The Games of Summer Break

Welcome to the dog days of summer! Kick back, cool off, or take a dip in the pool! At the campfire, though, Ryan and James reminisce on some of their favorite summer break games! Ryan is also desperate to enjoy his summer vacation, but must face a daunting Super Mario Sunshine quiz to make it home.

Games Discussed

Donkey Kong Bananza
Final Fantasy VII
Chrono Cross
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Dead Island
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages / Seasons
Golden Sun
Pokemon Crystal 
Donkey Kong 64
Super Mario Sunshine

Special Thanks To

• Cover Art - @Falah
• Logo - @Psyonyx
• Music - Robotic Park by Kyon

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Stay Cozy!!

Transcript

Intro

James 0:00

Hello, hello campers. Welcome in. Surfs up. Next episode of sorry, I'm gonna restart that. Not that I always say next episode, but it's like we're on this episode. Don't say next. I'm keeping the surfs up bit though. Yeah, okay. Well, I'm just gonna redo it. I'm just gonna retake it.

Ryan 0:16

No, this is a cut print.

James 0:31

Hello, hello campers. Surfs up. Welcome to Co-op Campfire. We're happy to have you here today, Ryan. Did you bring your inner tube sunscreen? You got everything you need for the beach today?

Ryan 0:41

Oh my gosh. I got my flippers, I got my jumpsuit, I got my SPF 90 sunscreen because I'm a pale Irish lad. I got my glasses.

James 0:52

We're going surfs up hard, dude. Did you arrive in your Diddy Kong racing hovercraft? You know it. What did you show up with? Oh, I flew in, you know. Oh, okay. I was on a tour the last episode and I kind of picked up some flight skills.

Ryan 1:10

You doing some uh some loop-de-loops, holding L and R to go back?

James 1:14

Letting go just at the right time, just letting off the gas so I get the big zipper boost. Oh, touch face meme here. Trying to be respectful of you at the beach. I don't want to like, you know, gas up your time laying out in the sun or whatever.

Ryan 1:28

James, where's that beach where like an airport, there's like a landing strip right over the beach?

James 1:33

Oh my gosh. Uh shoot.

Ryan 1:35

Do you know what I'm talking about?

James 1:37

Yeah, yeah. Definitely uh a plumber, I think, went there on like a really messed up vacation. Probably went to jail.

Ryan 1:45

That's not what I'm talking about, but that's not what are you talking about? What?

James 1:48

This is a real place. Oh my god, I thought you were literally just trying to lead into the like, oh, Mario Sunshine. Remember when they fly over the tarmac? Let's go.

Ryan 1:57

Let's let's get into it. Let's get into it.

James 1:59

This is so funny. I can't believe I just completely whiffed on that. Ryan tries to do a fun fact. Oh, not at the campfire. There are no fun facts at the campfire. Well,

Donkey Kong Bananza

James 2:11

buddy, how are you doing? Oh, man, James, I've been I've been gaming. You've been gaming? I've been gaming, believe it or not. Real gamer over here.

Ryan 2:20

Tell me what you've been playing. Dude, I've been trying after last time's mode I was in or whatever, I th I think I got over it. I recognized the souls like burnout that was coming, and I was like, hey, you know what? What games do I have that I've almost completed? What do I want to do? Like, what's the genre shift here that I need? So, first off, I was like, you know what? When the Switch 2 came out, I got Donkey Kong Bonanza, and I just didn't finish it. I got so far into it, I was expecting like a nice little Super Mario Odyssey-like journey. And I got that. It was it's a fantastic game. I mean, it deserved to be nominated for Game of the Year. And I got to about the what I thought was like the second to last level, but it was more like the fourth to last level. But it was great. I was like at about 90% completion, and uh I resumed on a level that was kind of like the celebratory like, hey, you're almost done with the game. So here's all the characters you met in this park-like setting. Like, we're just having fun. Here's the different areas you can go to. Like, it was a great theme, and it was a nice way to come back to it and just get my Donkey Kong groove back in, you know, trying to learn. You know, when you come back to a game after a long time, God forbid it's like an RPG with the story or controls or something that you're trying to like get back into. It takes a little bit. I always think about that.

James 3:41

Like, if I ever replay Banjo Tooie, where like you start with your entire moveset from Banjo Kazooie and then they add more. So then it's like trying to remember some of those baselines, just getting the wheels back on, you know, getting the training wheels off, you know, just remembering the moveset and stuff. So I I totally get that.

Ryan 3:58

Yeah, exactly. Like, God forbid you forget how to talent trot, and now you got to remember how to fart out grenades from your butt. Important. Luckily, Donkey Kong Bonanza is just such a well-designed game where it gives you like the simplest moveset, and it just keeps expanding on that. And I've said it before, that's what like makes such a good game is like you have that base foundation, and Donkey Kong certainly has that. So, anyway, got back into it, was just grooving around, having a good time, was back until like when I first bought the game, and it was it was so fun. And the finale for this game is like about as epic as you can imagine.

James 4:37

Heck yeah.

Ryan 4:38

Like Odyssey was crazy. I think Odyssey had more of like a nice lead up to like what you expected would happen, but DK, what actually happens is just like insane.

James 4:49

Like, I don't want to say anything else of fear of spoiling it. As the resident DK fan in this room, I still have yet to play Bonanza, so I you're really selling me on just like I love to hear that it ends in such a satisfying way. I definitely need to get to this game at some point.

Ryan 5:05

You have my copy tomorrow. I will next day ship it to you, dude. It's it's so good. I know you're in DK64 right now, so you're like getting in the mode. That that's gonna be like your warm-up tutorial for Bonanza.

James 5:18

I have a feeling I might enjoy Bonanza a little bit more, but we could talk, we could talk about that uh as we get to it.

Ryan 5:25

But it was it was a great time. It was nice to just wrap it up.

Final Fantasy VII

Ryan 5:29

And then I texted you in our group. I was trying to just be like, hey, hey guys, what game should I play? Because you never recommend me games ever.

James 5:38

Never, Ryan. I I was shocked. I was like, oh, now he needs I'm crawling back here in a genuine moment of like I actually please need something like as a comfort recommendation. Like, I took it upon myself to like dig deep for the answer, but it in the back of my mind there was like a quick second where I'm like, oh, okay, okay.

Ryan 6:04

When I sent that, I was like, all right, we'll just get this over with. Gotta eat it up front, you know? Yep, yep, yep.

James 6:10

Okay, so you had texted us in the group chat. You were looking for something to fill a comfort sort of game. And now we have had our episode on comfort games. Perhaps I should say you were looking for something to like make you feel relaxed playing a game.

Ryan 6:26

Yeah, I think relaxed was more the emphasis and structured. And what I decided on was for the first time, Final Fantasy VII.

James 6:36

I literally could cry. I was uh in tears of joy reading that that was one a genuine poll that you wanted to play after all this time. I get it, man.

Ryan 6:49

It's uh I I finally get the hype. It is fantastic. It's really cool to like get my mind back into I think it was released in like 90s.

James 6:59

Yeah, it was uh it was late 90s. This was the first game they released after six, which was on the Super Nintendo. So this was the new hardware they just went with Sony with the PlayStation, which was much catered to the games they were intending to make.

Ryan 7:14

Dude, in this instance, we are on the good timeline. I think that worked out beautifully. You were saying it's really cool, quotes, to see how the transitions work. I didn't realize what you meant until literally the first scene is like this cutscene level movie, and I was waiting for the like Kingdom Hearts-esque, like, oh, cinematic to gameplay cut. It was like the pixels like shifted just ever so slightly in texture, and then all of a sudden clouds jumping off the train. I can control them, we're in a fight. I was like, oh my god, like what is going on? This looks this is amazing.

James 7:51

It's so cool. They had so much fun implementing those little tricks that just it really brings the immersion up even more to where it's like it just feels like a movie band, and it's so it's so cool to play through those scenes.

Ryan 8:05

Yeah, the pacing has been great. Uh, I got through like the the first generator arc in about 40 minutes, and I was pretty engaged the entire time. I like how it gives you choices of how to approach things. There's there's very much like an A and B kind of and maybe C, I don't know, kind of ways to approach different things. Because there was one funny moment after that where they're like, all right, Cloud, we're gonna meet back on the train. I'll see you there. And don't be a bitch. And he was just like, give me a hard time. Yeah, yeah. And uh there was a part where I was just going through the streets after the event happened at the beginning. Spoiler warning? I I I don't know. It's been 30 years.

James 8:42

It's long enough. We're not we're not even getting I haven't I have confidence we're not getting so deep into the game that we don't even need to have like spoiler tags for this. So this is after the first reactor, and then you're going into mid-guard.

Ryan 8:53

Yeah, I'm going into mid-guard trying to get on this train, and every turn I take, there's like three more guards, and it kept saying like fight these guards or run, and I was like, No, I'll just run. And then I ran, and then it found another guard, and I was like, maybe I'll fight. You know what? It's getting late. I'm just gonna run. And then I got to the bridge, and there's like four pairs of them, and I was just like, No, I'm just gonna run again. And I just circumved like this whole scene that like I got on the train and was like, huh, I guess I could have just gotten them for XP or something, but I'm I'm fine with running. That that worked out great, so it was just like a moment of like awareness of how they set that up. It also came up later as we were trying to get to the second generator in the second mission. It was like a long tunnel that you get dropped into all of a sudden when you have to like jump from the train. And you go forward one screen where it kind of like directs you. There's like a shaft or or like a vent where it's like, oh, if you go down here, we can't go back up. And I was like, okay, well, I want to make sure I explore. So I went back one and then I went back one to another tunnel, and then I went back one to another tunnel, and then I went back one to and it like it just keep going. And I was like, what the when does this end? And I went like eight times and finally found another area, and then it prompted me to be like, Oh, you better turn back. There's some guards over there. And I was like, No, I want to fight them. Like, I just went all this way. Now I want to fight him. I don't want to run from him five times in a row.

James 10:20

Exactly.

