Ep. 373 - Switch Boy Advance

Ep. 373 - Switch Boy Advance

Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield assemble to cover the Switch 2, video game console Marxism, and the shocking return of our most controversial segment. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

SHOW NOTES:

1: merritt k asks, which 90s platformer mascots do you think will never get a cash-in nostalgia-baiting revival? (03:31)

2: How bout that Switch 2? (09:37)

3: What are the characteristics of a Nintendo video game? (16:55)

4: Improv Zone - MMO Raid (22:48)

5: BluntForceMama asks, what is the optimal point in a game’s life cycle (ie, how long after release) to play it? (28:17)

6: Which video game fandom has the highest barrier of entry? (34:10)

7: What’s the ratio of great 2D games to great 3D games? (37:29)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Quester’s Fest (41:00)

Recommendations and Outro (44:12):

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

7 Likes

I like the tidbit about the van rental guy. Does he wanna buy my van
van boy advance

5 Likes

The milk crate point is the ideal point. This is the point where you find the game at a yard sale under a folding table inside a milk crate full of Power Rangers figures - or at a flea market that has posted up outside a town festival, located inside a milk crate in the back of a sketchy white van, the milk crate being otherwise full of music CD jewel cases that are all missing the front inserts.

11 Likes

I really liked replaying through Dead Space 2 because the weapons were real fun, and this was when allowing ppl to listen to their music on their PS3 whilst playing a game was a game specific feature. I replayed the game one afternoon with Group_inou’s "_ "(underbar) on repeat. When I think about the game, I cannot detach the memory of playing the game from this album. It has become its score for me lol

2 Likes

I was thinking Mario could be like a Kirby who got stuck since be gets powers from leaves and flowers, but that applies to all other Mushroom Kingdom creatures like Toads too.

1 Like

Which gaming laptop would Frank recommend grandma and grandpa buy? My budget is $349. Needs to include a controller.

4 Likes

Games whose fandoms have a high barrier of entry:

It can be a little intimidating to get into Classic Doom nowadays, because there’s 32 years of history and development there and a lot of people that are involved in that scene now have been involved with it ever since its inception. I still think it’s worth doing because people are still making banger Doom maps and there’s also 32 years worth of backlog to try.

In addition, I guess the System Erasure (ZeroRanger & Void Stranger) fandom. Void Stranger is such a life-changing, beautiful game, but it’s best to experience it unspoiled, so fans just wind up evangelizing it in the abstract and clamming up on the details. The barrier to entry for new fans is just taking a dive on this weird little game with no foreknowledge just based on the wild-eyed ravings of their friends. (I know because I’ve been the wild-eyed raver many times. (Please play Void Stranger.))

6 Likes

Great start to the day, very cool episode.

I was going to get upset after the return of British Bashing until the very moving tribute to David Lynch at the end and sharing a great description of him as someone who is themselves and created things which are uniquely his style. Not many people can have a name as an adjective, he did.

Very Insert Credtian

6 Likes

As Frank said, if you want a better Switch with more (and cheaper games), join us in Deck Land.

4 Likes

Is the $399 Steam Deck a real thing worth owning or is the deck not worth it unless you’re getting the high end? The thing that holds me back from a deck is that I really don’t want to spend $700.

1 Like

The more expensive models mainly come with OLED and more storage. Which while nice, aren’t huge things to miss out on with the lower priced models. Storage is mad easy to upgrade, and you can even just throw a MicroSD in there. And the screen really doesn’t matter if you plan on playing docked.

The newer OLED models are a bit upgraded physically and have better battery life. But the battery situation depends on how often you plan on playing newer/more modern/demanding games handheld/unplugged, and how often you plan on playing out in the wild vs at home.

So overall, from a pure ‘ability to play a lot of cool and affordable games’ standpoint, even the cheapest, refurbed Deck is a better deal than any Switch, in my opinion. Unless you really love Nintendo games.

8 Likes

I’m still skeptical that we’re going to see consoles disappear anytime soon, particularly because of the quote-unquote normies that something like the Switch 2 is targeting (and also children). The big advantage that consoles have is simplicity. A dedicated gaming PC is work, work that even as a more entrenched enthusiast I don’t particularly enjoy doing to keep up with the latest releases

Every time I have ever decided to upgrade my PC (a new graphics card, a new processor, what-have-you), it’s been such a stressful hassle that I’ve honestly sworn off the process entirely. The expense of a new PC to play the latest games is often far greater than that of a new generation console, so consoles fill an important part of my gaming habits just because of the financials involved

I think it’s likely we’ll see someone (Valve?) enter the “console” space with a more desktop- / television-oriented version of something like the Steam Deck (or maybe they just eventually take a page from Nintendo’s book and some future iteration of the Deck has a TV dock), but devices like that are probably still going to be primarily aimed at enthusiasts for the foreseeable future. Kids and the general public don’t have the Steam libraries that make devices like that so attractive to many of us

And that’s not even mentioning like, people who only play FIFA (or whatever EA is calling their microtransaction soccer bonanza these days). I would guess that these folks are largely console-only players

Plus, I just don’t see a near-at-all future where Nintendo says, “Sure, play Pokémon on your Steam Box.” So long as Nintendo exists to set the standard for what “video games” is to the mass market (and so long as a significant part of sales are parents / grandparents buying games and consoles for children), we’ll probably have consoles (though it’s probably not controversial to say that consoles as we know them are probably going to be made exclusively by Japanese companies in relatively short order)

4 Likes

Congrats to @adashtra for taking on the Imp Zone like a champ

20 Likes

You can get one on Amazon for about $30, and the deck knows exactly how to interact with it.

2 Likes

I always mute puzzle games. Even Lumines. Playing Mr. Driller on mute as I am listening to this!

5 Likes

I muted Dragon Quest XI (vanilla version) because the game is like 130 hours long and only has 8 songs.

7 Likes

It’s me! I’m the girl yelling about Ristar! He’s my son!

9 Likes

6 : Which video game fandom has the highest barrier of entry? (34:10)

While listening, I said Microsoft Flight Simulator and got a laugh from my wife.

4 Likes

I bought the official one! It’s why I bought a steam deck basically, to play pc games like a console. Granted I haven’t set it up yet because I wanted to change the sdd out, thinking it would be as easy as in a modern console, but being a computer at heart it is of course not easy and requires reinstalling the OS on top of that. Weee

1 Like

Most stressful podcasting moment of my life I’ll tell you that

12 Likes