Pod 'em Up! - The Video Game "Book Club" Podcast

Baba is who? That's what we intend to find out, as we cover this 2019 indie puzzler for PC and Switch that lets you rewrite the game's rules in order to solve its fiendish puzzles! Not content with one book club pick, Tibbs basically brings another one along with him as he packs in a full blown review of the game that completely out-Pokemons Pokemon - It's Cassette Beasts! Plus, an arc...

Hair-whipping half-genie half-belly-dancer, Shantae arrives in the book club this month, as we play the very first game in her series of popular 2D metroidvania platformers for the Game Boy Color! Our impressions of this indie darling may surprise you! Plus we look back on last month's slew of game announcements, despite E3's absence, and offer thoughts on Sonic Superstars, Mario Wonder an...

This time we're tackling a thoughtful and narrative-driven puzzle platformer, Sephonie, for PC. Also up for debate is the new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - in which a big portion of the discussion focuses in on the important matter of why Link keeps starting adventures in his pants. Plus: Bad times for Tibbs, Into the Breach, a lovely new Incoming Indie platformer, and probably the m...

We've got a guest this month! "Pod 'em Up superfan" (that's what we call him anyway) Rik comes along for a chat, and brings to the book club the convolutedly-named "Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness". An episodic series for XBLA, PSN and PC, though we mainly cover episode 1 here. Plus we've got other matters to discuss too, like E3...

We're back, with a brand new logo and a bullseye of an episode for you this month! (cockney rhyming slang for fifty, innit?) Featuring pride of place is a book club double whammy, in which we play two games that are sequels to titles we've already covered on the show before! We understand the concept of Jet Set Radio Future on the Original Xbox and discuss whether it surpasses its stylish...

It's high time for some Saturn love on the podcast, and what better way to do that than to play Sonic Team's futuristic fire fighting action game, Burning Rangers! One of the final great games for Sega's oft-overlooked machine. Alongside that, we've got thoughts about Sports Story, X-COM, GoldenEye and of course the PS3 game that everyone in 2023 is talking about - 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. Plus...

It's the hardly-at-all-Christmassy Christmas Special of Pod 'em Up! We assess the self-destructive habits of unlikely 3D platforming hero Voodoo Vince, from the original Xbox (now also on PC and Xbox One), plus we review Sonic Frontiers and Ollie ruins the Pod 'em Up awards with his terrible vote counting abilities! But at least you finally get to find out which of our great book club games this y...

This month, we're going on about Skyblazer - never heard of it? Good, sit yourself down and find out if we recommend this infrequently-discussed SNES platformer! Plus, there's much talk about Grapple Dog and the recent Mortal Kombat games, we offer our impressions on the Mario movie trailer after verbally dancing on the grave of Google Stadia, and Tibbs suffers some serious open wallet surgery aft...

We've got a real cracker in the book club this month - the silky smooth adventuring of 2022's highly acclaimed cat 'em up: Stray, for PS4/5 and PC. Does it deserve the high praise it's been getting? We find out! Plus, Ollie went to EGX in London for a go or two on Sonic Frontiers, and he brings back hands-on impressions of some great indies to watch out for as well! Plus, we've become a tad disill...

This month we're getting jiggy with Banjo-Kazooie, Ollie's childhood favourite collect-a-thon 3D platformer for the N64 and Xbox consoles! Also, Tibbs delivers an impromptu review of Biomutant, and encourages Ollie to undertake a new career in video game journalism. Mainly though, we're talking about the bear and the bird, so come and join us, the NEW Google Podcast Pod 'em Up champions! podemup.l...

You've come for brains.. we'll give you.. bullets! .. We'll also give you a look at the superbly funny, irreverent and very foul-mouthed on-rails shooter, House of the Dead: Overkill for the Nintendo Wii! (adults only for that section please!). However, this is one dense fruitcake of a show, as we also review Sonic Origins and preview Sonic Frontiers, plus there's also much talk of TMNT: Shredder'...

Ollie and Tibbs play and discuss one of the most recent Nintendo Switch exclusives - Kirby and the Forgotten Land. You already know it's brilliant, but we tell you exactly why! If you've already completed the game, you might like to follow up this episode with a bonus 10 minute discussion about the ending and some of the post-credits content: https://soundcloud.com/user-557762286/kirby-and-the-for...

