host to request them, we do want your email.

• (00:01:45) New Business - Handheld Boost Mode.
• (01:09:05) The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
• (01:27:34) FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE.
• (01:50:32) Pokemon Pokopia.

[Bricks of clay? Who can say!]

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Podcast Discussion / Episode 967: Charmander Is Smuggling Bricks

« on: March 15, 2026, 03:42:31 PM »

Bricks of clay? Who can say!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74724/episode-967-charmander-is-smuggling-bricks

Yes, bricks.

There's a fun disconnect when I talk about Pokopia with my girlfriend. She is presently unable to play it, so most of the interactions have been questions about things she's seen online, or asking if I've encountered certain favorites of hers. Most of the time this is a fine and wholesome interaction.

I sent her a picture of a snoozing Mosslax and it seemed to bring her much joy. The other side of the coin is when I describe the highly transactional relationships I've formed with the other residents of my various towns.

Ditto needs bricks. This is the singular impediment to building this house that will allow me to finally put Rotom in a house. Rotom's homelessness is the single impediment to leveling up the town and getting access to the store item I need one town over. This should be a simple task - I can craft all kinds of things with ease. But no, I need bricks. And needing bricks means I need Charmander.

Hours earlier I had handed this little orange bastard a bunch of clay, and he happily promised to turn them into the bricks I desired. But now he has vanished. To me, this is a problem. I'm trying to ask other Pokémon where I can find him, and they unhelpfully gesture towards a cave system. Unhelpful is the name of the word - I've spent all my time restoring the buildings, clearing debris, and throwing a party for these ingrates. Meanwhile Bulbasaur is running up to thank me with a stick.

This stick is not special, it is indistinguishable from the 98 other sticks already in my inventory.

I see this as the machine in rebellion. "Just stay near your house so I can get these bricks!" The girlfriend sees this as charming. They're doing their best, and helping so hard.

We cannot play these sorts of games together.

So yes, James has Pokopia, and it's really hard to talk about. Guillaume has impressions of Zelda-shooter Minishoot' Adventures and and weird horror game Indika. Jon is playing Returnal and the long-promised Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Greg has an update on Resident Evil Requiem and has caught the Mario Tennis Fever.

New Business is a single topic this week: we got a Simpsons' image macro asking about reinvigorating amiibo. It goes in a dark direction.

• (00:10:00) New Business - Pokemon Pokopia.
• (00:45:43) Indika.
• (00:59:23) Minishoot' Adventures.
• (01:11:10) Returnal. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Deluxe Edition.
• (01:29:11) Resident Evil Requiem. Mario Tennis Fever.
• (01:52:51) Listener Mail - Our mission: reinvigorate amiibo.

[You can be the true Sneak King!]

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Podcast Discussion / Episode 966: Increase Your Sneak With This One Weird Trick

« on: March 08, 2026, 05:07:27 PM »

You can be the true Sneak King!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74631/episode-966-increase-your-sneak-with-this-one-weird-trick

I spent about thirty minutes this week performing a soliloquy on the market conditions governing the Pokémon Trading Card Game. I remember this conversation feeling long at the time, but I was earnestly distressed listening to it. I kept saying to myself "Shut up, man! Let someone else talk or change the subject!"

I would hear the past me attempt to get someone to jump in, fail, and resume speaking.

We occasionally run into emails in which I have a lot of ideas that I want to get out into the world. In the case of Pokémon TCG, most of the ideas are the various threads that lead to the chaotic marketplace we currently occupy. This is fine when my co-hosts likewise have things to say, but when they're blanked - either due to lack of opinions or by the unrelenting machine that is my mouth - we get a segment like this.

And here's the silliest part: I have no idea how to play Pokémon TCG. None.

So to write this article I went and read the 2026 rulebook. I expected this to be a short exercise; I could read the rules and digest them at a high level.

I was not prepared for a 44 page document with 28 distinct appendices.

As an example, there are multiple paragraphs covering how to enforce the rules around having multiples of a card in your deck. By rule, you can only have four cards of a Pokémon in your deck - but this is based on the name of the card, not the species. "Trainer" Pokémon, such as Rocket's Meowth, do not count the same as a regular Meowth. Likewise, some Pokémon have their level in the name, these all count the same as the base with no level. Even more, some symbols follow the Pokémon's name and make them "distinct" while the delta symbol does not.

I hope you have a lot of time.

My favorite rule deals with mulligans. At the start of the game, each player draws their opening hand and puts down a base Pokémon. If one of the players does not have one, they reshuffle and draw again. The penalty: their opponent gets to draw one more card into their hand. This goes on until the offending player manages to get a hand with a base Pokémon. If you don't care about winning, you could be a real jackass.

It is possible to simultaneously win the game - requiring a tie-breaker game, unless one player won under more rules than the other.

Did you know the Mega Evolutions set does not have Fairy Type energy? Previous generations did, but not this one. Weird.

Anyway, I now know more than anyone selling booster packs online about Pokémon TCG.

This week we kick the show off with Lister Mail. I mentioned the first email above, but we also get an email from a genie! They offer to change the past so that a cancelled game actually comes out. They also ask us to rub their "magical dev kit" so I have my concerns.

You might find this bewildering, but that segment took over an hour - so a break was in order. After the break we talk about more Pokémon, breaking down the news from the Presents.

Finally, we reach New Business. Greg has impressions from the Denshattack! demo, and we talk a bit about the Indie World presentation. He also finished Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. Lastly, he has some early impressions of Resident Evil Requiem. Jon has begun his promised playthrough of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, finding ways to not play the game. Lastly, Guillaume is watching Blippo+. I... cannot help you with Blippo+ using words. Interdimensional Public Access Television is the best I can do for you.

Email us, or I'll be sad.

• (00:07:17) Listener Mail - The Pokemon TCG supply problem.
• (00:50:06) The Cutting Room Genie writes in.
• (01:26:24) News - Pokemon Presents.
• (01:35:20) Denshattack! demo. Indie World.
• (01:45:47) FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE. Resident Evil Requiem.
• (01:58:46) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Deluxe Edition.
• (02:15:18) Blippo+.

[Watchin' studs.]

9

Podcast Discussion / Episode 965: LEGO Voyeurs

« on: March 01, 2026, 07:01:07 AM »

Watchin' studs.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74529/episode-965-lego-voyeurs

You see, Radio Free Nintendo runs on the March to February fiscal year - but ours trail the calendar year by three months, rather than leading it by nine. As such, our Top 5 Games of 2025 is precisely on time for a year that contained the launch of Nintendo's newest console.

This is an impossible lie to maintain. I do not know why I evented attempt it. We're just late. Arguments can be made that we are fashionable in our tardiness, but given the show's membership I suspect this like will likewise implode under the most cursory scrutiny.

I much prefer this "Top Five" approach to attempting either consensus or categorization. It does create tremendous variability in how we approach the activity - person to person and year to year. We talk about last year's selections to kick the show off - and it is deeply amusing to me that I did not even recall that my #1 last year was a 2024 game. I can confirm, it is - and it was a justified selection.