Ryan 10:20

I've kept this far. Yeah. It was just so funny. I don't know. That that kind of like decision making it lets you do, like genuine decision making of even if it's like you can pick option A or B. It's fun, like discovering what the decisions are, and like I can already see the replayability of no next time I'll commit to that. I will actually go all the way back. I'll fight those guards. I will do that. Like, I'm already thinking about a second playthrough. Oh, that's awesome, man. I love to hear that. Isn't that insane? This I'm already strapping in for like 40 hours and I'm committing to another 40.

James 10:53

I could not be happier. That truly makes me so filled with joy to see like that. Was something I was a little skeptical of when I first played Seven a couple years back. And like I've been playing Final Fantasies for a long time, and I had not played Seven until about two years ago or so, and I was a little hesitant, like, how could it possibly live up to the hype? Is like one of the most popular and well-recognized RPGs of all time. But like when you when you strap in and you start playing this game, like you get it, man. It's just really really well crafted. The combat is great. I don't know how you feel about the combat system.

Ryan 11:29

I like it, it's engaging enough, and I like the uh the bat the boss battles where you have to like wait for certain timing, or like I think the stingray is like, oh, don't attack when the pincer's up because you'll scorpion attack. Yeah, the scorpion.

James 11:43

That's something they do, they they did all the way back at the beginning when they did Final Fantasy IV. That was something that was like r ingrained right away. Was that that was a system that could, you know, you want to be quick, you want to be ahead of the enemy inputs to try to like minimize your damage and like set up your attacks and spells, but like there's gonna be times where you have to like literally wait in real time for them to like shift mode or do something like that. So love that.

Ryan 12:09

It's such a simple way to engage. Like, that's all I need. I will say one more thing. The music has been another favorite thing, like hearing the old themes like being integrated almost in like a minor chord. It's reminding you it's like a Final Fantasy game. Because I know this was a pretty big jump to be in this weird, like industrial level city, right? For the Final Fantasy series. So it's like nice to have that kind of familiarity still tied, but in a sad way to fit with the current tone of like this crazy city that you're trapped in.

James 12:43

Yeah, it's um it's good to like Final Fantasy has its identity, and that doesn't change depending on the game setting or the characters or the story. Like, it is still a Final Fantasy game, and Nobu Umatsu man, like legendary composer, legendary sound team, all the way up even before through the SNES games and stuff. Like, these games really shine through their music, and that is just one of like just a small piece of the puzzle that is like why these games are so special to me.

Ryan 13:15

It's good stuff, man. Thanks for recommending it. This might be a recurrent segment for the time being as I get into more updates. Cold opens are just are are just RPG catch-up like book club sessions. I was genuinely thinking like, should we start a book club segment? Because there's no way this is gonna be a single cold open. That's amazing.

James 13:35

Summer reads by the fire. Before we move off of Final Fantasy VII, just because I am again am so happy to hear that one, you decided to play it, you're sticking with it, and you're enjoying it. I don't know if you've played enough to really have like a coherent decision on this. Do you have a favorite character so far? Is there any like story moment or thing that has stuck out to you?

Ryan 13:58

I think for as not main character as they are, the side characters in your original gang are really funny and they each have their own personality. For I guess they don't. I was gonna say for how few lines they say, but they're pretty involved and they're pretty identifiable from the couple of missions. And Jesse, the Avalanche crew. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so at the the Avalanche crew are kind of my favorite right now. But I do like Tifa. She's playing the part of the uh childhood friends slash like love interest really well so far.

James 14:29

I uh am a huge Tifa supporter, so you definitely have my thumbs up for there. So Cloud's a dick, by the way. I kind of like that. I kind of like that there is like a little bit of an off balance, you know. Like Tifa is kind of the like supporting friend, and like despite his kind of cold nature, she is always there to like back him up, but also be like, you know, kind of real with everybody else. So yeah. All right. Well, I'm excited to hear I I can't wait to hear more, genuinely. Like, even outside of these sessions, like please text me updates because I just I I freaking love Final Fantasy so much. You know it, bud. What

Chrono Cross

James 15:09

have you been up to? Uh, I definitely want to get into our topic today, but I'll keep it short because I have ha ha ha, RPG book club cold open times. I've still been with Chrono Cross. We're rebranding, it's official. We already we we moved through our Resident Evil podcast phase, which I guess could come back up in October, maybe like during the spooky months. But for now, the RPG podcast. I've still been sticking with Chrono Cross, which again has been a unique experience because I have never really gravitated towards Chrono Trigger ever. Multiple playthroughs just hasn't worked out. So as far as like I don't I don't want to get like too much into it, but it's really fascinating because I I I'm really trying not to like live and die by a guide, you know, but I want to make sure if I don't play this game for a long time afterwards, I don't want to like miss anything. There's a lot of missable stuff in this game, and so not spoiling myself, but like, hey, let's check the checklist. Is there like something I need to do for a recruitable character, or like is there a steel here that's important in a boss fight or something? Whatever. It's a fine balance that must be difficult to navigate without spoiling yourself. One thing that was introduced since the last time I played is not an element that I really like. It's kind of it's a cool concept, but it's hard to really like understand it. So basically, you have your basic attack, you have run, defend are like all of your options in battle, and then anything else is an element, magic, whatever. All equipable, you have a ton of slots to just kind of mix and match, different levels, different tiers of spells, whatever. They have introduced traps to the equation. So a trap is a consumable item that you will drop in a battle, and if an enemy uses that spell, so like if I drop an inferno trap and an enemy uses inferno, I capture it and now it's like a Pokemon. I've collected that spell and I can use it. Oh wow, really cool, right? How the how in the hell do I know what they can cast? So when I'm going into like a boss battle, I have no clue. Like I'm just seeing this really cool enemy, it looks awesome, it looks appropriately boss-like. I have no idea what spells it can use. So either I try to just equip a bunch of these random traps and just hope they cast it, but then it's like I'm wasting actions by doing that, or I need to know ahead of time that they can cast that spell. And it's just like a weird setup process. Like you can run from almost any battle and just retry it. So like I it's just kind of this weird pattern like, should I just look it up so I can like prep myself ahead of time, or like, oh, I'll just fight the boss naturally. I see they use this spell back out, equip the trap, and then come back in and be ready to trap it. Like it's a little weird.

Ryan 18:04

Well, okay, so it's like a thing you have to have ready before you enter the fight.

James 18:08

I can't do it from like I have to equip it in the menu before I go to fight to like set the trap up. It's like, and they do do something where like when they do the tutorial for it, they mention like there's these goofy little like set of dragoons that you fight that are like comedic relief because they're so stupid, but they end up being the tutorial characters for you. They're called like salt and pepper, but that's spelled a little weird. Cute. Like literally dumb and dumber. But they explain the whole concept for you, and they even mention, like, as like a thing you would write down, like, oh, I lost my I'm so sorry, you know. I lost my earthquake spell. There was a giant centipede in this forest. I'm like, I've been there. Okay, cool. So now I can go back and like I'll know to trap that spell because he has that spell now. Anything else, good luck, you know. Like, how would you know? Outside of that, like one line of dialogue, it's just kind of goofy.

Ryan 19:03

How weird that there's like nothing in the game to like telegraph it in a way of like, oh, watch out when you go through those lightning tigers and the planes, and it's like, oh, okay, I'll equip my lightning trap, maybe.

James 19:16

It's just, yeah, you you just really have to. I mean, maybe like the the place that I'm in has been like the lava and volcano area. So like maybe I equip the fire ones, but then again, I still don't know if they're gonna cast that specific spell. But I'm rambling on about just this one little quirk of a game that's kind of been annoying me. But I think what I was leading on, and this is another James Ramble problem, I guess, but um this game has wildly different scenarios. So you were mentioning like already thinking about your Final Fantasy VII replay and very minor decisions. It does give you options, you know, like in certain scenarios where like, oh, am I gonna help out this sit girl or not? That's like a huge branching path, but just seems like a normal dialogue choice. But that has like set me on on like Route B. So there's completely different characters, completely different. Like the guide will even mention, like, oh, if you're on Route B, you don't even go to this area, you go straight here. So it's like completely different gameplay scenarios, and it's just really fascinating. This whole parallel world, different decisions, how things affect in you know, one world to the other. It's been such a very weird tone for a game because it's really goofy at times. Like some of the party members you recruit are just really out there, but it's so heartfelt and it's so like impactful in its tone and setting. Like it's very serious at times and it is very self-reflective. One of my favorite party members has been um his name is Skelly, and he is a skeleton that is wearing he's a skeleton. I know at really mind-blowing stuff, but he's uh he's a clown. So he has like, you know, like a jester hat and like these goofy like pants and stuff and big shoes. Does he look like the hollow night meme of a clown kind of yeah? A little a little less colorful. He's like more monotone, like it's like a pink and kind of red tone, and not like multicolored um rainbow wig or anything. But so his story is you find this like kind of cursed skull on top of a mountain, and it like talks to you. And he jokes he's like, Yeah, you know, like I'm missing the rest of my body, you know. Can you help me find it? And you're like, sure, tag along, buddy. I'll just stuff you in my pocket and we'll go find the rest of you. So you have to find like his legs, his arms, his femur, and stuff. You have to find like all of these parts. You go to a random town, this like bayside town, and I think it's in the parallel world, and this poor old grandma is just sitting at the edge. Like on her rocking chair, and just like, I miss my son so much. He hasn't he went off to the circus, but he hasn't I haven't seen him in years. You know, I just want to make sure that he's okay. It's Skelly. Now Skelly is sentient, he can talk, he can do whatever. And he sort of starts piecing together as you collect more. He's like, Oh, I used to be in the circus. Okay, sure. And then he starts piecing together, like, I really just want to see my grandma. Like, I just want to go back and talk to her. Oh, so when you finally like, so some of the side some of the characters, you literally just walk up and they're just like, Hey, can I join you? Thumbs up, come on, like, welcome in. They do the fanfare, whatever. But Skelly was a process. I had to go like back and forth to worlds. I had to collect all of these different parts of him. I'm getting the story built up as I collect him. And then I finally have him assembled and he's all back together. It's just such a touching moment where like grandma doesn't even phase that he's a skeleton. They just like she's so elated to see him, and they just have a moment. And I'm like, I'm fucking crying over here, man. I'm like, this is so sweet. You know, like I should be feeling like this is just a goober-looking skeleton, you know, a little clown, but it's like such a touching moment. And he's like, Hey, can you like you expect like, hey, I've completed the side quest and now here's my party member? But he's like, come back and find me later. I just need some time. And it's like, oh my god, man. And so um, I've gotten other party members and stuff since then, but it's like that has been such like a memorable side quest for me that like he's been in my party, and like I could make an argument for other party members being better stats or more powerful or whatever, but like that's struck such a chord with me. Like, that was such an impactful side quest that like he's been sticking around in my party for a bit.

