Some of my favorite episode topics are the ones I couldn't think of. This week on the show I am joined by Drew Mackie from the blog, Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games to talk about his recently released article, Mario 101. In Mario 101, Drew lays out a series of 101 obscure and fun Mario facts over the course of 40,000 words. This is the kind of topic I never would have thought of, which makes it the perfect topic for me to cover on the show. This type of super niche, hyper specific research is my jam and I when I reached out to Drew about coming on the show for a game (something we have yet to plan) we asked if we could talk about this and I jumped at the chance to. This was a really fun conversation about a side of Mario you don't really see. This is Mario 101.

Follow Drew on Bluesky HERE Check out Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games HERE

Shout-out Song: Bob-omb Battlefield Artist: Coffee Date Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: Mario Tape https://gamechops.com/mario-tape-super-mario-lofi/

End Song: Oh Daisy, Daisy! Artist: halc Original Composer: Hirokazu Tanaka Album: N/A https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04066

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We have made it another hundred episodes! For the past few mile marker episodes Ive been focusing on people that have helped me on my podcasting journey and helped make the show what it is and this episode's guest is no different. I am joined by probably my favorite podcaster of all time for this episode, Matt Gourley.

Matt and I talk about how he got started in podcasting, unexpected challenges in podcasting, how he became a part of Conan O'Brien's podcast and we are even joined by a famous deceased author!

Matt was absolutely wonderful and you should go listen to his plethora of podcasts. Superego, I Was There Too, James Bonding, With Gourley and Rust, Pistol Shrimps Radio, Mallwalkin', Bonanas for Bonanza, Keys to the Kingdom, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.

Follow Matt on Instagram HERE Check out Matt's Link Tree HERE

End Song: Fakebit Love Artist: Malmen Original Composer: N/A Album: Fakebit World https://malmenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/fakebit-world

End Song: Sugar Flow Artist: Malmen Original Composer: N/A Album: Fakebit World https://malmenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/fakebit-world

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The moblins are revolting! For the penultimate episode of Dexter and I's look into the Legend of Zelda cartoon we are breaking down episode 12, "The Moblins are Revolting!". I won't sugar coat it, this is probably the worst episode of the Zelda cartoon in a while. Not even the legendary horror icon Elvira could save it either.

Follow Dexter on social media! Instagram BlueSky

Shout-out Song: Dark World Artist: Joshua Morse Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: Zelda Funk https://gamechops.com/zelda-funk/

End Song: Hyrule Castle Artist: Joshua Morse Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: Zelda Funk https://gamechops.com/zelda-funk/

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I obviously love video games and one thing that I wish there was more of a focus on in the online gaming discourse is what other benefits we get from gaming besides the social aspects and hand dexterity etc. In this episode I got to chat with friend of the show Nadia Oxford about her recently released book "From Pixels to Prose: What Video Games Taught Me About Storytelling" from Retro Game Books, which dives into an element of what I mentioned prior, video games teaching us about media in ways we may not expect.

I had a lot of fun chatting with Nadia about her book, about what videos have taught her about storytelling and writing and about who she hopes this book will appeal to. Please go check out her book, its funny, insightful and a wonderful read all around.

Buy Nadia's book HERE

Follow Nadia on Bluesky HERE

Check out Axe of the Blood God on Patreon HERE

Shout-out Song: ABCDE 12345 (Password Screen) Artist: ABSRDST Album: Boss Beats https://gamechops.com/boss-beats/

End Song: Time Stopper (Flash Man) Artist: ABSRDST Album: Boss Beats https://gamechops.com/boss-beats/

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I usually focus on individual games on this show but every now and then I like to take a look at a genre of games (sub genre maybe?) This week on the show I am joined by Jenny Windom who works at Wholesome Games and is one of the people who organizes their Wholesome Games Direct showcase and Wholesome Snack showcase every year. I ask her what to her makes a game "wholesome"? Is there such a thing as too wholesome? How do they curate their game selection? And also if there was a sandwich named after her, what would it be!? This episode was a wholesome delight to record and I hope you all enjoy it!

Find Jenny on Bluesky HERE

Follow Geeks & Grounds on Bluesky HERE Check out the Geeks & Grounds website HERE

Check out The Indie Council on Blueksy HERE

Check out Jenny on YouTube HERE

Shout-out Song: Lullaby Artist: Snail's House Album: Ordinary Songs 3 https://0101.bandcamp.com/album/ordinary-songs-3

End Song: Astro Soda Artist: meganeko & Rymdkraft Album: N/A https://meganeko.bandcamp.com/album/meganeko-rymdkraft-astro-soda

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This episode was recorded LIVE on twitch! This is a rare solo episode for me. I took my panel on the history of James Bond in video games and did a live recording on twitch of it with the presentation! Learn all about Bond's journey through video games and how as the medium has evolved so Bond in games.