I'd be curious what the exercise for a consensus game would look like - but I suspect the answer is probably just a very bland answer. It largely just becomes "what game did the most people play?"

Category winners is an equally dubious exercise: are there often enough RPGs to make a category? What of sports games? Platformers? It would just push out some of the smaller or stranger titles that leak into our lists because of their oddity.

Without spoiling our selections, I can offer the following observations:

1. No host shared #1 selection
2. In fact, no two hosts shared 2, 3, 4, or 5
3. Every host had two games that only they mentioned

Trying to reach an agreed outcome would never give us such variety.

I can't say much else, so enjoy the Top Five of 2025.

And no, we didn't talk about the Pokémon Presents, it happened after recording. Just know that the extremely stupid Game Boy music player would have created all kinds of disruption this episode did not require.

If you crave this disruption, you can ask about it.

• (00:02:23) What were our Top Fives of last year, again?
• (00:10:47) Our Top Five-to-two of 2025.
• (01:40:03) Honorable mentions.
• (01:50:04) Discover our four Top one games of twenty-twenty-five.

[The only thing direct is our broadcast to QVC.]

10

Podcast Discussion / Episode 963: Bending Time and Space to Market Donkey Konga

« on: February 15, 2026, 02:37:31 PM »

The only thing direct is our broadcast to QVC.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74316/episode-963-bending-time-and-space-to-market-donkey-konga

Marketing is a complex, expensive, and bewildering exercise. We joke on RFN that it runs on cash and cocaine.

This isn't actually fair. It's not the 1980s anymore - these days they use electronic fund transfers.

It's easy to think the hardest part of building a Direct is just figuring out what games to feature and maybe where to slot them. This misses the more interesting challenge: how do you feature each piece of content in its best light?

It's very easy for one game to potentially overwhelm similar products. You could also create too many trailers that feel too similar - they being to blur. Pairing a quiet game with a loud one could over or under stimulate. A game with a huge budget next to one that was less-so could create an unpleasant contrast.

Simply put, you have to think about not just the product but how they're being presented. They are gears in a complex mechanism. If the teeth gnash against each other the entire machine grinds until the gnarled teeth pass.

The great solution: the single product Direct. One game, one movie, one resort. You can let a single creator run wild. It is in fact both their circus and their monkeys.

Today we are the ringmaster, and in the center ring is Jane Goodall and what I hope is just a man in a Donkey Kong costume.

This week, Jon is playing Animal Crossing: New Horizon. We must investigate. By the time you read this James will have played the Pragmata demo at least three times. Guillaume is playing what he considers a "James Game," The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. He's also playing the very memorably named Battle Axe. Lastly, Greg is escaping Midgar in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE.

After the break we attack a single email: make a Sakurai-style marathon Direct. Any game. Any host. The only challenge is to make it take a long time.

Email me.

• (00:01:42) New Business - Animal Crossing: New Horizon DLC.
• (00:11:55) Pragmata demo.
• (00:30:44) The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
• (00:51:39) Battle Axe.
• (00:59:09) FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE.
• (01:09:54) The Virtual Boy shell has shipped.
• (01:18:10) Listener Mail - Overproduce your own Direct.
• (01:56:36) MGS4: Guns of the Patriots coming to a Switch 2 near you.

[We're building a better sports game.]

11

Podcast Discussion / Episode 962: Flat Earther: Y/N?

« on: February 07, 2026, 03:34:00 PM »

We're building a better sports game.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74222/episode-962-flat-earther-yn

Jon and I got horribly off target this week. I understand that this is not news, but hear me out.

While mocking Konami and their eFootball, and recent attempts at being an Olympic eSport with eBaseball, we contemplated what a a sports game could be if they were unconcerned with getting any licenses. It's true that Metalhead Software did this with Super Mega Baseball, but we figure you could push the envelope much further than they did.

What if your roster was checkered with personality traits like "Just can't live without rageahol", Bets on baseball, or Flat Earther?

Enjoy your retirement, AJ.

Now, how would a game use such "unique" attributes? If you follow the current way we cover sports, it's all Insta Stories, YouTube videos shot on phones, rumored beefs, and hard-nosed reporting via X The Everything App. Our in-game social media, blogs, and generic-Reddit would be full of stories generated about these players. Imagine our rageaholic, fresh off a four hour YouTube video on Hollow Earth Theory, getting in an argument with our resident flat earther.

Now its in the news feed on your home screen, you suspend one of them. It turns out, you made the wrong choice: the vertical-aligned video comes after the next game. This is a Draymond Green situation. No not that situation, the other one. The other-other one.

Oh, and its the All-Star break. It just came out on the in-game TMZ-like that the FBI just arrested your Hall of Fame player turned first base coach for running a crooked poker game with someone named "Albanian Bruce."

The owner still expects a deep playoff run.

Who cares about baseball, I want The Sims but with subpoenas.

I guess we should talk about the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase that happened on Thursday.

There was a Partner Direct on Thursday. We talked about it. There. Happy? No? Fine.

We got to see Leon be bad at fighting in Resident Evil Requiem. We got to watch a very confusing trailer about dinosaurs under Tokyo in Tokyo Scramble, not be confused with Kyoto Xanadu. Different capitals of Japan.

We also got to see some extended coverage of Pragmata, and we now know that they're going to make us like Diana and then break our hearts.

More Bethesda games are coming to Nintendo. Indiana Jones is great, Jon is pledging to beat Elder Scrolls IV. I don't believe him.

We're getting a lot of Bomberman, a sequel to Paranormalsight - a single word, and a soccer game about kicking dragons at people with less AI but also less kids getting their **** ABSOLUTELY WRECKED.

• Follow along as we tackle every game in the Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase 2.5.2026 in order!
• (00:00:50) Orbitals.
• (00:10:45) Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse. Captain Tsubasa: World Fighters.
• (00:20:20) Tokyo Scramble. Valheim. eFootball Kick-Off!
• (00:52:07) The Adventures of Elliott: The Millenium Tales. Super Bomberman Collection. Goemon Collection.
• (01:02:58) Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Pragmata. Turok: Origins.
• (01:19:46) Kyoto Xanadu and other Anime-zing games.
• (01:27:40) Hamster can't keep getting away with this.
• (01:37:19) Sizzle reel.
• (01:42:31) Resident Evil Requiem.
• (02:00:03) Microsoft's (Bethesda's) gaming products are subject to a boycott.
• (02:11:00) Final thoughts.

[I'm not asking for much; I'm simply asking that you declare me correct from a 15 year old argument.]

12

Podcast Discussion / Episode 960: Thunderstruck for Some Striped Bass

« on: January 25, 2026, 03:41:07 PM »

I'm not asking for much; I'm simply asking that you declare me correct from a 15 year old argument.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/74020/episode-960-thunderstruck-for-some-striped-bass

I'm spending a lot of time thinking about Episode 1,000. It sounds far off. It's 40 weeks. In fact, if we release on Saturday it will be October 31, 2026.

Halloween.