Ryan 23:48

Oh, cute, that's awesome, man. I love that. What character development? Well, you'll have to keep us posted on the uh next episode of RPG Book Club.

James 23:59

Oh, I can't wait. This makes me so happy that you're playing RPGs again. All right,

Defining Summer Break Games

James 24:14

bud. Now it's time to hit the beach. I thought it would be a great idea. It's starting to get into the dog days of summer. We are, you know, temperatures are getting hotter, it's just that time of year. And I I've been playing a lot of Donkey Kong 64, and maybe that's a little weird to kind of lean into, but I was thinking like summer break video games. You have no obligation to go to school for a few months, you're thinking about vacation, so you've got time to sleep in, you can play games early before cartoons come on, all that stuff. You know, I'm thinking games that meet a certain tone. When you think summer games, you're thinking of the beach, you're thinking of hitting the waves, just that kind of setting. Maybe games like Wave Race or Super Mario Sunshine, or maybe games that are maybe I don't want to say chore in like a bad way, but are longer to complete, maybe games that are trickier to play while your schedule's packed with school. Yeah, longer time investment. Yeah. So, you know, maybe those are like time for the RPGs, or the game that kind of sparked this idea for me was Donkey Kong 64, and I'll definitely talk about that. You know, some of those collect a thon games. Maybe games you played in the car ride on the way to vacation or on a trip or something. So

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Summer Setting)

James 25:32

I'd love to hear from you, Ryan. What games kind of spoke to you for this topic?

Ryan 25:36

I don't think like the setting really plays a huge factor, except in the stance of like when I think of like level one-one in games where it's like the grass and the blue hills and stuff, that just screams like safe, summary, kind of status quo vibes. And when I mean like when you picture the earth and it's like you see pictures of sunny areas and that those green fields and stuff, that just feels like, oh, this is this is Earth, you know, this is where we live, this is the status quo kind of setting for it. So although I didn't get this game uh in the summer as a kid, uh the Legend of Zelda Wind Waker kept coming out to me. Because that's just like sunny skies, blue seas, like green islands, you're just sailing around. It's just a fun, like the especially in the HD remake. Oh my gosh. The bloom they have in there for the sun is just like it's like this is summer vibes. This is big long adventure I can dedicate weeks and weeks to like exploring multiple islands a day as I go through this grandiose adventure. It's just like that feels like a perfect summer kind of sit-down game, you know?

James 26:49

Yeah, and I I for, you know, it's kind of a unique when you think about games for a specific season or point of time. I think it's really easy to look to your Octobers and you're playing your horror games. Those are the time to get to play the spooky games, to get in the mood, you know. You think about Luigi's Mansion 3 coming out on Halloween. That was something that they leaned into the marketing for. But yeah, I think when you think like summer vibes, you know, I don't always try to like immerse myself at a specific time with those games, but it's kind of fun when it lines up, right? And I think Wind Waker's a great candidate for like of any Zelda game you could pick, that's gonna be a great one to fill that kind of summer energy with, like you said, just I I you can just picture yourself sailing across the Great Sea, and it's just like that's all I need, man. I just go find your island and just go adventure.

Ryan 27:43

I've heard people play exclusively like snow-based games during December. Like SSX or I don't know, maybe like snowy levels of Mario, but like exclusively that blue and white and that like deep, darker kind of themed, like color-wise, I mean. Uh in terms of setting. And like you said, for fall, easy to just lock into the scary games. But if it feels like spring and summer are the harder ones to define. But when you know a game, you know a game.

Dead Island (Summer Setting)

Ryan 28:13

So what's a game that's like for you where the setting was just screams summer?

James 28:18

Yeah, and this one kind of in tandem is like a fun personal poll for me, but also really fits that exact I I I hopefully meeting the prompt. Dead Island. So this was a game that came well perfect. Yeah, so this was uh this was released in September of 2011. So I don't have the like summer break experience of playing this quite literally on summer break, but do you remember the trailer for this, Ryan, when they dropped this?

Ryan 28:48

Um, I remember Dead Island 2's trailer, but I don't remember the first one. What was it?

James 28:54

So that was it was very infamous because it really didn't match the tone of the game when it came out, but it was really impressive. It was shot in reverse. So it was the girl and the family falling out of the hotel and like backing up to like show the start of the zombie apocalypse on this island.

Ryan 29:12

Oh my god, you just like unearthed a primal memory reblock, yeah. Whoa, throwback.

James 29:21

So that reveal trailer was really striking and really kind of set this game to the forefront. And I want to say, like, I had a great time playing this game. I wouldn't say it's like a life-changing experience, it wasn't like a genre like revolutionary game, but man, it just scratched a very particular itch. It was a great co-op game. I remember playing with my buddy in high school, and we would have so many sessions where we would just be a couple sessions we'd have to do co-op online, but it also had split screens, so we were just chilling in the basement and just on the big screen, just playing side by side. It was so fun. This game takes place in like a fictional island resort that is overrun by zombies, and so one of the the most fun things is you have your quest objectives, right? You have your your MSQ stuff that's just sitting in the top corner, like we'll get to it eventually. Maybe a couple pin side quests. But something that was so fun with the setting was just like picking a place to go. You're just wandering around, and then there's an entire hotel. You're thinking about things to raid or like going up to different rooms. There's pools and stuff, there's like a little water park area, supermarkets, like you really feel like you're just like on this island, and it unfortunately is, you know, you're kind of seeing the aftermath of it, but it really feels like lived in. It's a really fun place to explore, and I mean like perfect vibes of just literally the the summer vacation resort of your dreams, but you're also slaying zombies with your friends.

Ryan 31:00

So what a counter to uh cleaning up a more colorful Nintendo themed tropical resort. But here's the rated M version.

James 31:09

It was cool, it was uh kind of Borderlands-ish, like you had your different levels of loot. It was a little more melee focused, which was kind of a cool angle for it to take, so it wasn't just like shooting as much. Uh, I remember um my friend played as Sam B, who was like the rapper tank archetype. And uh they had a really it's like so bad, it's amazing. I think he even has I have the manual right here. I remember the intro to this game starts on like a really crazy rap song that is sung by this rapper, and it's called uh Who Do You Voodoo? Like they really made a point to like make this a real song in the game, and it was fun. Like, you know, he was like the tanky, bulky archetype that could knock people down and charge in. And my character was, I think her name was uh Jean May, and she was like the assassin. So I had low health, but I was like flinging knives and stuff, and I was like the crit archetype, so I was doing a lot of like high damage at range. So it was really fun to just like goof around and just play around in this world and just kind of turn your brain off and just like get lost in the environment and just explore. So that's a game that I really think of when I think of this topic, or just fun co-op playthroughs, or just like that summer feeling in a video game.

Ryan 32:31

Yeah, uh setting slam dunk. Again, like when you think of you when you find the game that fits the summer vibe, it's like very obvious. It just feels hard to think about. But Dead Island is the perfect. Like, were you like in the Caribbean? It's like it was like on its own kind of yeah.

James 32:47

The I think it is like meant to be like a Caribbean island. It it is like a fictional island, so it doesn't have any like real life ties or anything. And I remember that there were different environments that you went through. Like there was like the beach resort, there was like a neighboring city that was more like not as uh commercial, you know, it was a lot of just kind of like run-down houses and stuff that were just, you know, you're kind of in like a shanty town kind of area, and then they had uh, you know, as you unearth the bigger conspiracy of this game, you know, there's like the more military-based kind of aspect that you like end the game with, but you would bounce to these multiple locations throughout the game.

Ryan 33:28

Gotcha. Man, that sounds like a blast. The multiplayer aspect should be included, I think, because like you got more time for friend hangouts in the summer, like, especially if you have a summer birthday, that's just like a perfect, oh, let's just game all night, guys.

James 33:44

I really miss, and it just isn't captured the same way today, having split screen as like a genuine selling feature for a game. I remember throughout high school, so I had 360 was like my main console. Had a Wii, you know, and played some of the Nintendo games and happy to play those, but like the 360 hit special for me. Like, there were definitely plenty of nights where I just hop on Halo 3, Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, and you just jam in a few multiplayer sessions for a couple hours, and like that's it, that's what it was. But that is like, you know, with games like Borderlands or Dead Island, I remember those co-op sessions and having longer sessions, you know, coming over early in the afternoon, we're just gonna play for like four or five hours, order a pizza, and just play as long as we want. It's such a I remember specifically with this game's ending, that is still something that uh my friend and I talk about to this day and how hilariously it ended for us. So, like that just sticks into my mind as like a special, you know, even though the game is like maybe I don't know, it's like fine, it's good. I remember trying to play the follow-up Riptide and even Dead Island 2, and I just nothing scratched that itch quite like that first co-op split screen playthrough that I played with my friend Overbreak.

Ryan 35:02

They hit that stride right away, huh?

James 35:04

It just, you know, like playing single player didn't do it. Uh Riptide, which was like the not quite sequel, but like the follow-up to one. We had we played, they didn't have split screen co-op, it was only online, which was still fine, but we never finished it. It just didn't quite hit the same. Like, I can't explain why. It's just something special about being in the room and just kind of goofing off together. Like that was something really cool about that first game and just figuring it out. Well, what about you, man? Uh, is there any kind of game? You know, you talked about Wind Waker. Was there a game that was like good for travel, maybe a longer time commitment, something that stuck out to you as like a game that really spoke to you in your childhood or growing up?

