Author and journalist Kieron Gillen joins the panel to cover the golden age of games journalism, Squaresoft’s 1996 SNES licensed X-Men JRPG, and the mysterious Hat Man. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Kieron Gillen. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.
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SHOW NOTES:
Riders on the Storm
Ghost Riders in the Sky
The Doors
Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Mutant
Amiga Power
Eisner Awards
Hugo Award
Amiga
Mister Sinister
1: What’s the difference between game culture and comics culture? (04:44)
Jack Kirby
Twine
Al Ewing
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Gamergate (harassment campaign)
Sad Puppies
Jim Rossignol
2: In tabletop game design, how do you make a game that allows players to do anything, while maintaining a unique identity? (10:03)
Mörk Borg
OSR
Dungeons & Dragons
Baldurs Gate III
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a masterpiece built on a bad tabletop game
3: What’s the closest a video game has come to ruining your life? (17:19)
World of Warcraft
World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade
Clash of Clans
Princess Pajama
Infinity Nikki
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
Sonic Advance 3
Nintendo Official Magazine UK
Circuit City
World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King
MUSH
Space Invaders
The Sims Online
Grand Theft Auto IV
4: The year is 1996. Squaresoft wants you to design their final game for the SNES, a licensed X-Men RPG. What have you got? (27:22)
Squaresoft
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
X-Men
Image Comics
Jim Lee
X-Men 2: Clone Wars
X-Men: The Animated Series
Storm
Rise of the Robots
Wolverine
Princess Maker
Charles Xavier
Final Fantasy
Sentinel
Spider-Man
The Punisher: The Ultimate Payback!
Days of Future Past
Chrono Trigger
Callisto
Marrow
Giant-Size X-Men
Cyclops
Colossus
Thunderbird
Jean Grey
5: PersonalMatthew asks, how important is it that someone writing about videogames be “good” at videogames? (34:33)
Madden
DLSS
Digital Trends
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster
Demonschool
Final Fantasy Tactics
Persona
Shin Megami Tensei
6: What was the golden age of video game journalism? (40:53)
Spider-Man 3
Mad Men
PC Gamer
Tomb Raider
Rock Paper Shotgun
LIGHTNING ROUND: High Scoring (47:22)
Recommendations and Outro (57:22):
Kieron: The Power Fantasy, We Called Them Giants
Frank: Go read Kieron’s comics
Brandon: If you’re feeling cold tuck your shirt into your pants, Manga documentary 1982, The Great Cleric if you want some extremely mid anime, follow Brandon on Bluesky
Ash: Game Changers on HBO Max
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