The Insert Credit Show

Ep. 453 - Mega Duck and Cougar Boy

Frank, Ash, and Brandon answer Jaffe’s questions about simple ways to improve any game, documentary video game adaptations, and turning consoles into anime girls.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: What is something simple you can add to any video game to make it immediately better? (03:53)

2: Is there something you’ve encountered in a game you can only explain as an inside joke? (10:43)

3: What are your standard practices for saving your game? (16:26)

4: Design anthropomorphized versions of obscure video game consoles for a Hyperdimension Neptunia reboot (21:48)

5: Death_Strandicoot asks, what would be the best documentary to adapt into a video game? (30:57)

6: What games in the Game Industry Hardship Bundle do you think Frank, Ash, and Insert Credit listeners would like most? (36:30)

7: Whos a cool lady? (42:23)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Verb Coding (48:17)

Recommendations and Outro (56:36):

Brandon: NEWDERY Stick Grips, Beatdown City Survivors, Napalm Death: Tiny Desk Concert
Ash: Clytemnestra, Platform Decay, Ancillary Justice
Jaffe: Absolute Wonder Woman

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

10 August 2026, 7:12 am

Ep. 451 - Big Dick 3, with Stella Sacco

Writer and narrative designer Stella Sacco joins Brandon and Esper to cover pandering in games, T4T energy, and dokidokidecahedrons.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: What’s the difference between catering to an audience and pandering to an audience? (03:59)

2: What are some things video game writers have to do that most people don’t think about? (09:19)

3: Are there any examples of studio notes improving a game? (14:42)

4: Which video game romance has the most T4T energy? (21:51)

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER: Gen Z/Gen Alpha Only! What was your first video game? (27:16)

5: Gaagaagiins asks, why is Mario’s mustache black, but his hair is brown? (35:16)

6: In video games with dialogue, is it always preferable to have voice acting? (42:11)

7: What is the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) of video games? (52:57)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Giallo Films (58:40)

Recommendations and Outro (01:11:43):

Stella: The Tainted Cup
Esper: Magic Every Day with Esper Quinn starting August 3, Twinbeard Plays Mario
Brandon: KALX, Poil - Pikiwa, Chubby Checker - Dig Dug, The Anime Corner Store, Freeway (1996)

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Brandon Sheffield, Esper Quinn, and Stella Sacco. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

27 July 2026, 9:50 am

Ep. 450 - The Italian Hyphen

The panel covers game cancellations, Gen Z’s first games, and consummating a game.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: What game do you think was the first game for the highest percentage of Gen Z gamers? (03:14)

2: What was the longest you have been stuck on a video game? (08:52)

3: What’s the hardest you’ve ever been hit by a video game cancellation? (15:32)

4: If you could replace the words “Press Start” on video game start up screens with any other phrase, what would it be? (21:50)

5: Propelleher asks, what video game character would you trust to house sit for you while you’re away? (26:44)

6: What do you predict will be the final non-Nintendo game released on a disc? (32:49)

7: What is the Chubby Checker’s “Let’s Twist Again” of video games? (36:05)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Micro Maker (41:25)

Recommendations and Outro (52:12):

Brandon: Flamin’ Hot Doritos, dried jackfruit, check out your local physical media place and just look around
Frank: That’s It Organic Fruit Crunchables, figure out how to consume media without watching ads because the social contract has been broken
Ash: Fla-Vor-Ice

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Gen Z/Gen Alpha listeners ONLY! Send a one minute or less .mp3 or .wav of yourself sharing your first video game, the games you remember your older siblings playing, or what you think the final Prima Strategy Guide was to [email protected] and maybe we’ll play it on air in a future episode!

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

20 July 2026, 10:14 am

Ep. 449 - Gathering Lavender, with Jesse Thorn

Legendary podcaster and founder of Maximum Fun Jesse Thorn joins Ash and Brandon for summer speedruns, a Def Jam: Vendetta update, and the besta Bethesda.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: What’s going on with speedrunning lately? (04:30)

2: How are old bad games bad differently from how new bad games are bad? (11:32)

3: Design a new Def Jam fighting game for 2026 (17:11)

4: Are video games artsy? (25:27)

5: LeFish asks, would you rather live one year of your life with big head mode, loudly speak like a Mario, or only be able to walk like you’re tank controlled? (34:07)

6: What’s the best-a Bethesda? (43:27)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Equip This On (56:33)

Recommendations and Outro (01:21:18):

Jesse: Delete Out of the Park Baseball off your work computer, The Larry Sanders Show, Vincent Price Art Museum, Vincent Price vs. Peter Lorre in Wine Tasting Contest
Ash: Unbeatable OST, Theater of Blood (1973)
Brandon: Stella Chang’s music, the films of Marc Price

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield and Jesse Thorn. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