Can you imagine, Radio Free Nintendo releasing Episode 1,000 on on Halloween? I cannot fathom a bigger collection of curse-triggers. This does give me all sorts of ideas for this milestone episode.

We talk a little bit about the telethon format at the start of the show. This in no way constitutes a promise of a telethon. I cannot explain how much work that thing took to do.

The day of running the technical call was a chore, but getting the green rooms ready and making sure guests were available was also part of the day-of activities. The bigger challenge was the month or more of planning segments and making sure hosts knew their responsibilities and timing.

Then came the edit...another 12 hours of parsing the files and republishing them.

The telethon is hell.

But I do miss it. When I think about it, I only think about the bad parts. The reality is there were a ton of fun moments that just don't happen without the audience or the chaos of "we'll do it live."

1,000 episodes is an unreal accomplishment for a podcast. And that accomplishment belongs to everyone who ever was a cast member equally. Figuring out how to honor that is going to be a tough process.

Anyway, last week's New Business show did not expend the full supply of RFN New Business. James gives an update on the latest Donkey Kong Bananza DLC challenge, before transitioning into a conversation on the recent news on Talking Flower and Wonder's amiibo. Greg took a look at the demo of Final Fantasy VII Remake, now on Switch 2. Guillaume has impressions of Elechead and Stray Children. Jon wraps New Business with Yars: Recharged.

After the break we have two Listener Mail: What potential Switch 2 versions keep us from playing the actual Switch game and fishing for the best fishing minigames.

Email here.

• (00:08:53) New Business - Donkey Kong Bananza Emerald Rush.
• (00:16:59) Talking Flower and LTTP Super Mario Bros Wonder amiibos.
• (00:28:06) Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade demo.
• (00:36:09) ElecHead.
• (00:42:46) Stray Children.
• (00:55:50) Yars: Recharged.
• (01:04:09) Listener Mail - Schrodinger's Switch 2 ports keeping us away from the backlog?
• (01:39:11) Fishing minigames.

[Philadelphia is more than just the city that boo'd Santa Claus.]

13

Podcast Discussion / Episode 959: Clip and Clop Are the New Horace

« on: January 18, 2026, 11:59:00 AM »

Philadelphia is more than just the city that boo'd Santa Claus.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73918/episode-959-clip-and-clop-are-the-new-horace

I originally planned to use this space to write yet another piece expressing the general confusion the Metroid Prime 4 commentary continues to inflict upon me.

I've had a change of heart.

I've felt love. Horace, a nightmare anthro, is out. Clip-Clop, an icon of philia, is in.

I think horses are great. This is not material to why I've found myself fascinated by two mysterious horse-costumed gaming figures, I just wanted to point out that we've crafted a companion species so thoroughly that they can literally smell our fear.

Horace must bask in the scents of the scared. A reverse-centaur, clad in a sequined purple tuxedo, he shines; sparkles; and sickens. A self-described master of ceremonies, his obvious self-absorption creates a terrible attraction.

Clip-Clop are a rejection of this masked man. While no-less costumed, they have not eschewed the physical characteristics of a horse so that they can fit into some fancy duds. They do not employ showy attire to elevate themselves, their simple brown coloration is enough. Nor do they hide their faces, they have a modest pride in who they are and face the world head-on. Indeed, they do not adopt self-congratulatory titles. In fact, they have become such paragons of cooperation that The King himself refers to them as if they are a single entity: "Cousin Clip-Clop."

Granted, the King is apparently a deeply stupid individual - he may be completely unaware that they are two brothers in a horse costume.

This is not a Kenta situation, an actual The Prince centaur but with four "normal" legs. Kenta was born a nightmare. He is a being that should not be. His locomotion is an abomination.

We do not subscribe to his newsletter.

In a world where everyone wants to be a Horace, be a Clip-Clop.

We're finally back this week, and its been basically a month since our last New Business segment was recorded - so we have quite a lot to get through.

Jon kicks the show off with yet more DLC for Atari 50 - now covering the Atari/Namco relationship from the 70s and 80s. We also accidentally uncover Namco's terrible secret.

He and James then tag-team Metroid Prime 4. Jon has some final thoughts on the elements that got under his skin, but James has literally never spoken about the game, so gives a full retrospective on playing it. It takes a minute.

James has also played the majority of Is This Seat Taken, a game about seating arrangements.

He and Guillaume then move onto Once Upon a Katamari. This was James' first Katamari game, spurred on by his partner requesting they tag-team the game. Guillaume is a series expert, and is better able to put this game in context.

Guillaume concludes his New Business with some shorter thoughts on BALLxPIT and Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Lastly, Greg has finished up Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and has moved onto recent addition to the NSO's Gamecube library: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

Emails go here.

• (00:04:17) New Business - Atari 50 Namco DLC.
• (00:27:54) Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
• (01:14:18) Is This Seat Taken?
• (01:26:44) Once Upon a Katamari.
• (01:53:08) BALLxPIT.
• (02:00:43) Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
• (02:05:36) Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment.
• (02:11:25) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

[Not that the game takes place in the 1400s, but maybe that's why we're going back.]

14

Podcast Discussion / Episode 958: You Got to Take It Back to the 1400s Sometimes

« on: January 02, 2026, 05:03:14 AM »

Not that the game takes place in the 1400s, but maybe that's why we're going back.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73791/episode-958-you-got-to-take-it-back-to-the-1400s-sometimes

There's a brief segment in this episode where, when talking about Link's appearance in Soulcalibur II, Guillaume references people over-reacting to "limited" video clips of Wind Waker's visuals. He implicitly tied this to why people were so hyped to see a more "mature" Link in Soulcalibur.

Now, he messed up the timeline. Wind Waker was out at this point. But, he was right that this limited view of Wind Waker did create the whole "celda" narrative. That said, I'm glad to see that we no longer make wild overreactions to short excerpts from a game shown during a press event.

In other news, it's 2026 and the Metroid discourse still makes my brain hurt.

Thankfully, Namco didn't put Samus in Soulcalibur II because 20 years on I'm sure we'd be hearing all kinds of revanchist-sounding rhetoric about Metroid being a fighting game or some garbage.

They put Link in. And the rest history. You know what we say about history...

Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold.

This week we have our RetroActive for Soulcalibur II. It's a very confusing thing to write about. I don't mean the game itself - we have a wide-ranging conversation on the hype, the "story", the characters, and the gameplay. We even dive into our personal histories with the game, the franchise, and fighting games.

No, it's difficult to write about because the name of the sword everyone is after is the Soul Edge. The Soul Calibur is a different sword. The correct spelling of the game is "Soulcalbur," lacking the space that is present in the name of the blade - a blade that does not seem to appear in the game in any meaningful way. Which, again, is the opposite of the Soul Edge - who is in the game.

Also Soulcalibur II is the third game in the franchise.

Right, this is our RetroActive. I hope you had a good holiday season and enjoy!

[I'm going to wake you up in the middle of the night.]

