Featured Image

First of all, we’d like to thank the amazing yurricanes for working with us to create the featured image for this episode. I think you’ll agree that it’s an amazing piece of art, and you should definitely check out their work.

Players

Squidge

Jay

The B

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Content Warning

As always, there are a few bleeped swears in this episode. But there are even fewer than last time, which is a good thing.

There’s a description of the game Dead Space Extraction at 36 minutes which started to get a little distrubing, due to the mechanic of the game

we end up talking about having to dismember the enemies

so bear that in mind as you listen please, folks.

There’s also a joke where we the acronym STD in the 57th minute, too.

Notes

WE’RE GOING TO EGX!

Before you get to the show notes proper, I wanted to quickly bring up that we’re going to EGX this year.

And we’re back for episode 51. Can you believe that we’ve made 51 of these?! It’s been a crazy ride for sure.

We start off exactly where we left off: with me asking The B if he has any games that he’d like to put into the Cupboard of Shame. Since his career has been in games journalism, I’d have thought that he’d had played a lof of really bad games, but he chose to avert my expectations and put a really good series of games

like, all of them

into the Cupbard of Shame. Although, they’re only going in because he was unsure that he’d like them before playing them

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

So, more like an honourable mention then?

I won’t say which series, but I will say that the movie is the only good video game movie ever made. It’s a game which tells stories of murder, thievery, and assault, but it’s incredibly fun to play and the localisation is spot on.

Seriously, I can’t say enough good things about the movie. Which lead us into a spoiler alert because of our discussion of it and the game series.

honestly, you should watch this movie if you have the chance

Our discussion of that particular series of games revolves around how well the original

i.e. Japanese

story is that good, and how the localisation in English is spot on. Especially when compared to the disaster

from my point of view, anyway

of the translation “effort” which went into Final Fantasy XIII.

We then change topic completely and try out a themed portion of the episode. This week;s topic is: Light Gun games.

We start the discussion on Light Gun games with the story of how I completely destroyed one of the hardest challenges on the PlayStation version of Point Blank

the leaf challenge, while standing on one leg, with an arm behind your back, an one eye closed

Then Squidge tells us just how good he is at The House of the Dead 3, to the point where he was able to consistently get a better score than someone who had challenged him. On a related note: I wish that I would have filmed him playing the original House of the Dead at Arcade Club in Leeds - he’s so good at it.

Life pro top: Always pronounce Duck Hunt with a glottal stop between each word otherwise you’ll end up saying something which sounds like a swear.

I then put my teaching hat on and give us all a quick run down of the history of Light Gun games and Sega; starting in 1931 and covering how the Nakamura Manufacturing Company got it’s more well known name.

who said that games weren’t educational

We then discuss our favourite Light Gun games, starting with Squidge’s favourites, his annoyance of having to calibrate the gun each time that he played, and the ability to play the game using a standard controller (if you didn’t have a Light Gun). Also his love of shooting monkeys in video games comes back up.

The B’s favourite console based Light Gun games were based on the wacky-ness of them, rather than a series based on violence

which is standard fair for Light Gun games

But his favourite arcade Light Gun title was Police 24/7 (also know as Police 911 in America), which used a fantastic proto-Kinect system. The idea was that you would stand in front of screen, shooting enemies, but you would also have to physically dodge out of the way of enemy bullets. With Luigi’s Mansion Arcade being a very, very, close second - it really brings you into the game, and breaks the mould of the standard Light Gun game. Which reminds Squidge of Gun Slinger, and we discuss the end of that game.

And Squidge brings up the Silent Hill arcade game, just to make a fart joke

because we’re that classy, here at The Waffling Taylors

before we discuss the ridiculous nature of the first Resident Evil Survivor game - for the original PlayStation - and how bad the dialogue is, even for Resident Evil standards, too.

And that reminds me of the Resident Evil Pachinko Slot machine game - also known as “Biohazard Pachi-Slot” - which was a strange entry into the Resident Evil canon, too.

Interestingly enough, Squidge and The B picked free movement light Gun games - where the Light Guns are attached the to cabinet with a cable, and you are able to move around - but my favourite Light Gun game is a fixed one - where the guns are mounted onto the cabinet and you can’t move them.

We then discuss home console releases: which are our favourites. Not surprisingly, Squidge starts by talking about the Wii releases of the Resident Evil Light Gun games. Considering just how many of them there are, the Resident Evil series hasn’t had that many bad games

we don’t talk about the squad based shooter one

Then Squidge brings up Link’s Crossbow Training for the Wii and how it was, essentially, a tutorial for a mini game in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword & The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess

Nintendo cashing in on a beloved series?! The Devil, you say!

Whereas The B brings up Dead Space: Extraction as an overlooked Light Gun game

perhaps because of the debacle that was Dead Space 3

After a discussion on the rambling storylines in the Dead Space series, I bring up a question for the Wafflers:

Jay's Avatar Jay

Should they invent a system which would allow you to play Light Gun games at home again, would you be interested in playing them? And Are there any particular series that you would like to bring back?

But before they can respond, I wanted to briefly explain a few of the techniques that early Light Gun games used, in order to track the gun peripherals - including why they don’t work on modern TVs.

but not before I get

To which The B brings up Beat Sabre, Rez, and Tetris Effect - which are all in a similar vein to his Light Gun choices: slightly whacky, off the beaten track. Whereas Squidge comes up with quite possibly the greatest idea for 80’s action movie tie-ins ever. I then take his idea and run - a little - with it.

But we all agree that the future of Light Gun games is VR headsets.

Squidge’s Favourite Light Gun Games

  • The House of the Dead
    • Specifically the Sega Saturn version

The B’s Favourite Light Gun Games

  • Point Blank (series)
  • Police 24/7
  • Luigi’s Mansion Arcade

Jay’s Favourite Light Gun Games

  • Alien 3: The Gun
  • The House of the Dead
  • Time Crisis (series)

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.

All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners. Please see the above list for copyright details pertaining to music used.

Games Covered

We mentioned 38 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: