Or: Burning Questions with Justin Hamm
Welcome to a very special Nerds Without Pants! After two years of Julian CONSTANTLY singing the praises of the No One Can Know About This podcast we are joined by the hosts of that very show: Jeff and Ryan! It’s a short but sweet visit with these awesome dudes, and then Julian and Justin talk about a bunch of fun stuff after the break. Enjoy!
The “Golden Age” started here.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy IV. Originally released on July 19, 1991, it was a momentous event due in no small part to the fact that this was the first in the series to debut on the Super Famicom. It was released to critical acclaim, and once again several months later when it came to the US on the Super Nintendo as Final Fantasy II (since we missed the first two sequels on the NES). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play it until a decade later, when it was re-released as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles. And although I was late experiencing my first 16-bit RPG, it was undoubtedly worth the wait.
Or: Justin versus Google
On this episode of Nerds Without Pants it’s all about family, for reasons. Turns out there are some really interesting examples of family dynamics in video games, so this is a pretty good episode I think. Tell the people you love that you love them.
The Great Escape
Out of this World (aka Another World) was initially developed and released for the Amiga and Atari ST personal computers by French game designer Eric Chahi in 1991. The game was later ported to the Super Nintendo, among other home consoles. Out of this World garnered much praise for its intriguing visual style and storytelling ability. In most games from this era, text or dialogue was usually the vehicle used to drive the story forward. But this one did it differently. Instead, the ever-changing situations, dangers, and victories all worked together to tell the story without a word.
Journey to the belly of the beast.
If you ever want to know how Konami became so successful, just look at their arcade history of the 1980s. Not only were the games entertaining, but there was also a good chance that their best hits would appear on NES and a wealth of other home consoles. Life Force was no exception. Released initially as Salamander in Japan 35 years ago today, the game came to America as Life Force and received an NES port two years later.
Or: The Three Amicos.
After over a month of not recording, the Nerds Without Pants are back with a new episode! Unfortunately, this episode was cursed, and there are a lot of technical issues that we tried our best to fix in post. Also, this one goes off the rails and stays that way the entire time thanks to Friend Of The Show and Podcast Saboteur Mike Fallek. Strap in, because...dang.
We're back on our b.s.
Hey hey! It's weird typing this a month before this episode drops, but here we are. Nerds Without Pants continues its deep dive into the PlayStation 2. I'll be honest, I don't remember what ground we cover here, but I know we hit Final Fantasy, so that's cool. Does anyone enjoy these, really? I guess we'll find out.
Platforming perfection
On October 23, 1988, Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto and his crack team of Nintendo EAD ninjas released Super Mario Bros. 3 in Japan. To coincide with its US launch 16 months later, Nintendo produced a commercial featuring kids clamoring for the game like it was the second coming of Christ. The hype was intense, and it worked exceedingly well. The game went on to exceed the first one in sales, fandom, and legendary status. Mario and the crew had undeniably hit their stride.
Oops, we did it again...
Welcome to a special edition of Nerds Without Pants! The guys are having to take a break from regular recordings, so we got together a few months ago to do another of these silly list things, because you all seemed to like it the first time around. This time, it's the PlayStation 2! Join us for a walk down memory lane.
There never was any magic, was there?
There is nary a soul out there who hasn’t seen or heard of Snoopy- that lovable beagle in the Peanuts comic dating back to the 1950s. Having existed across various forms of media, it was only a matter of time before Snoopy and friends would end up on a Nintendo system or two. Such was the case in 1990 when Kemco released Snoopy’s Magic Show on the Game Boy. A few years later, one of my sister’s school friends let my brother borrow this game, which I eventually played and completed. Returning to this game as an adult, I have no idea how kid me finished it without a broken spirit.