Shout-out Song: Necros Attacks Artist: Rich Douglas Original Composer: The Pretenders Album: The Spy Who Chilled Me (A James Bond 007 Lofi Project) https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-spy-who-chilled-me-a-james-bond-007-lofi-project/1808713529

End Song: First Light Artist: Lana Del Rey Album: 007 First Light Soundtrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFPy8rDmPLM

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The console wars of the later '80s and early '90s is the stuff of nostalgia legend. Sega and Nintendo duking it out for video game dominance. While the Genesis/Mega Drive vs the SNES is remembered the most fondly from that era there were other consoles that went head to head as well.... Handheld consoles...

But they all had their lunch money stolen by Nintendo still. Womp womp. However, even in losing to Nintendo's Game Boy there is still a lot you can learn and appreciate about the "loser" handhelds of that era. On this episode of Still Loading I am joined by Gen Moonen from the Fun and Games Podcast to talk about the Sega Game Gear.

In this episode we dive much deeper than this console's battery life (woof 5 hours on 6 AAs). Gen and I talk about why this system is better than people give it credit for, what it did well and what it (obviously) didn't do well and what there still is to explore on the system.

Follow Gen on Bluesky HERE

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Listen to Fun And Games Podcast HERE

Check out Gen's website HERE

Shout-out Song: Chance Meeting Artist: Karl Brueggemann Album: Micropower https://karlbmusic.bandcamp.com/album/micropower

End Song: On the Bubble Artist: Karl Brueggemann Album: Micropower https://karlbmusic.bandcamp.com/album/micropower

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This month's cartoon episode features a lot of Brooklyn. And by a lot I mean a lot of talk and you barely see any of it. My co-host with the mo-host Dexter Morill is back and we have koop of a time chatting about all of Koopa's insults, bizarre pipe shapes, Mario flying and much more!

Follow Dexter on social media! Instagram BlueSky

Shout-out Song: The Flower Garden Artist: Coffee Date Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: Mario Tape https://gamechops.com/mario-tape-super-mario-lofi/

End Song: New Super Mario Bros. Artist: Coffee Date Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: Mario Tape https://gamechops.com/mario-tape-super-mario-lofi/

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Punch a Nazi month is coming to a close once again and to round it out this year I am joined by games writer and journalist Justin Grandfield to talk about Medal of Honor: Allied Assault!

What makes the old Medal of Honor games so special? Are they able to walk they fine line of reverence for our past while also not glorifying it? Is it still a kickass first person shooter!? Justin and I dissect all of this and more in the finale of Punch a Nazi month. This game was the Medal of Honor game that had eluded me for many years. I only had the console games in the series and was desperate to get my hands on this and play it. When I finally did it did not disappoint.

Play. This. Game.

Support Democracy Forward HERE

Follow Justin on Bluesky HERE

Shout-out Song: Road to Tobruk Composer(s): Michael Giacchino Album: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Soundtrack https://youtu.be/7sDnZiTT-vU?si=HJngZ-7ZQePniTWN

End Song: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Main Theme Composer(s): Michael Giacchino Album: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Soundtrack https://youtu.be/-kWeJ9ywQJM?si=cboU5FzTkG8mY8Fs

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In World War II the entirety of France was occupied by the Nazi's. The Saboteur, instead of looking at that time period through the lense of the Allied Expeditionary Force, looks at it through the eyes of the people who lived it.

I'm joined by friend of the show Matt Storm to chat about the 2009 open world game The Saboteur. A game where you take control of the character Sean Devlin, an Irish race car driver and mechanic, as he exacts his revenge on the fascists that killed his best friend. What starts out as a simple revenge mission turns into something much larger as he fights to free Paris from the Nazis.

Matt and I ADORED this game and we had a lot of fun chatting about what makes it so great. We also chat about why it seems to be so overlooked and why that may have been. If you want to punch some Nazis you cannot go wrong with this game.

No spoilers for a while, so you can get a feel of the game without having to worry about the story being spoiled.

Support Democracy Forward HERE

Follow Matt on Bluesky HERE

Checkout Fun and Games Podcast HERE

Check out Reignite Podcast HERE

Shout-out Song: The Saboteur Theme Composer(s): Christopher Young Album: N/A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toE77OuTZkU&list=RDtoE77OuTZkU&start_radio=1

End Song: Electro Swingity Artist: ExoNova Original Composer(s): N/A Album: N/A https://exonova.bandcamp.com/track/electro-swingity

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Punch a N*zi month is back! Three new games all about punching some goddam fascists are being covered and to kick it off I am joined by returning guest, Dave Pietrangelo from Remember 64, to talk about the sequel to the OG FPS game. We are having fun storming the castle with Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein was the first true sequel of the original Wolfenstein 3D since that game had an expansion but not a full-on sequel. Thankfully, even though this game wasn't developed by ID, it is freaking great. This game sticks to a simple FPS formula but it really works. Dave and I had a ton of fun chatting about this one and if you haven't played it yet go punch some N*zis and give it a try.

Support Democracy Forward HERE

Follow Dave on Bluesky HERE

Checkout Remember 64 HERE

Shout-out Song: Cripts & Catacombs (Remix Version) Artist: Antal Dávid Original Composer(s): Bill Brown Album: N/A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqBoblBwDMU

End Song: Doomsday Artist: Robert Slump Original Composer(s): N/A Album: N/A https://robertslump.bandcamp.com/track/doomsday

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