Famicom Dojo Video Game Podcast

It can be difficult choosing a top game for 2013 when you've only played a fraction of the ones released during the year, but we're sure gonna try! Vinnk and Sean talk about their respective top game of 2013, and try to convince the other why it's so much more awesome than all the others. Plus, more Future Retro, and Pile of Shame! Including some titles that could have been GOTY contenders... if w...

With the latest Nintendo Direct, a very interesting title was released Wii U eShop. Nintendo has gone all ROM hacker on us, and created a challenge game based on a dozen titles from the NES launch lineup. More than that, these challenges directly focus on the secrets within games, and show you how to beat more difficult stages or bosses. Sean and Vinnk share their impressions of NES Remix, whether...

Ever since Double Fine Adventure (a.k.a. Broken Age), Kickstarter has been the go-to place to fund games in genres long-thought dead (e.g. Adventure Games), by creators long thought dead (e.g. Al Lowe -- kidding! We love ya puddin'), or franchises long thought dead (e.g. the Mega Man-esque Migthy No. 9 by Keiji Inafune). Is this a good thing? And can it possibly last? While Vinnk was in the US, he...

Vinnk was in the US for a few weeks, and came back to Japan with a new Wii U and a bunch of games! Then just last week Nintendo announced the $50 price drop and the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD bundle. Sean bought a 3DS XL right before the seemingly-ridiculous 2DS announcement, but he ain't even mad, bro. Sean and Vinnk discuss their new systems, similarities (good and bad), and how they feel ab...

Did you know that there was an episode of Famicom Dojo before there was a Famicom Dojo? Not just the one released on Zac Shipley's channel, but one we never released for public consumption? Sure you didn't! We know lots of stuff from back in 2006. Learn more from Vinnk and Sean as they talk about their memories of Famicom Dojo before there was a Famicom Dojo, how the name was chosen, and the relev...

E3 is over, but did anything of substance happen aside from Sony stabbing Microsoft in the side and twisting the knife? Everything of substance occurred before or after E3, including Microsoft's "Xbox 180" announcement about its disc DRM and "always on" connectivity. In this digital world, has E3 outlived its usefulness as a press-only event? Sean and Vinnk unpack the reasons why Microsoft reverse...

When we first started this podcast, we thought the DLC Apocalypse would be a generation or two off, but if Microsoft has its way (and Sony decides to follow suit next week at E3), it'll be a lot sooner than anyone wanted. Any gamers, anyway. Microsoft seems pretty happy to keep us in the dark (or they did until the day before this podcast was posted). With disc DRM and a persistent internet connec...

Last week, Microsoft unveiled their next-generation gaming console, controller, and name. While the "XBONE" jokes are already flying, more is being made of what Microsoft didn't say at this event than what they did say. (Or did. Or showed.) Which is kind of too bad, because even amongst the crazier ideas (e.g. cloud computing), there were some pretty cool concepts. Oh, and that whole pesky "used g...

EA has thrown its stake in the ground, and determined that it does not need or care to support Nintendo on the Wii U. No Frosbite engine, no current development on Wii U, and a senior developer who openly tweeted that Nintendo's console platform was "crap". So much for that "unprecedented partnership"! Vinnk and Sean make the obvious comparisons to Dreamcast (which was the last console EA totally...

The Wii U might seem like it's in trouble, but even if the least bad of the "always on" rumors for the next Xbox prove true, will Microsoft be the worse one off this generation? Is this company that only entered console gaming this side of the millennium trying as hard as it can to apply the digial download methodology of gaming to physical media, or is it just a bunch of baseless fanboy...

Even in the 8-bit days, the theme of time travel in video games was all around us. For some, it was a story excuse to visit historical landmarks and offer. Other explored idea of what it meant to manipulate time Usually, they were some poorly-designed movie tie-in. But each one offered an unmentioned promise that someday, somewhen, the ultimate time travel game would arise. Now, if only someone wo...

One of the many interesting things about the PS4 is the name itself, since one of the Japanese words for "Four" is also the word for "death". Prophetic, given the state of Sony and the PS3, or just a harmless pun? They'll need a lot of killer apps to overcome that name, amiright? (Thanks to @Cheesemeister3k for that joke.) Sean and Vinnk discuss the PS4 reveal, the DualShock 4...