15

Podcast Discussion / Episode 957: Killed by Jabba's Smart Doorbell

« on: December 22, 2025, 07:32:00 AM »

I'm going to wake you up in the middle of the night.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73707/episode-957-killed-by-jabbas-smart-doorbell

This is the last one of these I'm going to write this year.

Since the summer, I've turned the podcast article into a personal canvas where I paint a narrative, building to a transition, that I spring on an unwitting audience. They simply wish to know of what we spoke, but I weave them a story.

In this time I've covered topics ranging from Diddy's (no, not that one) impending mortality to how Sony's attempts to make Betamax more vibrant lead to the horror slop we see on Tubi. Sometimes, I sit down to compose this article and the path is already laid out in my head. Other times, the map is blank and I am forced to find a way forward.

This once resulted in me writing a passage where I figured out what kind of regional pizza Mira would have adopted.

I enjoy this as a creative writing exercise, but I also think it is a bit of a pressure valve. It feels like the commentariat in gaming has become so "takes" oriented, that they're unable to look at themselves and ask if they're the problem. Sometimes it's just fun to force people to learn about Mesopotamian mathematics or write a weirdly self-referential article designed to test if I could write the article before the episode existed. Yes, if you're curious.

And sometimes I tell a little story about the history of weird stuff and accidentally predict the future.

I hope someone out there has been enjoying these as much as I enjoy writing them. They're a fun, weekly, writing challenge that makes me think. I don't know if I'll keep at it; it takes a while, but I plan to.

Anyway, this week we spent a big chunk of time on Listener Mail. Leading off, we cast Gaming's A Christmas Carol. We also had someone write in to tell us about their time with Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, and we find our Ty.

After a break, we have our last New Business of 2025. Gui finished up Absolum. We also talk a bit more about NSO-release Wario World. Lastly we offer an update on Metroid Prime 4. There's also time to update the world on Xbox Fridge Watch.

As always, thank you all for listening and emailing in 2025. See you next year!

• (00:04:06) Listener Mail - A Youtube Grifter's Christmas Carol.
• (00:34:27) The Outfoxies, Arcade Archives celebrate 500 titles.
• (00:41:16) Indiana Jones is my Ty the Tasmania Tiger.
• (01:25:18) New Business - Absolum.
• (01:34:25) Wario World as a surprise NSO release.
• (01:37:49) Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
• (01:43:22) The Xbox fridge has been replaced.

[It's Tak-o'Clock!]

16

Podcast Discussion / Episode 956: Every Day Is Nintendo Today

« on: December 14, 2025, 07:06:00 PM »

It's Tak-o'Clock!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73610/episode-956-every-day-is-nintendo-today

We've now reached a point where everyone feels the urge to produce a think-piece on the nature of The Game Awards. This puts us into an odd circumstance where there is this thing that everyone acknowledges feels wrong even if we aren't able to completely explain why, and yet we cannot stop it.

Generally, your gut is usually a pretty good indicator of things being "off." It's an evolutionary defense; our pre-historic ancestors navigating the high grasses of the savanna and the dark of ancient woods were utterly surrounded by ambush predators. Sometimes called a sixth sense, the ability to perceive that something is wrong was a prerequisite to stay alive.

That is to say The Game Awards is an anomaly.

If you are a believer in nominative determinism, you would be utterly bewildered by what the product is - roughly 8% of the runtime this year was devoted to the presentation of awards. That means if you turned it on at any given moment you were more likely to see the simulated sexual chemistry between Miss Piggy, a felt-covered anthropomorphic pig, and Geoff Keighley, a polyester-suited producer-nee games journalist, then you were actual awards.

I've been to many E3s, I legitimately cannot recall how many. I have lived through some absolute tragedies of stage presentations. Do you recall the famed Konami "press conferences" or Joel McHale was just taking the piss as Ubisoft's marketing department beclowned themselves?

None of these events felt of The Grim Obligation. On the show this week, I struggle to relate The Game Awards to famous Greek parables. I settle on a nightmarish hybrid of Sisyphus and Prometheus.

For years the entire thing has felt like a joyless march into the late night, and yet I watch this thing live because it happens at the same time we record RFN. News happens as we are trying to do the important business of talking about whatever stupid purchase Jon Lindemann has made this week. And the reality is, there usually is news that we should talk about.

It is met with the enthusiasm of "oh, that's nice"

It's a problem of the packaging. I'm not saying anything that's revolutionary here; as stated earlier, there's been a remarkable amount of discourse on how little of The Game Awards is award-focused. This doesn't explain why it feels like I'm preempting my inevitable time in purgatory just watching the damned thing. I think its reductionist to call it one long ad with ads, even if its accurate.

I think it's a flex. Expensive. Overly-long. Self-congratulatory.

Keighley has all these important players in an otherwise unstable industry putting on their best formal wear, paying untold fortunes to show their wares, and plastering on a fake smile when their category is relegated to a preshow host who couldn't be bothered to learn to pronounce the names of the games in the category she was about to present.

It's a simulacrum of an award show.

In a time where: a major console player seems to be slipping off into the sands, thousands of childhood dreams to make games for a living die every month, every project can feel at risk from ever-tightening budgets, and creativity is imperiled by the encroaching march of content recycler that is AI and investments from foreign powers who may not appreciate the vision of development teams, we construct this temple of excess. Cast in the celebratory color pallet of gloss black and.. also... matte black this gaudy exercise in indulgency has all the charm of a wake. The symbolism, accidental as it may be, is apt.

For ****'s sake, at least find a few other colors than black, black, and chrome. Video games can invent new colors and are world of imagination. We don't have to hew the entire damned colossus out of onyx.

My name is Ozymandias, King of KingsLook on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

I am sure the winners feel pride in the recognition, but the show does not celebrate the industry. It's Keighley's other product, Summer Games Fest, wearing a mask. No one will remember these proceedings unless someone sneaks onto stage, or a winner goes completely off script and starts swearing. Previous years were remembered for the hosts inability to control how long people spoke for, then in subsequent years over-constraining the speech of the winners.

How many Tak games do you think were made?

This is an abrupt transition, but I'm still running away from the idea of a stone Miss Piggy degrading in the sands.  This question was our escape rope out of the morass.

This week James got the NSO Expansion Pack ("with a C and a K") in order to play our RetroActive Soulcalibur II. He's spent the week trying the offerings of the service, such as the just-released Wario World. This somehow devolves into a long-form discussion of the Tak franchise. He then turns the show over to Jon, Gui, and Greg to talk Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

After a break, we dive into a little bit of The Game Awards news and then a single Listener Mail question: kill a Nintendo series to save the world.

Our RetroActive is THIS WEEK, so get your comments in.

• (00:07:28) New Business - The NSO Expansion Pack. Wario World.
• (00:33:41) "Jon, how many Tak games do you think there are?".
• (00:51:03) Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
• (01:36:17) The Game Awards newsbrief.
• (01:39:50) Listener Mail - Change one thing in history to prevent Nintendo's totalitarian power grab.

[Discourse in the retirement home could not be more toxic.]

17

Podcast Discussion / Episode 955: A Metroid? I'm Seventeen Years Old and What is This?