Ryan 35:47

This is where I was able to nail a few of them. And this was especially back in the day when like AAA games weren't easily accessible on handheld. I remember when the 3DS came out and we were getting like proper 3D rendered, good looking stuff, like having like the Metal Gear Solid remake and stuff. Yeah. I I I think that was like a remake, right? Or it was like a Oh, here we go.

James 36:13

We're gonna pin this episode to the day we die. I'm gonna f I I'm I swear I'm gonna tattoo these definitions on my on my body somewhere just so I can remember them.

Ryan 36:23

But like I I never played that one, but it that one that example just comes to mind because it was that kind of game where if there was something like Star Fox 64 for 3DS, that was so that must have been so cool to like have that on the go. And I was just emulating that recently on a plane ride, and it was like, oh, this is I love this. This is so cool. So like I had to go back to Game Boy color era when you had to have the actual lighting mounts that were like super bulky and the worm light, dude.

James 36:55

Do you remember the worm light?

Ryan 36:57

The worm light was I had a blue one, and then but my favorite lighting thing was like this translucent purple contraption you hook to the top of it, and then it like flips twice. It was like a clamshell kind of thing almost. Yeah, it's like a clamshell with a mirror on one side of it, and then you can like hit a switch on the side to get lights, and that was optimal. What a crazy like we never thought about it.

James 37:20

Like it was just like, oh, this is great, this is perfect for but like put a damn backlight on the console, man. Like they it took them till the SP, like for us at America to like just actually get that. That is crazy. That it's like, oh, we have to do this stupid little looks like a freaking swirly straw, you know, that's just like a worm, worm light that just you're literally taking a flashlight and just putting it on your screen is so stupid. Oh man.

Ryan 37:46

SP was GOAT. That was that was MVP for years and years. Uh but yeah, car trips, plane rides, they became bearable. And they've like having a game to play actually has trained me to a point where I enjoy long rides because of this now. Uh, but

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons / Ages (Travel Games)

Ryan 38:04

Oracle of Seasons and Ages was a good summer game for car rides because my sister would have ages, I had seasons, so we'd both be like concurrently playing through either or and like trading the codes and stuff that you would find as you go throughout the game, and that was great. Uh, I have a funny particular memory of there's a part in seasons where you go to like this alternate world because ages had like the present and the past, so you can like flip between two worlds, but seasons didn't. You you'd have the different seasons, but it had this area called I think Sambrosia, and it was a bunch of these little like green-hooded guys that would they lived in like this lava world, and there was a part where there was like a dancing mini game that you had to do, you had to do it to get like a I remember this, I remember this ex-Yes, yes, I do remember the section now. But I was in the car and I didn't want to like bug everybody with my volume. So I remember training myself, hold like barely turning up the the volume and holding the game up to my ear and like getting through that entire mini-game, and it was like left, right, A, B. Like you had to, it was it was a little more complicated than just hitting like two buttons.

James 39:17

It's not a traditional Zelda puzzle that they usually implement. You know, that it's very rare that they do like audio-based, like timing specific challenges. You know, usually it is kind of like push blocks or switch activation, certain order of operations, but like yeah, that is a pretty unique puzzle for a Zelda game.

Ryan 39:37

But yeah, like I think that fit uh literally summer. You cast your rod and you make it summer, so great summer game. But no, I mean it's it's just like a good like adventure game. And adventure games always scream summary to me. I I don't know. And the time commit was was there, like you could put dozens of hours into seasons and the portability, of course. So I think it it hit all three categories for me.

James 40:02

Perfect. I just kind of wanted to pull from like it was that personal pull for you. Like, I guess were there certain games that maybe you tried or started, but like didn't finish playing, but were like, hey, now that we've got the car ride, now that we've got the like the flight and it's gonna be like eight hours, like now is the good time to kind of knock those out. Oh it sounds like Oracle of Seasons was a good pull for you for that in general.

Ryan 40:27

I don't think I ever really got to that point where I would wait for a car ride. It was just like an opportunity to play games for a long time and to get immersed. Uh,

Golden Sun (Travel Games)

Ryan 40:37

Golden Sun was another one. Yes that I actually I'm pretty sure I actually did buy that during the summer on a car trip. Like my parents were gracious enough. Like, we I don't know why, we just stopped at a Target one night, and I remember looking up at the God, I wish we could teleport back there and just buy all those games now. Uh just looking at all the Game Boy like in-box cartridges and seeing Golden Sun and thinking what I've been saying. Like, I know it was a little abstract earlier talking about the Earth, but it was like it was very much like that. Like, I saw Golden Sun, The Lost Age, and it was like, oh wow, there's like this ship that you can fly around this grandiose land on, and there's these interesting characters that can cast magic. This is cool. Let me pick this up. I didn't know it was the sequel, so I kind of got dropped in, like, what the hell's going on? But I was immediately enamored, and I was playing that the rest of the car ride. That's so cool. It was just an adventure to go on during summer, man.

James 41:38

That is uh, it's I feel like so rarely do games do that anymore, where the sequel is like the second after you have completed the first game, you know, like immediately after. So that is a crazy experience to hop right into the lost stage, which I still have not played. But um You haven't? No, I've played through the original. I love Golden Sun one, and I like I get it, man. When you're talking about like you just want to look at like a world map. I like I think Golden Sun is so underrated as an RPG and just how impressive it was for that Game Boy Advanced console. The music to this day is still so good, the graphics are really impressive, but it just it's such a good world to be in. Like, I get it. I totally get why that stuck to you.

Ryan 42:27

And James, that was an RPG that I committed to. So you know it's a damn good game.

James 42:35

Look into your heart, look into your past self, Ryan, and understand the joy that you experienced playing these games. They're best.

Ryan 42:44

That's how good Golden Sun was. I mean, shit. Damn, now you gotta play. Hey, I have an RPG recommendation for you, by the way.

James 42:51

Here's so here's what I wanted to do, just for like actually crazy technology pull. I wanted to replay Golden Sun on like the Switch Classics or whatever, the NSO service.

Ryan 43:02

Oh, yeah, great addition.

James 43:04

And I want to continue it on my Wii U because I downloaded on my Wii U is just like the most messed up way to play because all I need is a password, right? All you need is like a 96 character password, but yeah, you can time travel back to the Wii U to finish the fight on a game that came out before the Wii U.

Ryan 43:24

Holy crap, dude. That would be insane.

James 43:27

Some Kerto trigger shit. You got you gotta post a screenshot of that when you do that. I will. I will make it an effort to like start this project at some point. I'm actually getting ready to go out of town in a few weeks, and maybe that's when I start up my Golden Sun playthrough to like get the ball rolling.

Ryan 43:45

We're talking about it now, it's happening.

James 43:48

Oh my gosh.

Ryan 43:50

Man, that's fantastic. I mean, aside from that meme, is there genuinely a travel game for you that you're like, I cannot wait to spend eight hours traveling. Traveling and playing.

Pokemon Games (Travel Games)

James 44:01

So travel, I think easy pull is Pokemon. I don't really have like any specific memory. I think that is just like an ideal, like it's good in short spurts if you're just trying to knock out a gem or some like minor objective. If you want to go start catching Pokemon or going on like longer, you know, like it was just easy to turn your brain off and just get lost in a Pokemon game. I remember uh the same friend I had played Dead Island with. Uh, we had gone up, so uh my dad is a big fan of football, and we would travel up uh on occasions for like long weekends to go catch a game while I was in high school while he was a season ticket holder. And I distinctly remember one time my friend brought his Game Boy Color. Now we're in high school, whatever. I mean, it doesn't matter, you can play whatever you want, whenever. But for some reason, like his game of choice for that entire trip was Pokemon Crystal. And I remember him starting a fresh save file with a single to dial and getting as far as he could. Now, the the thing was the battery didn't work. So I think if your battery is shot and you try to save the game, it just it'll tell you, like, oh, the battery's corrupt. You can't like it'll give you an error message. So he basically had like a mini speed run of just like how far can I get with a single toted dial? And just like I remember so distinctly, he's like, This wasn't gonna get saved, this was going to be erased after he turned off the game. But he was like so determined, like, I'm gonna try to beat Pokemon Crystal with just this single toted dial.

Ryan 45:36

Holy crap! Wait, like when did his console battery die then? The Game Boy battery. Did that last the whole drive for him, or did that die before? Yeah. Holy crap.

James 45:47

I don't remember how far he actually got, but it was pretty far. It was farther than you would think. I mean, the trip was like four-ish hours for us, so like he had a decent chunk of time.

Ryan 45:58

That's hilarious. I I relate to that so hard because my first playthrough of Pokemon Blue, I just like Squirtle and Blastoise, and I was like, I don't want to use anybody else. So I literally got to Gary with Blastoise. Now it took like 26 revives to get through the Elite Four. Oh my lord. But I did get to Gary. That's hilarious, though. Oh my gosh. Pokemon is a great one to focus on, and also on the flip side, it's kind of nice to just like if you're if you're just grinding, like you can just kind of turn off your brain, like you said, and look outside and just keep mashing A and maybe just like fighting Pokemon. So you can still be like somewhat engaged with the car trip and your family, but you're still you're still gaming.

James 46:42

As a kid, you know you're in the grinding phase where I'm just trying to get XP, I'm trying to level up Pokemon. It doesn't I can peek in and out, mash A, it doesn't really matter, but you can still talk to your family, look outside, see the sights. That was a good candidate for sure. That was one that just like I I'm sure I had other games that I have played on trips or like remember hold not necessarily holding for trips, but like I was able to finish them on a trip or something.