13 July 2026, 6:29 am

Ep. 448 - Werewolf Cancellation

Our illustrious panel covers the end of games on discs, Marathon Steve, and how much money Ash has spent on Love and Deepspace.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: Can we address Sony? (06:20)

2: What’s the longest you’ve played a game before realizing you were playing it the wrong way? (12:50)

3: What are the most inventive ways the camera has been used in a video game? (17:56)

4: What should Jaffe do about the fan response to his popular romance game? (24:21)

5: spencergifs asks, how long should it take to make a game? (34:15)

6: On which non-video game subjects does most or all of your knowledge on them come from video games? (40:35)

7: What is The Godfather Part III (1990) of video games? (46:07)

LIGHTNING ROUND: The Price is Sprite (52:04)

Recommendations and Outro (01:04:59):

Frank:
- matttt - comic & manga history
Brandon:
Auntie Ash’s Self-Care Corner:
- Take your shirt off
- Write shit down

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

6 July 2026, 12:00 pm

Ep. 447 - Formative Game Uncles

Frank, Ash, and Brandon answer questions about episodic games, the ever-changing "average gamer," and full-frontal Mario.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: When should a game be released in chapters as opposed to all at once? (04:28)

2: How old should a game be before it gets a remake? (09:54)

3: What would you consider the worst timed video game releases in history? (15:18)

4: What is an uncle game? (20:06)

5: Room Check! (29:39)

6: SuperDQP asks, which game franchise should get a “the movie the game” treatment? (38:45)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Pride or Die (46:12)

Recommendations and Outro (57:50):

Brandon:
- not any of the Jaws sequels
- Nirvana X-Rom - Wired Into Your Brain
- Priscilla Page’s Predator and Prey essays
- Karaoke Videos - 99% Invisible
- InnerSpiral’s I Built This Body To Hold Yours
- Jim Wilson’s Center Core Never More
- seiji oda - LAST SUMMER
Ash: Road to Empress II or maybe not because it has a lot of Gen AI
Jaffe: give us money! Or leave a review

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

29 June 2026, 8:19 am

Ep. 446 - Extra Capitalismishness

The panel you know and love discusses the video game industry crash, Grand Theft Auto VI expectations, and the human body’s fun port.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

1: Are we in a video game industry crash? (06:47)

2: Is there any scenario where Grand Theft Auto VI is a flop? (11:18)

3: What are the biggest tells that a once ambitious game developer is beginning to rest on their laurels? (15:22)

4: What QA notes do you have for the developers of reality? (21:33)

5: Dillson asks years ago, who will the next developer or publisher or voice actor to announce an NFT project? (27:35)

6: On a personal level, what video games most engage your imagiation? (34:16)

7: What are the best games to have on your phone when kids ask if you have games on your phone? (39:47)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Game Namers (44:20)

Recommendations and Outro (01:04:48):

Ash: Duppy Detective Tashia, thank a black person in your life, thank a queer person in your life
Brandon: Submit your game to the Game Industry Hardship Fund, Zdzisława Sośnicka, Japanese instrumental Jazz Fusion and Light Jazz playlist for Ash

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

22 June 2026, 11:42 am

Ep. 445 - The Video Game Stork

Your Insert Credit panel covers the rest of the news from Summer Game Fest, where games come from, and Mortal Kombat fetishism.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

1: Anything interesting at the other summer game events we didn’t cover last time? (05:36)

2: What are we going to do when every triple-A new game has AI? (19:37)

Ys series

3: What other Final Fantasy characters should be distributed to fighting games? (21:14)

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER: What do YOU think the John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (1972) of video games is? (29:48)

4: Connrr asks, where do video games come from? (32:28)

5: If you were programming a video game orchestral concert, what obscure track would you drop in there? (38:45)

6: What is the One Piece of video games? (45:15)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - AFI’s Top 100 Film Quotes (50:47)

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 MOVIE QUOTES

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:12):

Brandon: Hey, Sexuality by Lorelei and the Ghost, The Great Silence (1968), Shopping (1994), Game Industry Hardship Fund, ElFamosoDemon
Frank: Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Ash: Kotaku, Casiopea
Jaffe: BIG BOOL

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

15 June 2026, 9:59 am

Ep. 444 - Trickle-Down Justice

Our heroes confront Summer Game Fest, questions of manners when talking to swords, and another trip to the Omegaverse.

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SHOW NOTES:

1: What did you think of the PlayStation State of Play? (05:19)

2: Why do we do these and who are they for? (16:47)

3: If you could insert one sentence into Geoff Keighley’s teleprompter at Summer Game Fest this year, what would it be? (21:10)

4: CaptainNAC asks, which game would you pick as the secret handle to open a hidden passageway behind a false wall? (26:45)

5: What would you guess are the first five mods a community typically makes for a video game? (35:27)

6: What is the John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (1972) of video games? (40:03)

Send a one minute or less .mp3 or .wav of yourself explaining your choice for the John Waters’ Pink Flamingos of Video Games (or why The Godfather Part II might have been advertised using a pink flamingo) to [email protected] and maybe we’ll play it on air in a future episode!