Rayman Legends is ready to ship for Wii U, but now won't be released until multi-platform versions are ready. Wii U sales are down, but if games aren't coming out that people want to buy, who's to blame? Nintendo is offering a Wii U bundle with Ubisoft's ZombiU (and Nintendo Land, AND a Pro Controller), but is it too little too late? Vinnk and Sean try and suss out Ubisoft's strategy, and discuss...

There's a White House petition going around to make region locking a thing of the past -- at least in the United States of America. Does such a law have any chance of passing, and can it even be effective if it did? And what would the side-effects be? Vinnk and Sean discuss the perils and pitfalls of region locking, if it even makes sense any more in an increasingly digital-only medium, and the ki...

Be careful about bringing your beer to a Destructoid room party! They might claim they don't know you, and then keep your beer! Sean tells Vinnk about his time at MAGFest, the fun panels he attended, the cool people he met (and re-met), the awesome videos he watched -- like JewWario's trailer for his new FamiKamen Rider series, and how Sean would go to a Destructoid room party again (even if he ha...

Rarely do games place you in the role of the villain. Either it's too difficult, tongue-in-cheek and therefore not serious, or being a villain is ultimately too unpalatable to pull off except for the briefest moments. Vinnk and Sean take a look at the games that try to bridge this gap, whether or not they were successful, and just which ones are worth playing -- even if it's juts for laughs. Also,...

"RPG" theme song by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train Your Game at https://youtube.com/famicomdojo .

For as long as the Wii has been around, fans and critics alike maligned it for not supporting the HD or hardcore gaming crowd. There's no way it can be a success! Now that the Wii U is out, supporting even HDMI out of the box (a first for consoles), and now it has a hard time supporting older televisions and standard definition. Nintendo is turning its back on classic gaming! Vinnk and Sean explor...

George Lucas recently sold all of LucasFilm to Disnet for $4 billion. Not only does that mean there will be a new Star Wars movie in 2015, but all of LucasFilm's ancillary businesses came with the deal: the graphic effects powerhouse Industrial Light and Magic, used by almost every major motion picture studio for photorealistic effects; Skywalker Sound, which does for audio was ILM does for video;...

There are so many consoles on the market that it's easy to forget that there used to be so many more. Not only have big players like Sega come and gone, but Atari has gotten out of the hardware race, as well as Bandai (now part and parcel of game publisher Namco). Vinnk and Sean reminisce about their favorite failures, from the Dreamcast to the Lynx, and the Wonderswan to the 64DD. "RPG" theme son...

With the unveiling of the iPhone 5 and the Wii U within a day of each other, last week was a next-gen extravaganza for two of the biggest juggernauts in their industry. Oh, and Vinnk had a baby the same day -- the REAL next generation who won't eve know anything less sophisticated! Sean and Vinnk try to decide which of these devices they'll be getting first (if at all) this fall, and if either one...

Nintendo Power is going away, although the Nintendo Power that we knew and loved went away years ago. How can a monthly, paper publication hope to compete in the realm of up-to-the-minute online blogs, weekly podcasts, and videos with talking consoles? Vinnk and Sean talk about the art of magazine creating, how the medium is dying (especially among video game publications), but mostly just reminis...

This week we have something very different. SeanOrange did not have the time to record a podcast with Vinnk this week, and asled Vinnk to see what we could come up with on short notice. We hope you like the show and we will be back soon with our normal hosts and format. "RPG" theme song by the Imari Tones: http://imaritones.net This podcast is brought to you by the Famicom Dojo Video Series. Train...

It costs more than a 3DS XL and just as much as a Wii, contains (at least a few) games available more cheaply on either the eShop or Wii Virtual Console, and comes with a dock that looks like the AES, but doesn't actually play Neo Geo carts. And yet we still want one. Or two. Sean and Vinnk wonder what the heck is wrong with them that they'd blow their hard-earned cash on such a frivolous item. Is...

It's hard being a gamer! Or maybe it's just hard being an aging gamer. Why buy new games when there are so many old ones, and so many of them are just SO good? Why add to one's pile of shame when you can just whittle it down instead? Or, even more interesting, how histories intersect and create games you never know existed, like a Super Mario Bros. game designed by HudsonSoft and written for compu...