Donkey Kong 64 ("School is Out" / Game to Grind)

James 47:09

But the game that kind of sparked this whole topic for me is like a summer break game and like the time commitment to playthrough, and like actually was the summer break game for us, uh, was Donkey Kong 64. Holy crap. This is a game that I wouldn't say scratches that setting, right? It's not really you there. You do have DK Island, sure. You know, that's the home world.

Ryan 47:34

The the first jungle jungle jabes, you know, right in a crazy Aztec. That's pretty summary. I think it's summary for a good majority of the levels.

James 47:42

Yeah, but I think for me, what kind of like defines it as like a good game for summer break is that this game is such an enigma to me because on some levels it is incredibly monotonous and frustrating to complete, but I'm having a great time doing it, and it's like fits perfectly for that phase of like school's out. I've got the time to myself, I've got time before cartoons. If I just want to knock out a few golden banana adjectives, you know, just grab a few, it's great. It allows for long enough play sessions to where you can just like really get lost in these big worlds. Like that was something that is really, really great from Rare that like really pioneered that phase of their uh studios were like the worlds that you explored. They felt so distinct, they felt so memorable, they were fun to explore, and they were so vast. But like, man, this game has so many things to do. It is like maybe on like a normal time of the year or like where I'm trying to pepper in other things, it's like stressful, but for some reason, having a big long stretch of time to just buckle down and complete this game felt like the perfect time to do it.

Ryan 48:56

I got you covered, buddy. There are 2,142 obtainable collectibles. My lord. There are, here we go, 201 bananas, golden bananas, 3,500 colored bananas, 700 per Kong, 977 banana coins, 40 blueprints, 40 banana medals, 20 banana fairies, 10 battle crowns, eight Boskies, one Nintendo coin, and one rareware coin.

James 49:26

So this is a common criticism of DK64. Is that number you just said, all of those numbers, is like, what the hell? Like, why would you make anybody do this? Is just crazy. That is absolutely an insane amount of things to do. It is the collect a thon of all collectathons. But it sort of felt like this was like your side quest of the summer was just chipping away at this game. And it didn't feel bad in the context of like, oh, now my free time is open up. I can just play for a couple hours in the morning, grab a few bananas, get a battle crown, do something, whatever. And then, you know, there's nights where it's like, oh, hey, we just got home from dinner and I've got the rest of the night free. Let's just play Donkey Kong 64. Yeah, there's plenty to do. Took so long, man. I mean, there's you go through so much of the same level multiple times, and I had shown you shown you this screenshot the other week. It's just such like parts of this game are really fun. Like, again, I love just exploring and just going around as the different characters. They all have their own unique movesets. The levels are really memorable. But I'm sorry, when I go to a ledge and I have to go to this random, I have to swim up to this ledge with no teleporter and go three separate times because there's an enemy I need to beat as Tiny Kong, a balloon I need to shoot is Lanky Kong, and a music pad I need to play an instrument on with Diddy Kong. It's like, why? Why do this? This is a great ledge. Let's come back here. It is so crazy. Like, I I'm baffled because so many of the objectives are really like when I think of like Mario 64, you remember so many of the objectives you did in that game. You're racing Coop of the Quick, you're doing this the penguin slide, you're going in through the pyramid, you know, uh, you're doing like the log roll and like the fire, like you just remember a lot of these things that required like some decent skill or like challenged you or kind of pushed you in a way. Where Donkey Kong 64, it's like I'm gonna go into a room and I'm gonna headbutt K-O-N-G as Diddy Kong, and there's my banana. Congrats, you did it. Or I'm going to pull a switch as Donkey Kong. Here's my banana. It just feels so kind of like padded that there's so many just random objectives that are like not difficult. The actual things you're doing are not like super engaging, but it feels really satisfying to check the box because there's so many boxes to check. And over a big summer break, you got time.

Ryan 51:54

I guess that was the focus of just let's make this grandiose scoped game, and that is the fun. Cause like I love me a good collect a thon. We both love Banja Kazooie. It it's probably in our top five one of the best favorite games. Yeah. Like, if not number one. I don't know. That might be another discussion. But collect a thons in general, I would say, especially with Spyro, is more comparable here. There is a lot of gems to collect per level, and then there's a good amount of levels, and there's a lot of like, oh, did I check that corner and get those three gems? Like, oh, did I go around this corner and pull that level and get that golden banana? It's sort of equivalent of like the Zen mode, if you will, is like collecting the checklist items and just getting those marked off. That's where like the accomplishment comes from.

James 52:43

Yeah, and you think about the Super Nintendo games, because those are some really difficult platformers, especially as you get later in the game. Some of those levels are ridiculously hard. And there are some challenges in Donkey Kong 64 that are very difficult when you have like I don't know if you remember in the Aztec world, you play as Tiny Kong and there's a slide with a bug. Don't you already know that bastard. It's the worst.

Ryan 53:08

He's even worse with Lanky later on. Get ready for that. Yeah, son of a bitch. Holy.

James 53:14

But that's the thing. That's like two percent of this game. Everything else is like ridiculously easy. It's like I'm literally just gonna walk into a room and do the most mundane combat challenge. Congrats, here's my banana, but I'm still having fun. It's weird.

Ryan 53:28

I don't know. I'll I'll have to replay it sometime and see. Cause this is also granted, I'm sure you grew up with Mario 64, right? Yeah, of course. I didn't. I grew up with Donkey Kong 64. Okay. So I I remember a uh a few more of the like unique ones, like the pain in the ass bug that you mentioned, the get out one scared the shit out of me. You just went through that the other day. And then some later ons uh levels. You know, maybe it was the levels that more stood out. I like all the themes to the levels. I I felt like they were pretty unique, and even though it wasn't like the snowy level, the canyon level, the desert level, it like they just had a little bit more to them than just that like weathery kind of environmental shift to it that the Mario series stereotypically has. Frantic Factory is like the third level of the game.

James 54:23

Such a cool level. You're going up and down, you're going in like the RD room, you're going into like the production room and stuff.

Ryan 54:31

And this like unsettling music that's playing the whole time. Like when you first enter, you're like, what the hell am I getting myself into? That's a that's a great level.

James 54:40

So it it's weird. So it is a platformer, right? It's an N64 3D platformer. I mean, Mario 64 is a pretty special game. It kind of hits every it excels in almost everything it does, right? The levels are really memorable, the music's great, the platforming itself is really kind of intricate and like kind of knocks it out of the park right away. Innovative. Very innovative, you know, the way you control Mario, all that wonderful. Donkey Kong 64, I would say, is not a good platformer in terms of like platforming, but it's a fun, almost like adventure. Like you had said, you know, when you're on DK Island, it is a fun game to just adventure through and just check off boxes. Everybody's got their own moveset, and some things are kind of fun or different. You know, some objectives are a little more unique than others. You do a lot of the same mini-games, just tweaked difficulty. But like the act of just going through the worlds and just kind of getting stuff is kind of fun, you know? It's just weird. It scratches a different itch.

Ryan 55:43

Yeah, exploring the world. I I think you nailed it.

Donkey Kong 64's DK Arcade Challenge Venting Session

James 55:46

And I have one last bone to pick with this game. Go for it. I want to know who on Rare decided it was a good idea to, as a requirement to beat this game. Do you remember this, Ryan? That you have to beat Donkey Kong Arcade on one life.

Ryan 56:01

James, I do remember that because that's where our playthrough ended for multiple years.

James 56:06

Yeah, it's ridiculous. I can't tell you how what I did this last week, and I cannot tell you how angry I was, man. Like, what a nightmare. What a nightmare challenge. I was getting so angry. Like, it's hard enough to just walk into an arcade in 2026 and be like, I'm pretty good at video games. I can be, I can play Pac-Man, I play Galaga, I can play these arcade games. You do not know how hard it is on one freaking life, one life, not even like one quarter, one life to beat the stupid arcade game. Oh my god, dude, it is ridiculous. Beat all four levels of this game. Twice. You have to do it twice. Twice, yeah. You have to do it once for the banana, and then Squawks come down and is like, oh, for two banana coins, you could try for the rare for the Nintendo coin.

Ryan 56:55

That you don't even know what the hell it does in the context of that. You would have no clue.

James 57:00

But you gotta do it, you gotta collect them all. Oh my god, dude. I just I wanted to shout that out because that has to be one of the dumbest fucking challenges of any game you've ever had to do. No argument, cut print. That is the take. 75 meters. So that's stage three. That's the Smash Brothers brawl stage. Literally one of the dumbest levels in any arcade game you'll ever play. I hate it. Fall damage, the way you have to navigate around that level, there's like that little bouncy like girder that like falls down on you, that like little weight. Boop, boop, boop. It shifts randomly different trajectories. So it doesn't have like one set path. It like will shift, and you just have to guess. There were so many times, Ryan. I swear to God, I swear to God. Sorry, I'm trying to we're chilled the we're chilled the campfire. We're chill at the campfire. Fuck this game. But fuck this game. I was literally like pixel, like foot was like at the top of the ladder and it jumped up and hit me. I can't tell you how many times I had to restart the whole freaking thing, and then you start getting into the phase where you're like bad at level one now because you're just angry. You've done level one and two so much that you're like, bro, I could I can clear these without like deathless, like no problem. And then you start getting angry, and then you're now you're dying in level one, and it's like, oh my god, dude.

Ryan 58:19

That's when you're in a state, that's when you have a problem.

James 58:22

You're in the worst flow state imaginable. You're like the opposite of flow state. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, I just wanted to shout out Donkey Kong 64 because again, it was a personal game for me. Like, that was a game that my sister and I played on summer break when we got it. Kind of checked the box for me, kind of inspired me to make this topic. But to

Honorable Mentions

James 58:44

kind of wrap it up, were there any other games that maybe we missed or that you wanted to shout out that are kind of like popular, you know, talked about? Any games that stood out for this category?