Do you smell what we're cooking? Because it's time to play the game(s) in our wrestling special! We've got a double book club this month in the shape of WWF No Mercy for the N64, and Fire Pro Wrestling World for PC/PS4! Are they the bottom line in wrestling games, just mid-carders, or a pair of jabroni jobbers? (ok, I'll stop). We also reminisce about the good old "attitude era" of wrestling and r...

A fully powered up episode if ever there was one - this month we've got Power Diggerz (aka Power Shovel) in the book club - a slightly obscure PS1 arcade/party game that has you saving turtles and dishing out curry with nothing but a full blown excavator! We'll find out if it's any good. Plus, it's another magazine feature! This time we're looking at issue 1 of the new SEGA Powered magazine, which...

It's a new year of Pod 'em Up, and in the book club, we have a classic game from our childhoods - Micro Machines '96 on the Sega Mega Drive! We also discuss the series in general, so should be a great listen for fans. Plus, Tibbs just wants to play Rock Band, Ollie wants to know what an NFT is, and we both want to know why the hell Google Podcasts have merged us with the -other- Pod 'em Up! podemu...

No One Can Stop Mr Domino on PS1 is the book club game for this final episode of 2021, and as it's the last of the year, we're also doing our annual celebration of all the games we've been playing, in the Pod 'em Up Awards! The competition is really fierce this year, as we've played some cracking games in '21, so make sure you check it out and see how we whittled down the votes! Plus, we're talkin...

Treasure's N64 2D platformer, Mischief Makers is up for discussion in the book club this month! Hidden gem, rough diamond or.. a cubic zirconia..? We come away with at least two of these opinions. Plus, we talk about the return of Games Master, Tibbs plays his own personal round of "name that game" (hint: it's not Yoshi's Cookie), we talk a bit about Sonic Colours Ultimate, pit Super Mario Galaxy...

The Lemmings series is very much in the spotlight this month, as we look at three games from the series: The original Amiga versions of Lemmings and Lemmings 2: The Tribes, plus we take a very baffled look at the approach taken by the more recent mobile version of Lemmings. It's not all about tiny suicidal creatures though, we've also got a Nintendo Direct to dissect, plus SkateBIRD, Cruis'n Blast...

After a short break, we're back to our normal format with a bang! We're looking at the excellent Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for Game Boy Advance! It's Tibbs' first go on a Zelda, and we also approach the series in general from this angle, so anyone also looking to get into the series might do well to listen! Elsewhere, we've been playing embarrassingly little for the last three months, though...

We complete our look at 30 years of Sonic the Hedgehog games and great music from said games! This time we're covering the most memorable titles from 2004 to now, finding that Sonic games went from wildly experimental (sometimes too much) to wildly nostalgic (also sometimes too much), but they never failed to be interesting, and never failed to offer great music! We're playing one great track from...

It's the 30th anniversary of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game! We're celebrating with a pair of special episodes in which we discuss 30 different Sonic games (or thereabouts..) from his 30 years, plus we're playing 30 different music tracks, one representing each game discussed! Part 1 covers years 1991 - 2003 and includes games such as the original Mega Drive outings, the Adventure games and mor...

Probably our most obscure game yet, Japanese-only PS2 game, Poinie's Poin is in the book club this month! A colourful 3D adventure platformer with funny, charming characters and an even funnier English translation! We also share thoughts on the recent Sonic Central livestream, plus Ghosts of Tsushima, Dishonoured, and we find ourselves squinting at irritatingly small in-game iconography. podemup.l...

In this episode, we essentially play a music album.. It's Sayonara Wild Hearts! An indie game for modern consoles that sets sublimely smooth, quick reflex, score attack gameplay to a truly immersive soundtrack. Plus, Ollie's played Balan Wonderworld and still doesn't understand why he's the only one who likes it, and Tibbs reveals The Rock's unique method acting skills. Our Incoming Indie this mon...

Put the kids to bed, it's an adults-only video game book club this month, as we look at the racy and outrageous zombie chainsaw-em-up, Lollipop Chainsaw for the 360 and PS3! Speaking of PS3, we're also talking about a potentially devastating problem for the preservation of the most recent PlayStations, Ollie fails to adequately explain the battle system in Little Town Hero, and Tibbs tells us abou...

Everyone's talkin' 'bout Bugsnax! And so are we! This PS4/5/PC first person puzzler/RPG starring the Bugsnax and their surprisingly emotional consumers, the Grumpuses, features in our video game book club! Plus, Nintendo Direct, Xbox GoldenEye, and why you're wrong about the Balan Wonderworld demo! We carried on discussing Bugsnax's ending after the show. If you've seen the ending or don't mind MA...