Ep. 181 - All Six Of Them, with Ash Parrish

Game journalist and friend of the show Ash Parrish returns to cover Amiga AI, alien boyfriends, and pynball.

Questions this week:

1. From Heather Alexandra: What game has the tastiest potions? (03:53)
2. What’s something you never want to see in a video game again? (08:27)
3. What are the best achievements in video game AI development? (12:56)
4. Which officially released video games are most transparently fanfiction of other games? (17:37)
5. Design the perfect romancable alien RPG NPC, but make them distinctly nonhuman. (22:27)
6. Dirtbag MoxBagel asks: How would you re-design pinball to be more of a 30 minute game instead of a 3 minute game? (28:40)
7. Have you ever wished a game challenged you a little more? (34:53)
8. What are the best liminal spaces in a video game? (39:41)
9. Has your opinion of a game ever changed after speaking with the developer? (43:53)
10. What is the Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” of video games? (49:52)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Alphanumerous Characters (55:26)

Think you have better answers than the panel? Politely discuss this episode in the Insert Credit forums.

A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED:

• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son by Iron Maiden
• The Seventh Sign (1988)
• Synesthesia
• A Healer Only Lives Twice
• Phantasy Star
• Bayonetta
• Castlevania Holy Water
• C.C. Lemon
• Final Fantasy Potion energy drink
• Bawls
• Mamotte Knight
• Ico
• The Last Guardian
• Enemy: Tempest of Violence
• Final Fight
• River City Ransom
• X-COM
• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
• Lemmings
• Yooka Laylee
• Fantasian
• Doujin games
• Melty Blood
• Touhou fangames
• I Wanna Be The Guy
• Freedom Planet
• Project X Zone
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
• Inuyasha
• Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
• Elcor
• Volus
• Blue humans
• Babylon 5
• Trypophobia (warning: potentially upsetting)
• Tryptophan
• Misophonia
• 3D Pinball
• Pinball Quest
• Devil’s Crush
• Demon’s Tilt
• Alien Crush
• Fantastic Pinball
• Pokemon Pinball
• Sonic Spinball
• Metroid Prime Pinball
• Flipnic: Ultimate Pinball
• Yoku’s Island Express
• It Takes Two
• The Witness
• Nier: Automata
• Deadly Premonition
• Mega Man 2 ending cavern
• Sonic CD soundtrack
• “Games for which there are two soundtracks, and both are good” on the Insert Credit Forums
• Black Athena: How Hades Gets Its Gods Right by Ash Parrish
• Slap Happy Rhythm Busters
• Miles Davis “Kind of Blue”
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Spec-Ops: The Line
• Wii Sports
• Take Five
• Street Fighter IV
• Mortal Kombat III

Recommendations:

Ash: Kotaku Splitscreen, twitter.com/adashtra

Brandon: Fourth Dimension, Melinda’s Hot Sauce

Frank: Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce

Jaffe: The Unknown (1927)

This Week’s Insert Credit Art Jam Topic: Cheating

Edited by Esper Quinn. Original Music by Kurt Feldman.