Januwhat

Players

Squidge

Jay

The B

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Content Warning

This episode container spoilers for the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch. If you haven’t experienced Bandersnatch yet, and want to avoid spoliers then please skip this episode. There are one or two swears in this episode, but I’ve made a point of bleeping them out. So

from a swears point of view, at least

it should be safe to play around little ones.

Notes

It’s the first proper episode of 2019, and we had lots of fun recording it

back in early January 2019

we start with a little news about a new service that this podcast

and a bunch of others

is part of: Jay & Jay Media. Squidgey drops a thanks, near the top of the episode:

Squidge

For everyone that was involved: thanks guys. It never fails to put a smile on my face

Which is his thanks for everyone who was involved in the Hello Squidgey Project. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I’d recommend going back and giving it a listen, as it’s loads of fun

the previous link has an embedded player

I talk about my new PC in this episode and why I needed to order one. I wont spoil why I needed a new one here, but I will say that it has since arrived and it is wonderfully fast. In the hopes that you can laugh at me for my hardware choices, here are it’s specs:

As I’m a developer, and spend very little time playing games on my PC, I settled on a Linux distribution called Ubuntu Mate. I’m a big fan of Ubuntu, and it’s one of the distros with support for Steam and Proton

it just requires a lot of faff to get working

Which leads us to the least believable part of the Resident Evil 5 ending. I then start a conversation about the GPD, and how Ik

long time friend of the show and occasional joke writer

had asked some questions about it and getting a better, more stable, less malware infected OS on it. I’d recommended that he look into “LegacyROM” for those reasons, and more. Which sets us off talking about how PSX emulators use a technique where they draw “junk” on the screen and how, without it, you can end up with parts of the visuals missing. Which leads us into a conversation with the Arcade Attack dudes, on their first episode of 2019. Then we spend almost the entirety of the rest of the episode talking about the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch, Squidgey tells us that he hasn’t seen any Black Mirror shows but has seen (and really enjoyed) Dead Set.

interestingly, on the day of release, the Arcade Attack dudes had just released an episode on Bandersnatch, too

B and I talk about the Bandersnatch game from Imagine Software, and how the title comes from Alice in Wonderland. With the Imagine Software game being based on the character from Alice in Wonderland, and the Black Mirror episode being based on the Imagine Software game - and there being a part where you literally climb through a looking glass

which is the old name for a mirror

We then talk about some of the endings for Black Mirror, and how there’s even an ending that the director apparently doesn’t know how to find. There’s even an ending which includes a download for the Nozdyve game. Squidgey then tells us that he really doesn’t like stories without any “light at the end of the tunnel”, so B and I talk through the episodes that we think he should definitely watch:

• San Junepero
• Hang The DJ

These two episodes present the nicest endings along with great story lines

especially Hang The DJ

whereas I recommend that Squidgey stays away from Metal Head. The other episodes have bleak endings, so we recommend that he stays away from them. B then mentions the very first episode of Black Mirror: The National Anthem, which is more of a dark comedy than the black Sci-Fi show that the other episodes portray. I then bring up Nose Dive, which is a pretty good episode with a lot of social commentary

even for a Black Mirror episode

also, the Chinese Government are trying something very similar

I’d recommend this episode of Planet Money, which talks about it

We then switch it up (and go back to the point of the podcast), and talk about the games we’ve been playing.

Just as a quick aside: we decided to have some “pallet cleanser” music in this episode. This was essentially just a way for us to give you all a chance to take a break from the discussion on Black Mirror and mentally relax before we talked about the games we’ve been playing. As such, I just want to point out that the pallet cleanser music is a track called: “Breath Deep Breath Clear (Wu Chi)” by Siobhan Dakay. Because it’s a free song and covered by a Creative Commons license, I have to

and want to, because it’s a great song

Breath Deep Breath Clear (Wu Chi) by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/58520 Ft: Panu, Kara Square I would definitely check this song out. It got both the Squidgey “Thumbs up of approval” and the Jay “head nod of chill factor 10”… so that’s good.