« on: December 07, 2025, 03:37:00 PM »

Discourse in the retirement home could not be more toxic.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73539/episode-955-a-metroid-im-seventeen-years-old-and-what-is-this

The discourse comes for us all this week, with the release of Metroid Prime 4.

It's weirdly fascinating how this series is able to generate bile over seemingly the most insignificant things. If I wanted to assemble a hall of fame of bad takes, there's going to be at least two Metroid takes on display.

I've always thought I should just ignore this kind of behavior, but I'm just not able. I know who I am, and I fear I'm never going to be the person I'd like to be. I think this stuff is normally pretty funny.

The Federation Force reaction was genuinely disquieting - but I suppose in a very weird way it is an echo of the reactions to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze not being Metroid. I do wonder if the loud demands of the Metroid fanbase reflect their realization that the series just isn't as important to Nintendo as it is to them - and they get themselves high-strung waiting for the next shoe to drop.

This does not excuse outlets, which should know better. James calls out one outlet by name this week for posting a Metroid Prime 4 headline that is designed to read as an accusation against the game's publisher and uses two - false - facts to make the case. While this outlet is the gossip rag of the industry, they are not alone in this practice. This engagement farming is a race to the bottom triggered, in no small part, by the algorithms that decide what we see. Outrage results in reactions which pleases the algorithms designed to keep us tethered like Prometheus.

For the purposes of this pained analogy, our liver is critical thinking and the bird is Google AdSense.

Let's try to do better, for this game that is a nearly two-decade late sequel, and for ourselves.

Because RFN won't.

This week, we devote the entire first segment to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Everyone but James is playing, but they're all very early. None of us know what lies Beyond. Perhaps it is always best we do not; knowledge is an immense burden.

After a break, Greg has an update on Kirby Air Riders. Guillaume spent his non-Metroid time with Absolum, a beat'em up with roguelike elements. Also we talk about Ninja Gaiden 2, because pain is a lifestyle. Lastly, Jon gives his take on the exact same Black Friday SD Express sale that James availed himself of a week prior.

Reminder, get your comments on our RetroActive Soulcalibur II in quickly. We're talking it in less than two weeks. Send comments here or post them in the Discord.

• (00:06:04) New Business - Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
• (01:05:32) Kirby Air Riders.
• (01:18:03) Ninja Gaiden 2 on NSO.
• (01:20:36) Absolum.
• (01:53:13) Black Friday deal on a Switch 2 memory card.

[RFN will never stop coining phrases that should never be coined.]

18

Podcast Discussion / Episode 954: Thangsgiving

« on: November 29, 2025, 04:26:00 PM »

RFN will never stop coining phrases that should never be coined.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73467/episode-954-thangsgiving

This episode took a while to record because we spent a a long time planning the remainder of our work for this year.

Despite the rampant unprofessionalism, this show is work.

• We spend about three hours recording the show, starting at roughly 9:00 Eastern and wrapping up early the next day.
• I can't speak for how long it takes Guillaume to edit a show, but when I do it, every hour of the final runtime takes about two hours to edit. I do suspect I'm very slow.
• It takes me about an hour to write the article - particularly when I decided to put more thought into the exercise.
• The image takes between 30 minutes to an hour and a half. There are the odd moments where I go completely overboard and spend two or even three hours on it. Last week was an example of an extraordinary effort, but that was an outlier.

This adds up to an investment of between 18 and 20 man hours per episode.

I mention this, because that time investment becomes more difficult as people have plans tied to the holiday season. We travel to see family and friends, have events, and sometimes just need to unwind.

It is the one time of year I, as host and alleged producer, have to actually plan for the show - rather than relying on almost two decades of momentum - to make it happen.

And now, I'll share that plan with you!

We are recording two episodes between Dec. 18 and Dec. 22. I suspect they'll be shorter, and likely recorded in a single (very long) session. The first (Episode 957) will be a "normal" episode - with Prime 4 having been out a couple weeks at that point we'll likely be talking end game content. The other (Episode 958) will be our next RetroActive.

957 will drop the following Sunday, Dec. 21, just like always.958 will drop two weeks later on Jan 5.

We wont drop an episode on the week of New Years. Historically, this is one of our lowest listened to weeks - people listen to the week of Christmas travelling or finishing up work before the holiday. People listen to the week after New Years, returning to work.

And frankly, we just wont be around to record, edit, and publish.

On a personal note, I'll also be missing 959, to be recorded the week of Jan 6. I'll be leaving you to the tender mercies of your host Jon Lindemann. Despite me writing it here, he wont be aware of this fact. Greg, please remind him when you record it.

But this week, we are here. We start the show with Guillaume disliking another fan-favorite game: Ball X Pit. Beyond Ball and Pitting, he's been playing Arcade Archives Cadash - a 2D Platformer with RPG elements and some attributes more typical of a brawler. Finally, he finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is a fan favorite that he DOES like. Jon is bummed with the Black Friday offerings in 2025. He's correct, they were significantly lesser compared to recent years, and pale when compared to the era of riots in the Best Buy. Greg got Sakurai's latest "never ask me for anything again" "everything is here" project Kirby Air Riders. He has some fairly early impressions of the game's abundance of modes. He also has a brief update on Age of Imprisonment, which James adds to now that he has cleared it. Lastly, James reviews the second Donkey Kong Bananza DLC challenge. He has, sadly, unlocked Lanky Kong's statue.

After a break, we reveal our next RetroActive game. As mentioned above, we needed to record this quicky - which means it needs to be available and not particularly long. The game we picked to meet these criteria: Link's adventures in Soulcalibur II for the Gamecube. It's available on the NSO service. Get to work.

James expected this reveal to take a lot longer. Suddenly, we were confronted with the horror that is a five minute second segment. Into the breach marched a second round of Jon Lindemann trivia.

At one point Jon had a negative score.

You can send your trivia here.

• (00:01:34) New Business - Ball x Pit. Cadash.
• (00:16:33) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
• (00:27:09) Disappointing Black Friday deals.
• (00:31:01) Kirby Air Riders.
• (00:53:03) Hyrule Warriors - Age of Imprisonment.
• (01:07:23) Gameshare. Donkey Kong Bananza DLC challenges.
• (01:17:39) The next Retroactive.
• (01:27:46) Another Jon Lindemann quiz.

[It's hard for me to write parody hyperbole while you're calling for the guillotining of a fictional tutorial character based on a demo you didn't play.]

19

Podcast Discussion / Episode 953: Get a Grip, Game Journalists

« on: November 23, 2025, 04:30:00 PM »

It's hard for me to write parody hyperbole while you're calling for the guillotining of a fictional tutorial character based on a demo you didn't play.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73366/episode-953-get-a-grip-game-journalists

It's already Black Friday.

This is not a true statement, but retail does not care. I have been bombarded with adverts that read "Black Friday is now!" Their stridency indicates that they are aware of the inaccuracy of their assertions and simply wish to pave over this inconvenient truth.

I'm not going to write about that - it's just an observation I felt like sharing.