Ryan 58:54

I have a couple personal ones and then some popular ones that we were finding. Two quick shout-outs. Pikmin, this is more in the setting category again, of like, I'm not gonna play it because it's summer, but it sure has like very summer pretty vibes. Every level in Pikmin one is just like beautiful. I would say even the swamp is kind of like charming in its own unique way. But when you get to the fourth level, gosh, what is it? Distance spring, where it's just like all the water and Nintendo makes some damn good water, but man. It's oh those levels are always fun. And then Psychonauts. You're at summer camp. It can't be much more summery than that, uh, setting-wise. So some popular ones from the internet, a short hike kept coming up, and the more I thought about it, the more that tracks. You play as like this little bird, and it's literally you just climb up a mountain. But you can't easily climb up the mountain because you need like little feathers and you need to learn how to flap your wings a lot and like climb the mountain. It's not like a walk in the park kind of game, like there's an objective, but there is a lot of walking around this mountain and just discovering. You know, maybe that's the theme of this whole episode is just like discovery of summer. Like the world is in a state where it's just open to be traveled. The weather's on your side, there's adventure out there.

James 1:00:20

You're going on your own adventures with your family, you're traveling, you're seeing your own part of the world, you know, you're taking your own personal adventure, and that's like kind of a good space for games that you adventure and explore and just do that.

Ryan 1:00:35

Yeah. And a short hike is very much about that. It's so cute and charming. I would recommend that to anybody. How about you? What other popular games did you see?

James 1:00:44

There was one that I kind of wanted to shout out, and this was I I almost forgot about this. So Pokemon Sun and Moon specifically. That makes sense. Perfect for the setting. I mean, it's literally inspired by Hawaii. Everybody has their greeting. Olola. I don't know if you remember them doing that. Yep. Uh, do you remember this? Also, it was like, I remember this was like the combo pack. So this released a week before Moana won.

Ryan 1:01:07

Oh, did it? Yeah.

James 1:01:09

Oh wow. I remember that was like a popular, like, uh it's like, oh bro, I'm gonna bring Pokemon into Moana. And I'm like, oh, I'm yeah, literally a week before. It's crazy timing. What a weird combo, but honestly, that makes sense. A very specific of like both themes intersecting at like the perfect point. I never did go see, I still to this day have not actually seen Moana at all. No kidding. First one's great. I haven't seen Moana anything, but I did remember joking about doing that where I'm like, oh, I'm gonna be in the movie theater with my copy of Pokemon Sun. The most Nintendo Disney crossover we'll ever get.

Super Mario Sunshine

James 1:01:46

And I think it would be a shame for us not to mention Super Mario Sunshine. Like, how could we not activate the thumbnail for this episode, man?

Ryan 1:01:56

I remember I got that in Christmas, but the that was a warm Christmas. We were in Wisconsin. It was a balmy 84 degrees on Delfino Isle just every night. Christmas in July, man, or whatever, you know. It was Christmas and Christmas, but it felt like July. Sure. Dude, what what are your fond memories with Sunshine?

James 1:02:18

It's hard because I do think there are there's a lot of criticisms with Sunshine, especially nowadays. And I kind of have to agree with a lot of them that this game, structure-wise, is kind of a step back from 64, where 64 is as free as you want it to be. Get whatever number you want, go to the end. This you have to kind of play through almost everything because that Bowser Jr. level, right, is always on like shine number seven, and you gotta do all of those. But like I remember just running around the hub world loving the Isle Delfino track, and just I love the movement of that game using Flood and just setting up like a slip and slide and just diving into it and just going like it was just so fun to to like jump in this game, which like should be pretty key for a Mario game. But I love the Flood integration and like your mobility. It was just so fun.

Ryan 1:03:14

So Sunshine was my first Mario 3D game, and having Flood was a necessity. The hover nozzle was a godsend, and you really felt it when you went in those levels where Shadow Mario took it away from you, and you were just like you felt naked, and you're just like, How the hell am I gonna get? I have so many less platforms, and now I gotta navigate this. Like, what am I gonna do here?

James 1:03:37

And I love like immediately that they give it to you. Like from battle one, you have the flood. So you know it's kind of the Nintendo thing, right? Like the Metroid, they take away all your stuff, you know, and you have to like live without it. I think that's really cool because Mario's moveset is still just just as fun. But like when you enhance it with like the hover nozzle, the turbo nozzle, the rocket, and all that stuff. There's so many cool ways to like explore these worlds, like getting those power-ups for the first time and just seeing how high you jump with a rock, you're like, oh my god, you know, you're like it's so cool.

Ryan 1:04:12

You're so free. You're you're talking about just walking around Delfino Isle, like turbo nozzle running around. Just running. Yeah, I would do that for hours, dude. Running across the water, you know, doing like the little jet and stuff. Genius. There was like one level where you could only get into it. I think it was like a mini-game. It was like a pipe in Delfino Isle that you had to run into with the turbonozzle, and then you got like this race going on.

James 1:04:37

Yes, yeah, yeah.

Ryan 1:04:38

I would do that repeatedly, even if I got the shine sprite, because it was like the only racy kind of thing you could do with that. Oh, what a good item. It was so fun.

James 1:04:56

Alright,

Who Wants To Be a "Delfino-aire" Quiz

James 1:04:57

bud. Uh, see, I got I got this hat. Hold on. Let me adjust. Well shit, let me join you. Wahoo o'clock. For the listeners at home, I'm rocking uh Ryan and I are both rocking our Mario hats. He just happened to have his on hand. I had this a little more prepared, and I'm sunglasses at night guy because I'm ready for you. Quick side note when you played Dispatch, Ryan, did you uh call Flombe when you were at the night bar? Did you call him sunglasses at night guy? Was that your diss to him, or was it something different?

Ryan 1:05:31

No, I've never heard that.

James 1:05:32

That was one of the three options. So I'm I'm channeling my inner flambe with my sunglasses inside my apartment at nine o'clock.

Ryan 1:05:40

Sunglasses at night.

James 1:05:41

Oh my god.

Ryan 1:05:42

That's awesome.

James 1:05:43

All right. Well, uh, I don't know if you've heard of a little game called uh Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Oh, love it. Let's do it. Yeah, yeah. So you're familiar with the format. Uh Who Wants to be a Delfino heir? I don't know if I should Delfino.

Ryan 1:05:58

Oh, are we going back to Sun?

James 1:06:00

We're going back to Sunshine, baby. We are going to do a little bit of a game here inspired by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with the topic. All questions are related to the game Super Mario Sunshine. Ryan, I'd like to run through some rules to keep this podcast to a reasonable length and not have you answer literally 25 questions for the next three hours. I just gave you like eight questions today. Before you can enjoy your summer break, before school's out, you know, you got to take that final exam. This is that final exam. So in order to pass the final exam, you must get the first three questions correct. Oh my god. You think you can do that? I hope to God, yeah. Let's do it. So at question three, let's say you get four or five, you get six wrong. I'll still consider it a pass because you got to the checkpoint. You got to three. That's your minimum point allowance, right? Is three if you get there. Okay. You can back out at any time if you think you would like to maintain your score because if you get it wrong, you'll jump down to three, or maybe you'll fail at question two and you don't get to go home the summer break. You failed. There's no return flight from Isle Delfino. I'm just there cleaning it up. I gotta get that cleared with the judge, but you gotta get the you gotta get the first three questions correct.

Ryan 1:07:22

I'll be hearing all my the rest of my vacation.

James 1:07:28

Yeah, and you know, obviously we would love to go for glory and get that sweet, sweet Nintendo high score at eight questions correct, but that's up to you to see if you can get there. Let's just try to get back home. Okay, yeah. It's your return flight. So you will get two lifelines today. Instead of three good old 50-50, I will eliminate two incorrect responses for you and what I like to call 60 seconds with Dr. Google. You have 60 seconds to utilize whatever you find on the internet. It does not matter. You have 60 seconds for that lifeline to utilize whatever resource you want. Sure. These are both single use. Once they are used, they are gone. You can use both for one question if you want, or you can use them separate or never. All right, let's do it.

Quiz Start

James 1:08:15

Do you feel ready, Ryan? Are you ready to escape Isle Delfino and enjoy your vacation?

Ryan 1:08:19

I'm ready to relax on Serena Beach after I get out of my purgatory.

James 1:08:25

Okay, all right. Well, purgatory starts with question one here, Ryan. How many shine sprites can you collect in the game? Is it A64, B 100, C 120, or is it D 128? C 120, final answer. Whoa, very confident there. Could you what if you're wrong on question one? I'm not. You're sweating? You're correct. It is C.

Ryan 1:08:52

It is 120 shine sprites. Let's go. I know because I've never done that, and I've seen that coveted number so many times. Alright. Round of question two here.

James 1:09:03

Gooper Blooper is the boss of what world? Is that A, Rico Harbor? B, Bianco Hills, C, Serena Beach, or D Nokie Bay.

Ryan 1:09:18

Well, this is a trick question. A is Rico Harbor and D is uh Nico Bay?

James 1:09:27

Is Nokia Bay, yes. Nokia Bay. I guess if it it for the spirit of the question, if I had to revise it, is first appeared in what world?

Ryan 1:09:36

Okay, A. Rico Harbor, final answer. That is correct.

James 1:09:40

You're so you're so nice giving me two answers that are right. That is how I approach the question. So it's only fair that I update it live. For our campers, the other answer would be D. You know, like sometimes in Jeopardy, they got to consult the council real quick, you know, in between break. It's like that out, you know, that was the the spirit of the question. So you only need one more right, Ryan, to uh meet the meet the checkpoint. Feeling pretty good? Feeling great. I got two lifelines. Let's go. All right. Question number three, Ryan. Mario has a new accessory for mobility and combat in this game, the flood. What does that stand for again? Is it A fluid launching universal drenching design? B flash liquidizer ultra dowsing device, C, flooding light powered, unique dripping device, or D, flowing liquid ultra dowsing dispenser.

Ryan 1:10:39

I'm feeling good about B, because I'm pretty sure it ends with device. That feels Nintendo accessibility, if you will, of like, I don't know, dispenser seems too complicated. This I mean your flight home depends on this question, Ryan. I know. I'm confident, but I'm nervous. Ultra dousing. Okay, you know what? I'm gonna lock in B. Flash liquidizer ultra dousing device. Final answer? Don't don't do that to me. Final answer? I got I got you lock it in. Dripping. Yeah, lock it in, B.

