Vidjagame Apocalypse

It's his birthday, so we're letting TL take over the wheel -- or the cockpit, as it were -- to walk us through a retrospective of sorts about the various genres of mech video games, inspired by this week's release of Super Robot Wars Y. From fighters to tactical RPGs and everything in between, if you like games about giant robots you pilot and punch things with, this top 5 is for you.  After that,...

Summer movie blockbuster season may be winding down, but we still have movies on the brain around these parts. So much, in fact,  that we wanted to talk about movie tie-in games. And who better to help us with that than special guest Steve Guntli from the excellent CinemArcade podcast? We are all familiar with the games that are generally regarded as the best movie tie-in games. So Steve is here t...

Let's face it, the games industry hasn't exactly been all sunshine and rainbows lately. As the late, great Dusty Rhodes would say, the industry has been facing hard tiiiiiimes, daddy. And yet, as a game player, there's a lot of really cool stuff to be excited about, including some recent trends and changes to the hobby that are just plain awesome. The VGA crew is here to help celebrate some of tho...

This week's release of the prequel game Mafia: The Old Country is as good an excuse as any for us to get nostalgic and take a trip back in time to discuss games that did exactly that, as the VGA crew and special guest Greg Moore pick the best prequel games of all time.   After that, we talk about  Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 , the new Shinobi:...

The recent release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps got us reminiscing about games where you get to team up with friends and create your own fantastic foursome. Whether it's huddling around an arcade cabinet, sharing a couch, or meeting up online, it doesn't take a brainiac like Reed Richards to know that some games are just more fantastic with friends, and the VGA Boyz are here to list our favo...

The VGA crew is going bananas for Donkey Kong Bananza, and we wanted to celebrate the best Donkey Kong game in years with a top 5 retrospective taking you through the various eras of games starring Nintendo's big, lovable ape.  After that, we dig deep and leave no fossil unturned as we talk all things Donkey Kong Bananza, cover this week's news, and more!  Question of the Week : What's your favori...

  The recent Donkey Kong redesign featured in Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza got us thinking about other video game character redesigns. When companies decide it's time for a character to get a new outfit, haircut, or entirely new look, you can always count on people having strong opinions, and we're no exception as we list our favorite game character redesigns of all time.  After that,...

James Gunn's Superman flick just hit theaters, so the VGA Boyz grabbed not one but TWO super guests who happen to be comic book experts for this week's show. SUPERHEROdotVG 's Chris Baker and DC's own Randy Ma join us this week to hash out the best video games featuring the Man of Steel.  Then it's on to way more sports talk than we're used to as TL breaks down the new EA Sports College Football 2...

This weekend America celebrates its Independence Day, so we're paying tribute to our beloved homeland with a show about one of the most American things we can think of: GUNS! Specifically light gun games. We're joined by arcade expert Pastblaster of the Podouken podcast to discuss those glorious games of yore where the only thing standing between polite society and murderous clowns, invading alien...

With Matt away, and left to their own devices, Chris and T.L. decided to do a bit of a looser episode. The Florida Boyz are joined by Tony Wilson from Framework, as they talk about games where the heroes are inspired by heroes from previous games in the franchise.  After that, the guys talk a little about Death Stranding 2, the Capcom Showcase, and much more! Vidjagame Apocalypse theme by  Matthew...

We can't put our Nintendo Switch 2 systems down or get Mario Kart World out of our heads, so while doing laps around the tracks, the VGA boys started thinking about our top kart racing items from across the genre. Guest Jarrett Green joins us to list our favorites, from the most useful, to the wacky and weird, and everything in between.  Then we jump through a portal to discuss Splitgate 2, the Ge...

It's June, which used to mean E3 time, but now just means there are still a ton of huge announcements and places to see new games in Los Angeles, just not at the convention center or E3 itself. And that is why we are calling this our BIG NOT E3 2025 EPISODE! Oh, did we mention there was also the launch of a little thing called the Nintendo Switch 2? Special guest JR Ralls joins us to talk about ou...

The big Nintendo Switch 2 launch is already here, and guest Emmet Watkins Jr. and the VGA Boyz are celebrating the occasion by listing off the top Nintendo system launches of all time. Then we team up to discuss more Elden Ring Nightreign, some Symphonia, Xbox handheld news, and more.  Question of the Week: What's your favorite game system launch of all time and why?    Break song is "Playing with...

