The Free Cheese

This week on The Free Cheese, 2007 is gonna be a weird year. Nintendo's not-so-trapped-in-Japan-any-longer collaboration with Treasure makes its way onto our list this week. Sin and Punishment explores a dystopian future through the journey of two characters fighting to save it. At times evocative of Metal Gear Solid and Evangelion , this shooting game sure did have a lot to say in 2000.

This week on The Free Cheese, the Midway Knuckle®. How do you reinvent an arcade game for the end of a console generation sitting right on the edge of always-online gaming? Midway Studios San Diego attempted with 2005's Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. Playing as one of the four core classes from the original Gauntlet, we play through several stages fighting waves of enemies, destroying the generators of...

This week on The Free Cheese, oh, I get it. We add another shooting game to the list with Konami's parody of its own Gradius. We talk about how other games were born from the Parodius series and wonder why there has yet to be a modern collection. We weigh the difficulty of enjoying an arcade game both on a console and for ranking on a weekly podcast, and dream of new characters for an inevitable A...

This week on The Free Cheese, there's like, a hole in your head. Just in time for QuakeCon 2022, we add Quake to The List. While we've all been into id Software games and have played a range of games inspired by Quake, we've yet to play all the way through the original campaign. This episode changes that as we learn the secrets within, revisit the history made with Quake, and learn how to rocket j...

This week on The Free Cheese, we should always fear shrimp. What happens when the Ace Combat team makes a Star Fox game? We take on the Aparoids to save the galaxy as Team Star Fox in the Namco-developed Star Fox Assault. We talk about the history of Star Fox games and how many reboots the series has endured so far, and of course wonder where it will go next.

This week on The Free Cheese, time to check the list! We break our list of games from this season into 4 categories and reflect on the choices we've made so far. As we revisit each game, the chance of the list changing entirely rise. Will the list look different in the end or did we get the rankings right the first time?

This week on The Free Cheese, it tastes different than Sprite! We return to an age of mascot platformers with one of the most recognized of the era. Then, we wonder what happened to all of the mascots. Finally, we design video games for mascots who never got the green light.

This week on The Free Cheese, let's save daddy.  Take to the skies and space as Lucia steals a ship and races off to rescue her kidnapped father. This once relic of Mega Drive obscurity is now readily available and it's time we rank it.

This week on The Free Cheese, is that a gnome on your desktop? We celebrate the joy of random satisfaction in Peggle, comparing its multiple releases and sharing experiences we've had with other games like it.

This week on The Free Cheese, get Diddy Kong in the back there for a giant banana. We add another GameCube game to the list and our first kart racer. How does the change to gameplay hold up for Mario Kart all these years later? Does this game have the best course list in the series? Find out the answers to those and more, and be sure to listen in for Matt's eSport Tips® for dominating every track.

This week on The Free Cheese, we need to find the car keys. Stranded on a strange planet, we take control of three lost adventurers and a fleet of tiny creatures to discover cell phones, trash, and delicious fruit. We revisit Pikmin 3 for the Wii U, talk about how it's changed on Nintendo Switch, and of course, rank it with the rest of the games this season.

This week on The Free Cheese, there goes another customer. We explore a sequel to an arcade classic in Paperboy 2. Within, we discover ghosts, break windows, and trap strangers beneath cars. We also compare the multiple versions of the game and of course rank it against the rest of the games from this season.

This week on The Free Cheese, he's on fire. Right alongside the NBA Finals, we're checking in with an arcade classic that made its way home across a number of platforms. A sequel to NBA Jam and a bonafide hit in its own right, NBA Hangtime let us continue the 2-on-2 arcade basketball that we first fell in love with in Jam.

This week on The Free Cheese, an event has started in Dogenzaka. When all that remains of Japan's metropolis are its buildings and wild animals, everyone is just trying to survive. As we play Tokyo Jungle, we're also celebrating the class of games that you could only find on PlayStation Network in the PS3 era. We look for other games that try something similar (there aren't many) and discuss how t...

This week on The Free Cheese, gonna be a big man someday. Tape up those sticks and lace up your skates, it's time to hit the ice in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's NHL Stanley Cup. We discuss the title's use of Mode 7 to bring hockey into the third dimension and stack it up against its Genesis counterparts.

This week on The Free Cheese, t h i s w e e k o n T h e F r e e C h e e s e. What do you get when the team who made Bayonetta didn't know they would make Bayonetta and still worked at Capcom and wanted to make a 2D beat 'em up? Viewtiful Joe 2! But before that, they had to make Viewtiful Joe so we could talk about and rank it this week.

This week on The Free Cheese, get your Expansion Pak ready. We're here to shoot mines and save aliens and we're all out—Oh, I guess we've got everything we need. Perfect Dark is the product of experimentation on tested ideas from the talent that redefined first-person shooters on the Nintendo 64. Does it exceed its predecessor or remain in obscurity?

This week on The Free Cheese, we're going down. Our first mobile game makes the list this week as we explore the roguelike Downwell. Strap on your gunboots and jump in as we try to build the highest combo and make the best upgrade selections we can. Episode Timestamps 06:50 - Downwell 49:35 - What games have you liked more than their inspiration? 59:05 - The Ranking

This week on The Free Cheese, can I be your memory? How much damage can we create? It's time for Burnout 3: Takedown and a return to arcade racing, the likes we have not seen in quite some time. We also discuss the era of video game rentals and those games we never owned but loved renting. Episode Timestamps 07:01 - Burnout 3: Takedown 47:11 - What games felt unobtainable to own but you loved rent...

This week on The Free Cheese, it's got Bob Burnquist. The (probably) first skateboarding game for PlayStation 2 is here and we're going for gold. We also figure out what games defined the PS2 era and beyond. Where are we at now? Tune in to find out!

This week on The Free Cheese, it's all in your head dude. We're journeying midway through the first decade of the new millennium to revisit a game lost to time. In addition to a stellar special features section, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy brings together superpowers and third-person shooting like no one else. 06:04 - Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy 31:58 - What other games are lost to time?...

This week on The Free Cheese, why do you have so many controllers in your lap? It's more than just a week to talk about Rez Infinite, we talk about all of Mizuguchi's games and reflect on the impact they've had on us, the industry, and the future of video games. We also finally figure out how to pronounce "Lumines." Episode Timestamps 06:23 - Rez Infinite 01:07:00 - The Ranking

This week on The Free Cheese, where did Kane come from? Can a wrestling game from more than twenty years ago still be great? Yes. We're playing and ranking WWF No Mercy this week as we also figure out which names are those of professional wrestlers and those of horses. We also find out who of us deleted the save data from rental cartridges.

This week on The Free Cheese, and I'm all outta Gatorade.  We play and rank Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, discussing its legacy and breaking down some of our favorite details. We reach the end of the bracket and declare Video Games' Greatest Sidekick and share our favorite Game Over screens. Episode Timestamps 10:47 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 49:41 - Lightning Round 01:02:55 - Wh...

This week on The Free Cheese, banana on the floor. We're playing and ranking a classic PC Engine title that just recently came to Nintendo Switch. We also imagine how to revive the Valis series today, carry forward our bracket of sidekick showdowns, and spend other people's money. Episode Timestamps 7:07 - Valis III 36:40 - How would you revive Valis today? 46:54 - Who Would Win in a Fight? 01:07:...