James 1:11:20

You are correct. Oh my god. Congrats, Ryan. You've earned your flight home.

Ryan 1:11:25

Yay. Now I have to pay $300 for the return flight.

James 1:11:30

300 blue coins. Moving on to question four. In Delfino Plaza, there's a shine sprite that can be acquired by using the rocket nozzle underneath a bridge that leads to a challenge based on what game is that A, pinball, B, baseball, C, pachinko, or D, skee ball.

Ryan 1:11:54

Three pachinko. Final answer. You got it.

James 1:11:58

I know that would be that was an easy one once he once he read it out. I maybe sweating a little bit at the beginning, but you know, you know that one. That's an infamous one. I did forget it was there.

Ryan 1:12:07

I thought it was um actually more on the cliff side of like the palm trees. It's underneath like a bridge that kind of circles around. Right, right. Good stuff. Man, what a hellish level. The physics are just non-existent in that level. My god, the physics in that level are so whack. It's so bad. I actually heard a fun fact, uh, development fact. That's where they put the alpha code for Super Mario Galaxy's gravity. Uh they just tossed it in there. That's so funny. And they forgot to take it out.

James 1:12:39

So that's why, yeah. Welcome to the Pachinko Galaxy. All right, Ryan. We're up to question five. Feeling pretty good. You got both lifelines. There's only a few questions left. You might walk away 100% clear right here. Dude, I'm not sunburned at all.

Ryan 1:12:57

We're having a good time.

James 1:12:58

Well, you had mentioned Serena Beach earlier. So King Boo is fought in the casino of Hotel Delfino on the sands of Serena Beach. When fighting him, you must spin a slot machine for specific outcomes. Which of the following images is not one of the results on the slot machine? Is it A, fruit, B coins, C, Boo, or D, a question mark.

Ryan 1:13:28

Ooh man. Well, fruit is definitely there for sure. Uh I mean boo is there because that's what you have to No, wait, where you fight the boo. Wait, you spin a slot machine for specific outcomes. Oh shoot. I'm thinking of the panels. I'm not remembering the slot machine. It I mean the coins would have to be there for being on a slot machine. And then you'd have the fruit. But why would boo be there? But then maybe boo's there for because it's like you gotta get booed to Ah, I don't know. I think I'm gonna have to cash in my 50-50. Oh, we're cashing in the 50-50. Okay, okay. Ah, okay. Not question mark. Not fruit! Oh wait, no, that makes sense. Okay, yeah, fruit was there. Okay, so it is either not coins or not a boo. Well, I think the boo is like hidden. They're never used as like like a thing you would actually see on these games. I don't know. Yeah, I think I'll lock in boo. Three. Final answer.

James 1:14:33

Ooh, this could be it, Ryan. Are you sure? Final answer?

Ryan 1:14:36

Final answer.

James 1:14:38

You are correct. Boo is not on one of the slots. Ooh. There's actually two question marks on the slot machine. There's standard question mark, and then there's like it's like a shy guy almost with like a question mark. There's like two bad spins. I wanted to see if that would be like a bait. Oh, maybe the boo because you're fighting boo is like one of the bad ones. You don't want it, you want to hit or something.

Ryan 1:14:59

Oh, I see what you're putting down. Okay. You know what actually saved me is that I I kept thinking of the panel spinning mini game because I cannot visualize that slot machine for the life of me.

James 1:15:10

And that is separate. Yeah, because you have to spin the slot machine, and then you're you're correct. You get the fruit that you have to throw into his mouth. You have to like throw the pepper. That's how you beat King Boo.

Ryan 1:15:22

So you have to get the fucking God. I'm so bad at listening. I wasn't even aware it was. I no, I was not even visualizing the fight at all. I thought this was like a slot machine to get into the fight for some reason. When fighting it. Oh my god.

James 1:15:37

Wow. Hey, hey, you got there, and that's all that matters. Sometimes you just gotta throw some shots in the dark and you just get there.

Ryan 1:15:42

So sometimes you just gotta stumble bass acquires into the answer. Oh my lord. What an idiot I am.

James 1:15:48

Okay, all right. Well, on to question six. Yoshi has a fruit adventure, one of the game's most punishing shine sprite challenges. In what level? Is it A, Rico Harbor? B Gelato Beach, C, Pinna Park, or D, Corona Mountain.

Ryan 1:16:08

You can't get Yoshi and Corona Mountain, so that's out. Oh, the fruit advent wait, no, that's the carousel adventure I'm thinking of. I thought you were gonna say the uh the one where you have to get Yoshi all the way across in Delfino Isle to that island that takes like two boat rides and a ton of time. Fruit adventure though. Um there yeah, there shoot, there is a Yoshi thing where you have to be like Do you have to have a certain fruit? I can't remember. Crap. I might have to use my second one if I can't think of this. Rico Harbor, it's it's kind of the objective. The game's most punishing shine sprite challenges.

James 1:16:48

Yeah, and for for context, this is like the name of an objective. The name of one of the shine sprites you would collect in a level. And I'm asking for what level that challenge is located in.

Ryan 1:16:59

Yeah, I remember it's Yoshi's Fruit Adventure, is the name of it. There's one mission where you need a specific fruit, and this is killing me. I think it's Penna Park because you need to get him. There's something that indicates like what kind of fruit he needs, and you need to like run around the park. No, it might be Rico Harbor. Oh, I think it's Rico Harbor. Yes, oh my god, yeah, I think it's Rico Harbor because they're like, Oh, you need this fruit? Oh, sorry, we're just out. Yeah, final answer, Rico Harbor.

James 1:17:30

That was a good pull, Ryan, because you were correct. It is Rico Harbor. It's the eighth shine sprite. Do you remember what the fruit is? It's a Duran. Yes, it is.

Ryan 1:17:40

Yeah, you gotta kick it to him.

James 1:17:42

And that's one of the ones where, given where the shine sprite is, if you fall, Yoshi is completely dissolved. So you have to go all the way back around and restart it. And you have to be like very specific with getting the platforms and riding it along the way. It's really annoying. And it's like level two. What a cruel fate. Poor Yoshi. He is a pretty rough that game, but uh, that was a great pull from the brain. That was a good uh that was a good recovery. Thank you, thank you. Two questions left, and you still have your Dr. Google lifeline, so we'll see how that helps you if it does. Question seven. At the end of the game, which character ends up with Professor E. Gad's magic paintbrush? Is it A, Mario, B, Bowser Jr. C, E Gad, or D il Pantissimo? D il Pantissimo, final answer. I couldn't remember if you like that stuck out to you, but that is such a weird pull. You are correct, you are correct.

Ryan 1:18:39

Great question. That's like an after-credit scene question.

James 1:18:43

Gotta you gotta stick all the way through.

Ryan 1:18:45

Yeah, he's just like, what the heck is this?

James 1:18:47

What a troll ending to like leave as a cliffhanger, like the most random NPC ever to just like wield the power of a god.

Ryan 1:18:56

It's gonna be in the third Super Mario Bros. movie. Oh gosh. Did you like his model too? How he had like that pointy goatee, and he's just like this regular ass human underneath this mask. It was really great for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

James 1:19:09

All right, Ryan. You're going for glory because you've secured your flight home. This is the last question. Who is the voice actress for Bowser Jr.? Is it Jen Taylor, Dolores Rogers, Kit Harris, or Katie Sagoyan?

Ryan 1:19:28

Holy you're blowing my mind. I did not even know it was a voice actress. That's gonna be a hard use my second lifeline.

James 1:19:36

Alright, when I hear a keyboard clack, I will start the timer. You have 60 seconds, and I will yell stop if you go over. Alright. Timer starts now.

Ryan 1:19:48

Sunshine Bowser Jr. voice. Uh I'd like to lock in. Dolores Rogers, please. Final answer.

James 1:19:59

You still have a lot of time left. You are looking at the AI response. Does that change your opinion? Do you have any second guesses? That's true.

Ryan 1:20:08

Hold on. I'm going to IMDB. Oh, first, first, wow, first hit is Super Mario Sunshine. 8.1 stars out of 10 from a video game, Bowser Jr. Yep. I will lock her in, Dolores Frog.

James 1:20:25

Congratulations, Ryan. You're an Isle Delfino legend. You have completed Who Wants to Be a Delfino heir?

Ryan 1:20:36

Let's go.

James 1:20:38

So all of those actresses are in that. Well, so okay. The first three are in Super Mario Sunshine. Jen Taylor is Peach, as she always is. Dolores Rogers was the early voice for Bowser Jr. and kind of that GameCube era early game. Kit Harris voices the um the Nokis and some of the like random little villagers and stuff. Um I think she voices Flood as well. I could be wrong on that. But Katie Sagoyan is actually the current voice actress for Bowser Jr. and everything. How cute. I wasn't sure if that like even rang a bell or anything, but that was uh that was it. What a fun last question to end on. I love that. I wanted it to be a little hard. I was hoping you would have used your lifeline earlier just so you would have to go in blind for that one and try to even try to work it out.

Ryan 1:21:30

I'm so glad I worked out Rico Harbor on that one.

James 1:21:32

Would you have even had any clue to like guess on any of these actresses?

Ryan 1:21:37

No, I'm not I'm not that knowledgeable. You can only remember like 50 names at a time. Do you know that? Yeah, well, that's so fun. I I have one more question for you.

James 1:21:48

Yeah.

Ryan 1:21:49

Who voices the sunshine flowers? The sunshine flowers? The sunflowers outside of uh Pinna Park. Pinna Park. Yeah, when you plant them, they go. Why would I know this? I just I was Dr. Google for this whole quiz. I'm just curious. I love that. That's my favorite. Oh, you're asking me.

James 1:22:09

I did ingenually. Okay, I thought you were doing like the trivia. I was like, okay, I was like, I don't know.

