The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Two top 10 lists of the best games of 2012, in our usual style. Love the podcast and want more? Head to patreon.com/backpagepod to unlock two additional episodes a month. This week's music is from the Catherine soundtrack by Shoji Meguro, and the Kid Icarus: Uprising soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasunori Mitsuda and Takahiro Nishi. Our theme tune i...

The top 5 Kirby games, and detailed thoughts on Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch. Enjoy!  This week's music is from the Kirby and the Forgotten Land soundtrack by  Yuuta Ogasawara, Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa and Yuki Shimooka, and the Kirby's Epic Yarn soundtrack by Tomoya Tomita. Our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch). Hosted on Acast. S...

It's a simple 'what we've been playing' episode, featuring Ghostwire: Tokyo, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Tunic, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Monster Train – not to mention a ton of listener questions about random nonsense.  This week's music is from the Tunic soundtrack by Terence Lee and Janice Kwan, and our excellent theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch&apos...

Who can pick the 10 best PS Vita games in our latest draft episode? And who will pick the best PSone and PSP games to supplement their selections? Matthew and Samuel compete to build the best library for Sony's fan-favourite handheld device. This week's music is from Hotline Miami by Scattle, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Judge Castle returns to decide whether 18 or so listeners must die as a result of dodgy secondhand eBay purchases. This episode is slightly too long, but hopefully you'll be amused.  This week's music comes from Barry Topping, composer on the brilliant Paradise Killer — it's our brand new theme tune! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samuel and Matthew have played Elden Ring for a combined 37 hours – here's what they think so far.  This week's music is from the Elden Ring soundtrack by Yuka Kitamura. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew's seen the Uncharted movie, which is a nice excuse for a deep dive into one of our favourite PlayStation series.  This week's music is from the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End soundtrack by Henry Jackman, and the Uncharted 1-3 soundtracks by Greg Edmonson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Hicks, formerly of Official Xbox Magazine, joins us to revisit the 360 era through his experiences of the time.  This week's music is from the Halo: Reach soundtrack by Michael Salvatori and Marty O'Donnell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Castle Productions and Big Sammy Holdings are each taking on Game Pass. Who built the best gaming subscription service?  Matthew won this one. This week's music is from the Snatcher soundtrack by Konami Kukeiha Club, The Sims 4 soundtrack by Ilan Eshkeri and the Kid Icarus: Uprising soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasunori Mitsuda and Tak...

Dying Light 2, Windjammers 2, Resident Evil 4 VR, NEO: The World Ends With You and more are discussed in this episode about what we've been playing in 2022 so far.  This week's music is from the Unpacking soundtrack by Jeff van Dyck and the Windjammers 2 soundtrack by Seiichi Hamada, Hiroaki Yoshida, Harumi Fujita and Sylvain Hellio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...

Cassette Beasts co-developer Jay Baylis joins us to discuss the long history of Pokémon games, subjecting Matthew to his idea of torture. Hear about the best games in the series across different categories from a genuine expert. This week's music is from the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl soundtrack by Shota Kageyama, Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, Hitomi Sato and Morikazu Aoki, th...

Another overly long mailbag episode is here! 25 of your questions about gaming (yes, and Bath restaurants) answered.  This week's music is from the TimeSplitters 2 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate and The Secret of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land and Patrick Mundy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the 10 best Wii games – the same game cannot be picked more than once. Samuel won this draft, by 67% to 33%. This week's music is from the Wii Sports Resort soundtrack by Ryo Nagamatsu, the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack by Mahito Yokota, Ryo Nagamatsu and Koji Kondo, and The Last Story soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Samuel and Matthew each pick 11 predictions for the year ahead in gaming, all based on absolutely no information whatsoever. It's a light episode, and Samuel's audio is a bit crap. Sorry about that. This week's music is from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 soundtrack by Frank Klepacki and the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtrack by Ace+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Our GOTY episode is here! Two top 10 lists of the best games released in 2021, with almost no crossover between the selections. Enjoy.  This week's music is from the Bowser's Fury soundtrack by Daisuke Matsuoka and James Phillipsen, the Rhythm Doctor soundtrack by fizzd, Winston Lee and foxiand, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles soundtrack by Yasumasa Kitagawa and Hiromitsu Maeba. Ho...

As The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie turns 20 years old, we revisit every game based on the films from Peter Jackson. From The Two Towers to The Third Age, there are some real gems in among the 7/10 tie-ins. This week's music is from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on GBA, based on the music of Howard Shore, and the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth:...

Back in episode 7, we made 21 gaming predictions about 2021. How right or wrong were we? In this episode, we put ourselves on trial, discussing everything from N64 games on Switch to PS5 haptics. It's a silly episode, like all of them. Enjoy.  This week's music is from the Binary Domain soundtrack by Mitsuharu Fukuyama and the Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura...

What else we've been playing in 2021, including Luigi's Mansion 3, Resident Evil 3 Remake and more.  This week's music is from the 428: Shibuya Scramble soundtrack by Naoki Sato, Hideki Sakamoto and Shingo Yasumoto and the Deus Ex soundtrack by Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée and Michiel van den Bos. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Samuel ranks the seven mainline Halo games to date, and both Samuel and Matthew weigh in on the wonders of Halo Infinite multiplayer. This week's music is from the Halo: Reach soundtrack by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori and the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack by Kazuma Jinnouchi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who can build the best hypothetical mini console, Matthew, representing GameCube, or Samuel, representing the original Xbox? As both consoles have turned 20 years old, in this episode we'll revisit the libraries of each in a competitive format.  Wondering who won this one? It was Matthew, with around 60% of the vote. This week's music is from the Super Mario Sunshine soundtrack by Koji K...

The latest in our series of flashback episodes focuses on a year that brought us Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Matthew and Samuel each pick their 10 favourite games from 2011, and throw in a whole host of honourable mentions.  This episode's music is from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim soundtrack, the Pullblox soundtrack by Shoh Murakami and the Xenoblade Ch...

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty released 20 years ago this week. In this episode, PC Gamer's Rich Stanton joins us to discuss the game's themes and legacy as a PS2 classic. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams, Rika Muranaka and Carla White.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our episode 50 special, Matthew and Samuel talk through the entire process of making a games magazine from start to finish, including 15 things that can go wrong. Plus: our thoughts on the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, early GOTY chatter and much more.   This week's music is from the Apex Legends soundtrack by Stephen Barton, the Metroid Dread soundtrack by Kenji Yamamoto and the Returna...

It's Halloween! Horror expert and presenter Louise Blain joins us to pick out 15 cool spooky games, from Eternal Darkness to Silent Hill 4: The Room.  This week's music is from the Silent Hill 4: The Room soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka and the Stories Untold soundtrack by Omar Khan.  Here's a link to the PC Gamer piece Samuel mentions in this episode: https://www.pcgamer.com/how-a-spoo...

Steve Burns, formerly of Videogamer.com, joins us to discuss Grand Theft Auto III as Rockstar North's groundbreaking open world game turns 20 years old. Hear about its impact on games at the time, its best moments and how GTA would evolve in subsequent entries.  This week's music is from the Grand Theft Auto III soundtrack by Craig Conner and Stuart Ross. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...