You see, I'd much rather talk about manufactured outrage in the gaming journalism sphere. We got an email about the overwhelming coverage a single NPC in the Metroid Prime 4 press demo has received. This pushed into a broader conversation about the state of the content creator space.

James even muses about creating a sock puppet to make... sock puppet arguments. He's well suited; he's been writing bullshit articles that mean nearly exactly the opposite of what they say for years.

Is this healthy? No.

But if you've been trying to ride the outrage minecart to YouTube's algorithmic goldmine, you need to find fatalistic fresh takes.

These aren't hot takes, they're explicit doomerism. You can even extend this to written content. And I have one weird trick to help!

Take a fact - remove context. Your thesis? That fact is bad.

Example

• FACT: Pokémon Z to A had worse launch day sales at UK retailers than Scarlet and Violet.
• CONTEXT: Switch 2 users are more likely to buy digitally and Nintendo consumers in general are shifting to digital. Some percentage of customers buy both versions of a two-version Pokémon game and Z to A only has one version. Z to A is not a traditional game in the series, making the comparison not like-for-like.
• THESIS: Pokémon Z to A's worse chart performance in UK retailers means consumers are getting tired of lazy Game Freak.

It's that simple!

• FACT: Metroid Prime 4 previews included an annoying character.
• CONTEXT: The previews seem to be from the start of the game, as the character is engaging in tutoring the player to play Metroid Prime. It's been nearly two decades since Metroid Prime 3, so Nintendo likely thinks this is necessary.
• THESIS: ...

Show me what you learned in the comments!

In the meantime, we did a podcast. Greg is out. James is the only person with New Business, because he's been playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. It may not sound like it but he does like it. He just wishes it took some more wild swings. He also feels like we all need to hear about weird goings-on in the eShop. He is wrong, please forgive him.

After a break, we tackle some LISTENER MAIL. It's all caps this week because we are confronted with a moral dilemma: your child wants a bad game - do you buy it? We are also confronted with a journalistic challenge: I didn't get an invite to Nintendo's Metroid Prime 4 demos and want to write about it. Lastly, we're confronted with the question of why the Switch 2 is lacking exclusives.

Email us.

• (00:08:37) New Business - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment.
• (00:35:09) Where's the Octopus, Bases Loaded, and other eShop gems and Jaleco classics.
• (00:45:24) Listener Mail - Protect a kid from his mistakes or have them learn from it?
• (01:16:23) Miles Mackenzie Metroid Meltdown.
• (01:45:44) Where are the exclusives? Where is the second screen?

[The birth of a new lie and a new meme.]

20

Podcast Discussion / Episode 952: My Name Used To Be on the Masthead, James

« on: November 16, 2025, 02:12:54 PM »

The birth of a new lie and a new meme.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73300/episode-952-my-name-used-to-be-on-the-masthead-james

Nintendo World Report has been around a long time. I wont retrace the entire site history - someone already did that. That said, the most nascent form of the site kicked off in 1999 - moving through multiple names before finally arriving at our permanent NWR name in 2006.

It was around this time Radio Free Nintendo started - the "pgcpodcast" filenames for first few episodes reflect the site's former acronym.

Sometime soon after, I joined the site.

In 2009 Jon became site director. I know this is staggering to those of you who were not around at the time, but I am not making that up.

We relaunched the site in its current layout in 2012, soon-after Jon handed over responsibilities for the site's management. I am not suggesting the long-delayed redesign was the result of Jon, he actually was deeply involved in the exhausting testing process. I am however willing to imply it for comedy's sake.

With all that being said, this week he made a new baffling and provable false statement: that his name was ever in the site's masthead.

I challenge you to go find current site director John Rairdin's name in the masthead.

It's not there. It's never been there. We've never listed the site director in the masthead.

We were all here at the time - we know it wasn't there. At the same time, I love this as a retort to whatever I was challenging him on at the time. It's absurd, but also it lends itself to being thrown back at him:

"Balls-related puns, my name used to be on the masthead, James."
- Me, quoting Jon back at him.

I think this one is going to stick around. It's just instantly silly.

History lessons aside, we start the show with Listener Mail this week. First off, we try to describe what "finishing" our game collections looks like. We then explore games with a version on "lesser" systems that outstrips the main platform. Lastly, we try to identify the best minigames in gaming.

After a break, we tackle some New Business. Greg spent some time with Kirby Air Riders: Global Test Ride and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Guillaume finished Donkey Kong Bananza and has some takes. Lastly, he digs into Taito Milestones 3.

We want emails and RetroActive ideas. You're in a very short timeline. Send them.

• (00:14:06) Listener Mail - A collection that's "us".
• (00:47:33) Demakes or downgraded ports better than the real thing.
• (01:05:48) The best side minigames.
• (01:19:44) New Business - Kirby Air Riders: Global Test Ride.
• (01:41:47) Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment.
• (01:53:51) Donkey Kong Bananza.
• (02:13:20) Taito Milestones 3: Warrior Blade, Dead Connection, Bubble Bobble.

[Link had his own "Zelda Moment" when he popped that balloon. And when he staged that prison break.]

21

Podcast Discussion / Episode 951: Unleashing Tingle Upon Hyrule

« on: November 09, 2025, 03:05:00 PM »

Link had his own "Zelda Moment" when he popped that balloon. And when he staged that prison break.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73174/episode-951-unleashing-tingle-upon-hyrule

We answer an email this week that asks if we've "ruined" a game for ourselves. How its asked, its about "breaking" the game or playing it a way that otherwise ruins the experience. For example, trying to get every Shine in Super Mario Sunshine means getting a bunch of Blue Coins, which is simply not enjoyable.

A reading we don't cover is the idea that simply playing a game is enough to "ruin" the game. I'll explain.

Disaster: Day of Crisis is a horrendous game. It does almost exactly nothing well and Captain Hook would have no trouble counting the game's good ideas.

The ideal of Disaster: Day of Crisis is however an excellent experience. We joke about "fire tornadoes," and terrorists with both a mech and a weather control device, and also a bear - a bearorist. These were not jokes, excepting the bearorist. This game's contents are sublimely funny.

Playing it is abject misery. And thus, when Disaster: Day of Crisis is actually played it becomes ruined. It is in an unperceived perfection, poisoned by play.

Deadly Premonition is a strange game that feels like it should have the same issue. It is unfathomably weird - this is the strangest game on Switch, excepting "eShop developer's barely disguised fetishes." It also plays like absolute trash. Basically no systems work in ways that anyone who has ever played a game would ever expect. The game seemingly is trying to tare itself apart at all times. The physics are nonsense. Greenvale requires driving absurd distances on roads that go nowhere - to reach destinations that are inexplicably far from everything else.

The reason is the reveal at the end that the entire town's road network draws a picture of a dog. I'm serious.

Don't worry, your car can run out of gas. Can. Will. Does.

You can call the sheriff to come get you.

This all sounds like horrific gameplay, and that's without noting that you can roll over a sedan like it's the world's tallest SUV because the physics are nonsense. Trust me - it is. It's suffering.