Ryan 1:22:16

Uto reverse card trivia.

James 1:22:18

Yeah, okay, Mr. Quizmaster. Let's see how you do. Okay.

Ryan 1:22:23

Yeah, they're like whoop-whoop-whoop-bada. They're so cute.

James 1:22:36

All right,

Fan Mail

James 1:22:37

Ryan. Right off the right off the heels of your big win. Feeling great. You got your flight home for vacation. We are gonna hop into some fan mail on the return flight home. How's that sound?

Ryan 1:22:47

I can use some nice reading to end this vacation. That was that was pretty cozy. Loved it.

James 1:22:53

Okay, so we got uh some fan mail to read, and from one of our listeners was really excited to talk about the state of gaming in 2027 beyond kind of summer games fest, reacting to the direct, talking about how it feels like we're coming out of a gaming slump that we've had the last few years. Kind of like how 2017 had a lot of banger video games. 2027 is gonna have a lot of very good bangers too. Personally would want to hear your thoughts on how you guys feel about the new entries, remake versus remaster debate sequels, etc. It's something I think is more relevant considering the last few years we've gotten a lot of remakes and remasters, but next year it looks like they're going for more sequels and new entries.

Ryan 1:23:40

Hmm. So essentially remakes, remasters, releasing those versus actually getting like new content in the form of sequels and new entries. Not necessarily new IPs, but like just more of what we're familiar with.

James 1:23:55

Yeah, so we have, you know, uh I guess to kind of contrast a couple different games here. We we talked about Ocarine of Time getting its big remake, I assume. They didn't really formally announce. I think I we joked about how Nintendo introduced like a fifth term for it. I don't remember what it was in the trailer. So you have the Ocarine of Time presumed remake, and then you have the Final Fantasy VII Part 3 is continuing on like its next series of games. Even the new Final Fantasy resonance game is like rather than doing an HD 2D of an existing game, that is just a brand new Final Fantasy game. So are you excited for like a remake state of a game? Like, or are you happy with the Ocarina of Time announcement with what little we've seen so far, or would you have preferred it to be a more unique Zelda title?

Ryan 1:24:46

I'm all for the remakes. It's gotta they have to be selective with what they pick. I think they're being smart so far with uh Nintendo that is of picking like Star Fox and Zelda and like for sure bangers to experiment with and to see like how the reception is. They've confirmed at least like Star Fox and Zelda are going to be like the remake kind of experiments to test the waters.

James 1:25:11

I'm all on team Star Fox, by the way, like not just for my own bias of that game and like the original Super Nintendo game to the 64, you know, reimagining, but I think that that's a perfect way to make it accessible, right? Like, first of all, there's a lot of ways you can actually play Star Fox 64, and I think the accessibility is something that's really key for having a remake. If you want to play Star Fox 64, you have it on Nintendo 64. You can play that version on the Nintendo Switch online, but also now there's a brand new remake if you have a Switch 2. That is going to be a new way to experience it while still keeping the format of the original game, but it's adding some new things to look forward to. It is still a new experience, even though it is coming with a fresh coat of paint. You know, it's introducing cutscenes, it's introducing new ways to experience co-op, the multiplayer mode. So even though it is Star Fox 64 again, it's a new experience.

Ryan 1:26:14

That's a great point, accessibility-wise, too. It's reassuring that like for the Final Fantasy remakes, you can get Final Fantasy VII on Steam, on Nintendo Switch, like all of those are very easy and affordable. But if you want the latest model with all the bells and whistles, like we have this fresh new remake trilogy waiting for you. But like, you know, it's based off of a really fantastic foundational experience anyway. So you it's just a win-win of like what's gonna get you into the IP, the old one or the brand new hotness. Either way, you can't lose.

James 1:26:52

The best remakes don't replace the original. Uh there's a space that you should be able first, the original game should be accessible in some way. Uh maybe not the perfect candidate, but Resident Evil 2 remake is an excellent game. It reimagines and it really reworks that original game with the modern third-person controls and kind of accessibility options for difficulty, but you can still play Resident Evil 2 original, and it is a completely different experience telling the same story, pretty much, but you know, it's a different way to experience it. It's classic, it's still really good.

Ryan 1:27:30

Absolutely. And what about the argument for sequels?

James 1:27:34

Yeah, I mean, it's always there were some really dream pulls, and I think that to kind of bounce back to this camper's first point, the state of 2027 having a lot to look forward to. I'm not trying to dog on any specific games or any individual developers, but like we've come a long way from like multiplayer shooters being like the highlight of a summer games fest or games award. thing, you know, to be like, these are some dream games that are getting announced, like a new Spyro game. The reignited trilogy sold so well. You know, it was a wonderful return to form. And then it just kind of sat there. They didn't do anything new with it. You know, it just kind of came and went. And I there are plenty of other spyro games like a hero's tale or some of the later games that like Elijah Wood was the voice actor. I I wish I could remember those titles off the top of my head. Oh my gosh. I'm happy that there is rather than remastering or remaking those games, we are just doing a brand new honest to goodness spire game in 2027. That's crazy.

Ryan 1:28:42

You know it's it seems like there's an ebb and flow. Like there's a purpose for remakes to come at a certain time and then there's a purpose for sequels to come at a certain time. The end goal is that like obviously we want more new fresh entries but it is sometimes good to just be like hey you know what I really enjoyed Ocarina Time when I was a kid. It's a fantastic game. It still holds up great today but you know maybe it would be cool if they like re-explored that world because we all love it. We all want more of it. Hell you know what better example there is a argument from one of my friends and just amongst the community from what I hear that people honest to God they didn't want to remake. They just wanted a honest to goodness Final Fantasy 7 remaster. Leave the core experience as is and just bring it up to date you know so like people do want to revisit these games to some extent and there is a market for this kind of remake to rebuild the hype and then a sequel to deliver a new experience that you're going to love.

James 1:29:42

Absolutely I do think that the Ocarine of Time remake is going to be a more valuable experience than just this specific point. But like in between my next big Zelda game which probably sadly is not going to come out for like at least three or four more years like I'm just trying to be realistic with like time frame and stuff for like the next big open world new Zelda game I would gladly take an in-between project. You know if they have a different team or if they have you know resources and availability to work on a Zelda game I can play now. Yeah. And if it's an like if it's a remake or like a remix of an experience I've already had, I'll take it. And then that'll get me through until the next one comes out. So I think that's valuable there too. Dude and this remake has to do good so we can get to the Majora's mask remake. I would cry I would literally that is that is that is an announcement I would literally be sobbing to watch. I'll be right there with you buddy.

Ryan 1:30:44

All right Ryan was there uh any other fan mail that you wanted to shout out while we're here I'll read this one this fan mail comes from a camper dad who writes this Father's day my boys and I finished our ongoing playthrough of Paper Mario Thousand Year Door. Wahoo the boys are still too young to do much of the reading so I treated it like story time and did unique voices for all the characters. They really super engaged with the story and gameplay. How cute love that one of the highlights was busting out with Cortez's ship to fight off the exnauts at Keelhall Key. Oh that's a that man that's a great chapter. That's like a Pirate Cove kind of chapter. Lots of good stuff happens there campers. Uh had a priceless moment where we discovered how completely broken the Yoshi buddy is if you use the star power that adds plus four bonus attack slash defense and then spam his stampede attack. What a combo. Wow okay oh and he gets more mathematical here Stampede is six hits of two damage plus four from power lift star power is 24 damage to everything on or near the ground so a couple of badges bumps that up to 36 or more depending on how crazy you want to get oh that's broken.

James 1:32:04

So I want to jump in on this that is one of my favorite things of an RPG is kind of breaking the game where I don't think that's like necessarily not intentional. And I you know you're still playing your very early in Final Fantasy 7. There is usually some aspect to the combat to the gameplay that sort of just cracks it open you're going to find some combination you're going to find some setup that is just absolutely insane. You're going to be seeing ridiculous damage numbers you're going to be seeing battles be cleared quicker than you could possibly imagine. And I think that's fun to like solve that puzzle. The pieces are all there. The way you can customize your loadout your party it's all there and it's very flexible if you want to play a specific way or you're trying to go for a certain type of class setup or like in Mario if you like a certain party member that you kind of want to just stick through most of the game with when you find that sweet spot of like oh we're going you know it's really satisfying to find and you know it doesn't work on everything. You know there's going to be some bosses or setups that doesn't work with but for everything else it's really cool to find that stuff. So that I I never found that in my original playthrough. That's really impressive especially to list out the damage like that. That's really crazy.

Ryan 1:33:23

Me neither what a sleep on Yoshi gosh. I I mean I always liked him as like a little character but playing paper Mario was mainly like oh I like this companion so I'll just keep playing as them not like I'm gonna optimize them to be a killing machine. DPS machine Yoshi great memory too I I love the uh the detail where he's he treats it like story time.

James 1:33:48

So cute.

Ryan 1:33:49

What a dream scenario of like I get to play such a fantastic game with my boys that love this game too.

James 1:33:55

They love just like watching it's speaking a different language right because like the reading comprehension isn't quite there just for how young they are but like they're still engaging with the experience and this camper making it their own by like adding in their own unique voices and flair to the game is just I love that so much.

Ryan 1:34:14

Fantastic happy Father's day camper that thank you for sharing that story.

James 1:34:18

Love it all right

Outro

James 1:34:29

Ryan well I had such a blast uh I really honestly just want to grab a smoothie and grab my inner tube and just hit the lazy river but had a great time talking summer games and taking a trip to Isle Delfino with you. It's been such a fun time as always.

Ryan 1:34:44

Oh well thanks for the trip and thanks for having me along I'll uh I'll get you uh you just wait here I'll get you that iced gelato for a second thank you so much all right campers if you want to write about your favorite summer game please send us fan mail via the send us fan mail button in the show notes and write to us on blueski we would love to hear what constitutes a summer game to you and which ones you love to play with your pals or during this lovely summer we've been having lately.

James 1:35:16

Thanks as always campers and stay cozy stay cozy