B drops the bomb that two thirds of the games he has been playing recently are NOT on the Nintendo Switch

I was as shocked as you are

One of which is Tetris Effect. I honestly can’t remember a time when B was so bowled over by what is, effectively, a Tetris game. Then again, it’s so much more than just another Tetris game - otherwise it wouldn’t be on a lot of Game of the Year lists. He really does love this game, and even puts on Let’s Plays of it (without commentary) when he’s working, because the music is so good. He’s also been playing Return of the Obra Dinn, which is from the creators of Papers Please. It similar to Papers Please, except that instead of filling in forms you’re trying to solve the mystery of the deaths of the crews of the Obra Dinn. It definitely sounds like one to look into if you’re a fan of The Sexy Brutal. And B’s final game for this episode is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Switch

because of course he needs to mention the Nintedo Switch on the show

TheB

If you like Smash Brothers, it’s Smash Brothers

I mean, that’s one of the many things you can say about it. B’s a fan, but there are things he doesn’t like too much

I’ll let you listen to the episode in order to find out what

Before we get to the discussion on a “certain board game”

check the links of interest section for the episode where we announced it

I wanted to talk about the games I’ve been playing recently. They’re all retro games too, so there’s nothing “new” on the list. The first of which is Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. I finally agree with everyone else that the sequel was a much better game, and not just because of Escape From The City

which is one of the most fun bass lines to play

The second of which is the Sega Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog. This version of Sonic’s first outing is completely different to the Mega Drive/Genesis version. Well, it’s not completely different: it’s still a fast (ish) paced platformer. But there are big enough differences, in both the game play and canon, of this game that seasoned players of the MD/G version will be left a little stunned. All because it wasn’t even made by Sega. One game that I don’t really count

but I’ve included in the list below, because why not

is Super Hang-On. But I only played a little of that because I suck at it, got frustrated with how bad I am at playing it, and nearly threw my GPD across the room. B then drops the bomb that I’m really just Ryu from Shenmue. Which I can’t really argue with, if I’m, honest. And Squidgey give me some life advice for playing Super Hang-On. And the final game that I’ve been playing is the OG Director’s Cut of the Resident Evil for PSX. I got stuck because I’d triggered a sequence where Barry turns up when you find Forest, which confused me into thinking that Forest didn’t have any items on his person. But I didn’t get very far before I got munched by Yawn

a.k.a the giant snake

because I was trying to cheat and run around it, rather than fight it. Squidgey then goes into a lot of detail as to how the “cheat” works. And B gives us a terrible joke to end the show on. You’ll have to join us next time for the list of games that Squidgey has been playing.

B’s Recent Games

• Tetris Effect
• Return of the Obra Dinn
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

GaProgMan’s Recent Games

• Sonic Adventure
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Super Hang-On
• Resident Evil Director’s Cut

Links of Interest

• Hello Squidgey Project
• GPD XD - I Have The Power
• The Sexy Brutal: The Wobbly Doodah
• Finally Dropping the Bomb - With JZ

External Links of Interest

• Jay & Jay Media
• Hollywood & Levine
• Ubuntu Mate
• LegacyROM
• Resident Evil Chat with The Waffling Taylors!
• Bandersnatch and Choose Your Own Adventure Chat
• Late Shift
• The Infectious Madness of Doctor Decker
• China’s Social Credit System

Music

Links to the music used in the podcast can be found below. Definitely check them out, because they're amazing tracks by awesome musicians.

• Intro music is Behind the Lines by Ian Sutherland
• Spoiler Break music is Spectrum (Subdiffusion Mix) by Foniqz (BandCamp)
• Pallet Cleanser music is Breath Deep Breath Clear (Wu Chi) by Siobhan Dakay
• Outro Music is I N e e d Y o u 私の側て by G.H (removed from BandCamp)