Look, it's a short holiday week, so can you blame the VGA Boyz for taking things easy and a bit too literally by celebrating Memorial Day week with a top 5 about... memories? Join us as we look back and... er, remember... our favorite memory sequences and flashbacks in videogames. Then it's on to some Elden Ring Nightrein talk, some Elden Ring movie talk, and more.  Question of the Week: What's a...

Mikel's gone, but the show must go on -- with an all-new third chair and maybe just a tad more soundboard! TL Foster joins Matt and Chris on a more permanent basis, and this all-new VGA triumvirate reboots the show with a very appropriate Top 5: Modern Reboots. Then we duke it out over the  Capcom Fighting Collection 2 , rip and tear into more DOOM: The Dark Ages , wax nostalgic about Retro Classi...

Mikel's farewell show kicks off with our most spoileriffic Top 5 EVER, focusing on games where the hero's death is an unavoidable part of the story - will you tough it out, or skip around with the spoiler-dodging timestamps we throw out before even speaking each entry's name? Once that's done, we'll get into more Doom: The Dark Ages, Revenge of the Savage Planet, Rift Riff, game-industry price-hik...

Inspired by "100 men vs. a gorilla" memes, this week's show sees Tony Wilson of Framework joining us for a Top 5 about games that put the might of an entire swarm at your disposal! We'll also get into Doom: The Dark Ages, Skin Deep, the new GTA 6 trailer, Xbox raising console and game prices, and "antiquated" styles of games that you'd like to see make a comeback. Question of the Week:  Following...

We've been to the "play as a villain" well a bunch of times, but this week's theatrical release of Thunderbolts inspired TL Foster of Welcome to the Thing to join us for a look at games that let you play as whole teams of characters who don't typically play well with others. We'll also get into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a smattering of Switch and Switch 2 news, Epic's court win against Apple, a...

The long-rumored Oblivion remaster was revealed and released on the same day this week, inspiring us to invite merritt k and Anthony Abatte for a chat about five other games that surprise-released on the same day they were revealed. Then we'll get into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (of course), Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Nintendo maybe not having inventory to fulfill My Nintendo S...

Jay and Silent Bob recently arrived in Call of Duty as premium operator skins, but it's hardly the first time actors associated with Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse films have starred in games. Dave Rudden joins us this week to talk about five of 'em, after which we'll talk more about Blue Prince, the Minecraft movie, Switch 2 letting Zelda players repair their weapons with a mobile app, and the m...

This is a big week for strange and cryptic games, and TL Foster of Welcome to the Thing joins to celebrate the release of South of Midnight with a look at five games that explore the supernatural and seamy sides of the American South. We'll also delve into Blue Prince and Promise Mascot Agency, complain about tariffs, speculate about Donkey Kong Bananza, and hear your thoughts about the Switch 2 r...

In this era of multiplatform releases and more-or-less standardized hardware, it can be easy to forget that great games didn't always stay great once they'd made their way to different consoles and computers. In fact, ports that were rushed, incomplete, or just plain lousy used to be common, and this week, we'll look at five of the most infamously bad ones. Then we'll talk about Atomfall, InZoi, a...

Plenty of games let you change your character's clothes, but in how many does it really matter, from a gameplay standpoint? At least five, which we'll talk about this week with model/stylist/game brand strategist and former journo Aiden Strawhun , who also knows how to talk about Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land way better than the rest of us. We'll also get into The...

Assassin's Creed Shadows is out, and we've got IGN's reviewer - friend of the show Jarrett Green - on to talk about Ubi's massive open-world shinobi-and-samurai adventure in feudal Japan! But first, we'll use this as an opportunity to talk about five other games made by western developers, but set in Japan. Once all that's done, we'll talk about the internet's reaction to Karl Urban's Johnny Cage,...

We just passed Mar10 Day this week, and that got us thinking about all the times console makers have thought, "Hey! What if WE had a cute, highly marketable face to sell OUR hardware?" We'll take a look at five of the least successful attempts at machine-exclusive mascots this week, after which we'll get into WWE 2k25 and Wanderstop, share updated thoughts on Monster Hunter Wilds and Suikoden I &...