LIGHTNING ROUND: Omegaversus (44:42)

Omegaverse

Recommendations and Outro (01:11:34):

Brandon: Read Only Memo, Dirty Kopz (2001)
Frank: The Video Game History Hour Ep. 156 - Read Only Memo
Ash: Find something you like on Archive of Our Own and leave a comment and kudos on something you like

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

8 June 2026, 9:42 am

Ep. 443 - It's Da Freakin' Bat, with Lucy James

Podcaster and Summer Games Fest host Lucy James joins the panel to cover Hideo Kojima’s AI use, playing as a cat in games, and GamemasterAnthony’s pride parade.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

1: What’s the most ludicrous video game press release you’ve ever seen? (05:28)

2: How is AI viewed in Japanese development? (11:27)

Hideo Kojima's AI Prada video prompts outcry from gamers

3: What’s your favorite thing to be in a video game? (14:25)

4: How would you explain Minecraft to Zohran Mamdani? (20:41)

Zohran Mamdani
Minecraft
Boris Johnson
Sadiq Khan
Meijer
A Minecraft Movie (2025)
Jack Black
Bubsy
The video of a zombie in a mine cart (thanks to Sandwich Jones for finding this for me)
Demonschool
Pathologic 2
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Marvel Spider-Man
Cities: Skylines
Tropico
Sid Meier’s Civilization series
Disco Elysium
Tim Walz
Crazy Taxi

5: Catherine asks, which video game characters would you expect to show up at Pride? (28:10)

6: What lines from or aspects of video games have permeated your real life? (34:39)

7: What is The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) of video games? (43:43)

LIGHTNING ROUND: OC Remix (49:09)

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:17):

Frank: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight,
Brandon: Vote for gov’nah if you’re Californian, Sega-16’s Mike Fischer interview, the first and second Abashiri Prison movies but not the third one
Ash: Touch grass
Lucy: Widow’s Bay, lookingfor.game

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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1 June 2026, 4:23 pm

Ep. 442 - Even More Questions Too Stupid for the Dirtbag, with Esper Quinn

Editor and media critic Esper Quinn joins Ash and Brandon in answering more questions from the insert credit forum.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

1: marurun asks, who is the most pointlessly bland fighting game character? Moreso than “guy in a karate gi”. (03:17)

2: ana asks, what’s the most common hidden gem? (05:55)

3: yeso asks, has anyone ever cried at one of the Leisure Suit Larry death scenes? (07:48)

4: SteveWithaB asks, is it time to retire the term “gamer”? (11:06)

5: Tradegood asks, if Xbox is Mountain Dew and Doritos, and Nintendo is Coca-Cola and Pringles, what is Sony? (13:40)

6: Death_Strandicoot asks, who should be the first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Video Games? (16:16)

7: Mnemogenic asks, how would you adapt a 10 yen game into a big budget AAA video game? (18:24)

8: Taliesin_Merlin asks, design an Amy Rose video game based on one of the following novel premises. (20:41)

9: Tom asks, what are the seven basic game genres? (23:33)

The Seven Basic Plots

10: mtvcribs asks, what happened to thong-era final fantasy (26:19)

11: mack41 asks, is Google Maps cop warning alert a strand game? (29:07)

12: beets asks, if you were going to make a table from videogame hardware, what would you use? (30:53)

13: rootfifthoctave asks, is sega the company that gets the most “[not-sega game] feels like a [sega] game” comments spoken about it? (32:24)

14: KingTubb asks, how often do the following characters change their bed sheets: (35:11)

15: PassionQuotient asks, what’s the video game equivalent of reading all of Shakespeare? What about James Joyce? (38:26)

16: Kiki asks, what’s Jollibee? (41:07)

17: YellerDog asks, what game is the most fun with the worst graphics? What game is the least fun with the best graphics? (42:58)

18: adashtra asks, What is the “telling your puppy to stop biting your feet, but he’s so dang cute you don’t wanna yell at him” of video games? (45:20)

Animal Crossing series

LIGHTNING ROUND: Arcade of Our Own (48:58)

Recommendations and Outro (01:05:42):

Brandon: some of The Magnificent Seven sequels but not others, Possession (1981), microchip your animals
Ash: Is God Is (2026)
Esper: Esper Quinn's Top 10 Hottest Games of 2025, Witch Hat Atelier, Absolute Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, The Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic
Jaffe: Read Berserk at work

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.

25 May 2026, 9:46 am