And yet playing Deadly Premonition makes it better. You can watch a Let's Play and get a lot of it, but experiencing it yourself is special.

Its weirdness isn't just a bunch of stupid plot beats - it does have those. Its weirdness is more subtle: it's trying to find a set of keys with the right species of squirrel for a key chain. It's the entire cast taking a break from a murder investigation to discuss proper sandwich construction - settling on the cereal-laced Sinner Sandwich. It's Sherriff George Woodman, coming to give you a ride, and the loading screen includes the sound effects of screeching tires and a major car crash.

You survive Deadly Premonition. And the experience is all the better for it.

This week we have a healthy haul of New Business.

James finished the Pokédex in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, just in time for more DLC to increase the Pokémon available. I'd say the reward is unrewarding, but there isn't actually a reward to begin with.

Guillaume rented Donkey Kong Bananza, and it finally got its hooks in. Greg purchased the DK Island and Emerald Rush and is starting to get into the run-based mode. James, who has finished this mode, has some thoughts on the time-limited event that recently concluded.

Guillaume is also playing Arcade Archives GROWL - a Taito brawler where you save animals from poachers, using violence.

Greg had a run of Luigi's Mansion, now on the Nintendo Switch Online service, just in time for the end of Spooky Season.

Lastly, Jon has thoughts on streaming PS5 games to the PlayStation Portal - a new feature that makes the device actually useful.

After a break, we tackle a couple Listener Mail questions. First, we have the previously mentioned conversation on game's we've ruined for ourselves. We then explore the legacy of the recently-departed Tomonobu Itagaki. It's a checkered history, but his impact is undeniable.

You can fail to deny our impact by sending an email.

• (00:02:02) New Business - Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
• (00:14:39) Donkey Kong Bananza.
• (00:21:22) Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island and Emerald Rush.
• (00:44:38) Arcade Archives GROWL.
• (00:50:38) Luigi's Mansion.
• (00:59:31) PlayStation Portal Remote Player for PS5 console.
• (01:14:46) Listener Mail - Ways we've ruined games for ourselves.
• (01:46:08) Tomonobu Itagaki's legacy.

[WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CRAFTING, YOU PERVERTS.]

22

Podcast Discussion / Episode 950: Nice Quality of Life for the Sickos

« on: November 02, 2025, 02:02:30 PM »

WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CRAFTING, YOU PERVERTS.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/73090/episode-950-nice-quality-of-life-for-the-sickos

I spent a lot of the show this week trying to articulate the difference between the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) of the Saudi government. I think I erred in two parts here: one, the PIF is a SWF and I treated them as distinct. Two, in not recognizing the PIF is a special version of a SWF, I understated why the PIF "special." That distinction goes to the heart of question we were asked, and probably could have saved us immense time in trying to answer it in the least bombastic way possible.

Basically, a SWF is a place where a government can stash its surplus revenues - something I can only assume is possible, having never seen such things as an adult - for future emergencies. The goal is to grow the surplus so it can be leveraged if the need arrives in the future. The Saudi PIF is a SWF, but it has an additional mandate - the investments it makes should drive domestic economic growth.

We do touch on this point fairly extensively, but we could have got there sooner. Hence, I'm clarifying it here.

That mission is important when looking at what investment vehicles they pursue. A sports team based in England can only drive so much economic development 3000 miles away, but a multi-national company can create industry jobs anywhere. It would be wise to assume as little as possible would be done to hurt the brands because protecting this kind of investment isn't enough: the goal is to drive economic growth at home - and so these investments need to become even more vibrant to create the targeted domestic growth.

But, it would also be understandable if the association was enough to put people off. It's a risk I'm sure was factored into everything.

That said, it must be nice to be an investment firm with an in to an unfathomably wealthy monarchy.

You might have surmised, but we are very email heavy this week. Jon returns and we spend the entire first segment on Saudi Arabia's role in taking Electronic Arts private. There's a lot of nuance to this conversation - which we are almost certainly not the best choice to provide - and yet provide it we try. I'd say do but... it's RFN.

After a much-needed break we are asked to continue our quest to do the intractable: make Metroid popular. By that, I mean the series, not the brain parasites. There's another politically risky joke I could make here, but we're just ignoring those in this article today.

That's it for email. We answered two entire questions. We're really bad at this. You can make our situation worse. I assume this link works now.

We did save enough time to go through the unexpected Animal Crossing: New Horizons update and to mock Capcom for announcing an unseeable Resident Evil Requiem amiibo and a truly horrific Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Never change, Capcpom.

• (00:04:29) Listener Mail - "EA acquisition" used to mean something else.
• (01:04:51) How to make Metroid popular.
• (01:46:48) Animal Crossing gets an update.
• (02:00:22) Resident Evil 9 junk.

[That wrong turn was a real mistake,]

23

Podcast Discussion / Episode 948: The Reluctant Messiah of Albuquerque

« on: October 19, 2025, 02:01:00 PM »

That wrong turn was a real mistake,

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/72919/episode-948-the-reluctant-messiah-of-albuquerque

Jon was not interested as being the salvation of Albuquerque's traditions of pottery, ceramics, and turquoise jewelry. I don't feel like its necessary we explore his reluctance - we know it is because he simply doesn't care about traditional crafts. We will not judge, to his face.

This conversation did lead me to think about what a Pokémon set in the Southwestern United States would look like.

From a regional standpoint, you're going to see a lot of ground types - the water starter is going to be brutally effective in this region.

Las Vegas is getting an "inspired" citiy, and there is definitely going to be Rotom variant that is a slot machine - unless you're in the nanny state knowns as the EU, where it will be a wall-wart plug with a mandatory removable USB-C cable.

Some hybrid Santa Fe/Albuquerque will be all adobe. There will be sentient pottery and skyscrapers made of mud. I do not make the rules.

There's going to be some ghost town/abandoned silver mine that is just FILTHY with ghost types. A haunted cowboy hat feels right.

The mountains of the Colorado Plateau will be lovely - or ugly, depending on the effort Game Freak put into it. This is probably where you put your ice types.

Sandshrew/Sandslash are definitely getting regional forms - though a baby form of Sandshrew and a Mega-Sandslash would not be amiss instead.

Anyway, we've been playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and Jon hates traditional pottery. I guess that was my point. Greg and James are really early going, so we only spend thirty minutes covering the game. Greg is also wrapping up Super Mario Galaxy 2. Likewise, Gui is wrapping up Super Mario 64. We are a very diverse podcast. Gui is also playing South of Midnight - and its excellent4 Claymation-inspired visuals. Jon bought the Atari 50: The First Console War DLC, an add-on to Atari 50 that spotlight's Mattel's games for the rival console. James also tips his hand on an upcoming project, where he tortures himself by watching the CPU play NES Monopoly and Jon reveals his self-inflicted torture: describing James' art.

Emails! It might work!

• (00:02:58) New Business - Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
• (00:31:14) Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• (00:43:51) Super Mario 64.
• (00:49:23) South of Midnight.
• (00:55:37) Atari 50: The First Console War DLC.
• (01:22:53) NES emulation and playing the CPU against itself.
• (01:36:08) Jon reads out loud his descriptions of James' TSI art.

