The Free Cheese

This week on The Free Cheese, I'd like to try increasing fun. Will you make the next great game for the Senga Exodus? Did your last effort fail to impress the magazine reviewers? Maybe you'll do better after hiring Shigeto Minamoto. Game Dev Story lets us start our own studio and see what it's like to manage a team of people making video games. We put them out to the market, receive review scores,...

This week on The Free Cheese, we recommend playing this episode at 2X speed. We celebrate the history of speedrunning just in time for Summer Games Done Quick 2023. We look back at the beginnings of speedrunning, share some of our favorite runs, and offer insight into the games we would consider running.

This week on The Free Cheese, shoutout to all the horses! We discuss our favorite companions in video games, both on and off the screen. We share the friendships we've built through games and what makes a bad in-game companion.

This week on The Free Cheese, jump, man. Donkey Kong returns in 1994's Game Boy release, making its debut on The List in this episode. We talk about the game, its creation, how it created new moves for Mario, and where it ended up.

This week on The Free Cheese, take my hand.  We wake up in a castle and find a girl in a cage. We don't speak the same language but it won't stop us from escaping. During our journey this week, we'll solve puzzles and strike at shadows as the PlayStation 2 classic, Ico, joins the list.

This week on The Free Cheese, business is business.  We survive an earthquake and spend six days trying to help others through the aftermath. We make new friends, say goodbye to others, and find a lot of compasses and backpacks. 

This week on The Free Cheese, the best of our best.  We each share the span of years we identify as our "golden era" of video games. We identify the platforms we played on and the games that stand out from the era. 

This week on The Free Cheese, we're shopping at SUS. Grab your Sidekick and hit the scene in New York to take over one fight at a time. We're playing the sequel to Def Jam: Vendetta, watching the evolution of WWF No Mercy take its new form.

This week on The Free Cheese, g-g-g-ghosts! Gear up and make way into the haunted house of the day with us. We investigate paranormal activity and try to make it out alive in Phasmophobia as we celebrate our 500th episode.

This week on The Free Cheese, welcome to Berlin! We roll the clocks back to 1980 and play Rogue, adding it to our list in the process. Naturally, we discuss the game's influence and try to break down our understanding of the many different definitions of what it is to be a roguelike.

This week on The Free Cheese, when the eggs hatch. While the world revels in another Resident Evil series remake this week, let's go back to the beginning. We recant our first memories of Resident Evil 4, offer thoughts on how our most recent session played out, and discuss the various ways we've interacted with the game through the years. Then, we rank it on The List with the rest and the best of...

This week on The Free Cheese, the most detailed lips on the Game Boy Color. Another month, another handheld adventure, but our first Gaiden on the list. What happens when you take survival horror and give it to the developers of Mary Kate and Ashley: Winner's Circle? Zombies on a boat, it turns out.

This week on The Free Cheese, what's your frequency? Harmonix have repeatedly made its name one to remember with every new franchise. In this episode, we take a look at the studio's sophomore release for PlayStation 2.

This week on The Free Cheese, drop that pizza in some soup! At long last, a Hideo Kojima game makes it onto the list. We did that already? Well this one predicts the future! Join us in conversation about Snatcher and help save the world from invasion.

This week on The Free Cheese, gotta go wide open. This is the first episode where we are ranking something that not one person nominated but rather we all enjoyed together and felt like the game deserved its own episode. Sonic Team created something special for the Hedgehog's thirtieth anniversary. Where does it stack against other Sonic games and more importantly, where did we feel it ranked agai...

This week on The Free Cheese, no the other one. We check out 2000's Metal Gear Solid for Game Boy Color and see how Konami was able to translate its PlayStation counterpart into an alternate sequel for the MSX original.

This week on The Free Cheese, run to the hallway. Did you know the PlayStation 2 had a headset? Did you know there was a game where the headset was your controller? Join us and Rio as we scour the hallways of a space hotel in search for aliens and weak spots. Can you hear us? Are you there...?

This week on The Free Cheese, Congratulations. The October Labor Lottery is complete. Your name was pulled.

This week on The Free Cheese, we're making another list. It's our first ranking of consoles episode where we have 6 minutes to discuss and place each console entry on a list.

This week on The Free Cheese, a trench coat and a baseball bat. We're going wrestling outside of the ring with WayForward's Game Boy Color answer to the Attitude Era.

This week on The Free Cheese, one to a party. After years of thinking this game isn't for us, we learn the truth. We play and rank Undertale after we each take a different path to its ending.

This week on The Free Cheese, SquisherZ are really cool. Go to sleep and browse the internet while we patrol your nightmares. We revisit our 2019 Out of Time Award winner, finally giving this game the attention it deserves.

This week on The Free Cheese, what does yours say? It's time for your and our favorite episode of the year. Hang out with us and look back at what we thought might happen in 2022, then hear what we think is coming in the next year.

This week on The Free Cheese, the end is the beginning is the end. Join us for the final episode of Season 10 as we look back on the 45 games we played and ranked this year. We reflect on 2022 and the games we played and loved the most. Finally, we take one last look at The List ahead of our next season and where every game ended up.

This week on The Free Cheese, it's about what's on the inside. Our final game of Season 10 started out as Final Fantasy VII and turned into something entirely on its own. Let's head to New York City and help Aya Brea to stop the end of humanity before it's too late.