[Duck Season is over. Jonny-L Season is eternal.]

24

Podcast Discussion / Episode 947: It's Open Season On Jonny-L

« on: October 12, 2025, 03:33:15 PM »

Duck Season is over. Jonny-L Season is eternal.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/72878/episode-947-its-open-season-on-jonny-l

This week we spent entirely too much time talking about the Nintendo Vs. System, an arcade-adaption of Famicom hardware that Nintendo pushed on arcade operators as a way to have a constantly-refreshed machine in their arcades.

It's a fascinating device because the biggest advantage is the library it shared with the Famicom. Launching well in advance of the NES in North America, it allowed western audiences the chance to experience some of the biggest titles on the hardware. This let Nintendo build brand-awareness before entering the market as a hardware manufacturer and it offered arcade operators a new partner to work with.

Conversely, its biggest weakness wasn't the fact it was very underpowered compared to most arcade hardware. It's biggest weakness, and the reason it was largely unsuccessful in Japan is because the games and hardware were already in Japanese homes.

It's a fun game of 4D chess, because I doubt Japanese consumers' apathy towards playing games they already own would have been beyond Nintendo's predictions. However, they needed a market close-at-hand to refine the arcade hardware. It seems obvious to me that this was always a play to enter a crippled video games market in North America, it just needed time to cook.

Just remember, at one point Atari and Nintendo were talking about Atari selling a branded-Famicom system in North America.

Good thing we got the 7800 instead. Okay, stop laughing.

Anyway, this week we start with Listener Mail. We asked you to send it and you belatedly answered the call. First we explore the eternal question: "Nintendo what the f*** was that?" In this case, we're talking about "Close to You," a Pikmin-minus-Pikmin CG short that was soon replaced with a Pikmin-minus-Pikmin-plus-Pikmin short. Then we have the previously mentioned lesson on the Nintendo Vs. System, and why third parties bothered. Lastly, we dig into games we took a very long time to complete. Send us emails. Maybe the link works? It did for me.

After a break, we dig into some New Business. Well, not James. He finally finished Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush. You'll never have to hear about it again, unless you do. Jon has been reading Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, by Jason Schreier. He's still early but has some initial thoughts. Guillaume is getting pretty deep into Super Mario 64, via the NSO, and is also playing King Kong: The Movie: The Game. Greg wraps-up the show with thoughts on the Switch port of Super Mario Galaxy 2.

• (00:01:15) Listener Mail: Close to Who?
• (00:32:57) Nintendo VS. System, why?
• (00:42:30) Slow cruise through a game.
• (01:24:25) New Business - Finishing Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush.
• (01:26:16) Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment.
• (01:29:01) Super Mario 64 on the NSO.
• (01:40:21) King Kong: The Movie: The Game
• (01:45:52) Mario & Wario
• (01:52:22) Super Mario Galaxy 2, now on Switch

[I got to put "ass" in the title.]

25

Podcast Discussion / Episode 946: JCVD's Ass and the Pink Symbiote

« on: October 05, 2025, 07:22:21 PM »

I got to put "ass" in the title.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/72769/episode-946-jcvds-ass-and-the-pink-symbiote

I wonder if we're getting to a place where technology has become too uniform.

This week alone we talked about the Virtual Boy, gamepads built from phones, and the Power Glove. Recently, we've talked about absolute trash like Tiger Electronics' R-Zone, Jon bought the goddamned The Eye of Judgment, I am at this very moment looking at a Wappy Dog, and it is astride Donkey Kong Bongos. Who knows what other outrageous pieces of plastic and silicon designed to separate us from our money in exchange for time we've touched on in the last couple of years.

Remember when we told you that Nintendo released games via satellite broadcasts? That was last week! Sega used to send games over your co-ax cable. In 1994.

People used to have ideas! Somewhere in the boxes in my parents' home is a Cybiko. Why? It was weird! It's so weird!

Nintendo is still doing weird ****, sure. But what's the last weird **** Sony did? Wonderbook? Do you remember Wonderbook? That was 2012!

We aren't getting video games on VHS tapes anymore - which was a real thing.

No, not the ActionMax or the Video Driver. The Takara Video Challenger. Heck there was one with the Captain Planet branding that was shaped like a space ship but  was also a light gun...and used VHS players. It's all very weird.

Now they're all black boxes, or tablets with controllers, or mobile phones. Phones, with their ever-expanding capabilities, have been responsible for killing off all sorts of classes of device: cameras, music players, handheld game systems, etc.

I suspect this general loss of experimentation comes with the maturity of the gaming space. The players are established, their moats are deep. Anytime we've had new contestants attempt to breach the space, they always offered something aspirational: cloud streaming or whatever the hell the Amico was supposed to be, to differentiate. Don't fill the moat with dirt - dig your own. Usually they've just dug their own grave.

This space needs scrappy upstarts with terrible ideas. It thrives on WonderSwans - with the TATE mode secondary buttons and the 3DO with... nothing of value. It needs a Casio Loopy to ask the question: what if my video game console was made for little girls who just love stickers? What if we designed our console around being able to be installed in the back of Japanese sedans (thanks Fujitsu)? What if we just released the exact same games on £7.50 carts that our home computers play on 50p cassettes but don't remove the keyboard prompts despite removing the keyboard (Atari XEGS)?

They might be commercial failures, but they stress test ideas that are mostly too stupid for anyone to pursue. Its just sometimes, at least in theory, they aren't.

Sometimes your idea to use CD technology creates the TurboGrafx-CD, sometimes you invent the Philips CD-i. May the sins of Eindhoven be remembered.

It's time. Microsoft is busy immolating their gaming business anyway, so come on - make a Kinect 3. Damn the torpedoes, because your management are the torpedoes!

Now all the weird stuff in tech is... smart glasses. It's more than a bit boring and just a pinch dystopian.

Anyway, this week we kick-off the show looking at deals on eShop that may not still be available! Happy shopping! Greg has some info on the recent updates to Mario Kart World, especially how it now tracks your progress. Jon checked out the latest Everybody's Golf - and it turns out it might not be for him anyway. He also dives back into the coffee-fueled world of Raiden NOVA. Guillaume played through Kirby (many other words go here) Star-Crossed World DLC and finished Pepper Grinder. He also documents the struggle of finding an official Switch 2 case.

After a break, we dive into Listener Mail. This week we document some memorable credit sequences, defend my honor, and figure out Kirby's weaknesses. Send emails.

• (00:08:16) New Business - eShop deals!
• (00:14:33) Mario Kart World update.
• (00:30:28) Everybody's Golf Hot Shots. Raiden NOVA.
• (00:48:24) Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World.
• (00:55:31) Pepper Grinder update. PowerA case and screen protector.
• (01:04:30) Listener Mail - Memorable credits.
• (01:31:35) James Jones, fake Virtual Boy fan?
• (01:57:27) Can anyone put a stop to Kirby's reign of terror?