Living The Nerd Life Podcast

Zach Fleeman returns to expand on his curious pick of a 1994 Game Boy game (that then released on Virtual Console in 2011) for his 2014 Game of the Year. And with that, we explore the history of pre-Rare Donkey Kong, the often confusing structure of Nintendo development teams and chat a bit about how cool the Super Game Boy was (and how sad it was that no one really took advantage of it).    Show Notes: Chase wrote a GOTG SP post all about the Super Game Boy. And check out Zach’s video review of DK ‘94 on his YouTube Channel.

Pierce Courchaine returns to talk about one of the PS Vita’s (and PS3 and PS4, for that matter) best games: Sound Shapes. We break down the tracks that got us grooving the most, get a little too inside baseball on the controls and Chase gets all melty when it comes to Beck. Show Notes: If you’re interested. Here are links to Chase’s Mega Man 2 and FTL stages.

2014 has come to a close, and like last year, we’ve gathered show regulars Matt Giguere and Zach Fleeman to discuss the best handhelds and mobile had to offer.  While too many games to count are discussed on the episode, if you want a condensed look at what games each of us loved, our personal Top 5 lists will be posted here throughout the coming week.  Thanks so much for being a part of Gamers on the Go. It’s hard to believe that we’ll be reaching our third year this April. We’ve gotten a lot of great guests and talked about a lot of great games, and we look forward to continuing to deliver more of that in the future.  Show Notes: Zach’s Youtube Channel can be found here. And here’s the Donkey Kong ‘94 review video he referenced in the show. If you’re a music fan, you’ve got to check out Matt’s podcast, Shuffled.

It’s only been six episodes since we last talked about Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, but hey, we got Ty Frahm back, so let’s talk about the newest iteration of everyone’s favorite pocket monster battling franchise.  Show Notes: See Ty’s drawing-a-day Tumblr page here. Chase discusses Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth near the end of the show. After playing some more, a few of his concerns were assuaged (you can fuse Personas eventually), but it still remains as a weak entry into the franchise. Just play P4G again instead.  

Gamers on the Go platinum member, Matt Giguere returns to talk about the newest big Nintendo title on the 3DS. We chat about the series’ past, how the new game compares, how we imagine Amiibo working and discuss in a very calm and civilized manner about how the cutting of Lucas is a pure unadulterated travesty (OK, maybe Chase isn’t so calm about it.)  

Yacht Club Games’ Nick Wozniak and Sean Velasco join Chase to discuss their love letter to Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom gaming, Shovel Knight.  Hear how Yacht Club Games began, how Shovel Knight went from Kickstarter dream to award-winning reality, and how the game might’ve been different it it had just made its original $75,000 goal. Show Notes: Learn more about Shovel Knight and grab yourself a copy of the game at shovelknight.com Shovel Knight is a pretty faithful NES game…except when it’s not. Read this great piece by Yacht Club’s David D'Angelo on Gamasutra about where it made sense to break from the authenticity. Snag Shovel Knight’s awesome Jake Kaufman-composed soundtrack here. It’s pay what you want! And keep up with Yacht Club games on their Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch pages.

For Episode 31, we dive back into one of Chase’s top 10 Game Boy games ever, The Pokemon Trading Card Game.  Sam Chandler lends his significant PTCG knowledge for this blast from the past. And we discuss why the sequel never made it to our shores and whether we’ll ever see PTCG show up on the Virtual Console.  

Director of Publishing & PR @Harmonix and Project Lead on @RecordRun, John Drake comes on to talk about the newest mobile game from the music-minded developer. John gives us a candid rundown of Harmonix’s history with handhelds, the story behind the timing of releasing Record Run during the Amplitude Kickstarter and definitively restates that no, no one is currently working on Rock Band 4 (yet). Show Notes: Download Record Run on iOS or Google Play for FREE! VidRhythm is also FREE on iOS. This episode was recorded before the news of Harmonix’s restructuring. Read more about that on Polygon.

Former Bitmob community writer, current Destructoid community writer and fellow pokemaniac Marcel Hoang makes his Gamers on the Go debut to discuss Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, the beginning of the third generation of Pokemon games and a refresh of the popular series.  Marcel lends his considerable knowledge about competitive Pokemon play, offering a stark contrast to Chase’s “catch ‘em all” attitude. Sorry about some of the audio issues present in this episode. There was some echo we just couldn’t quite kill. Also, we tried upping the bitrate a little for this episode. Hopefully, we can put it all together in future episodes. Show Notes: To read Marcel’s full write up on Ruby & Sapphire’s metagame, you can find it on GamesBeat here. Pokemon commercials are always fun. Watch them all at these three links.  

On this special episode of Gamers on the Go, Chase has traveled to Boston to see the great handheld (and some not handheld) games on the showfloor of PAX East 2014. Along with East Coast Correspondent Matt Giguere, we talk about a ton of promising indie titles that are coming to a Vita near you.

Shuffled’s Matt Giguere returns to chat about Metroid Prime Hunters: a sort of black sheep in the Metroid series.  We also discuss the pathetic history of first-person shooters on handheld systems, the death of Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection and Chase makes an impromptu endorsement of Vlambeer’s new game, Luftrausers.

Back from the holidays, we’re starting 2014 right with CEO of Swedish developer Image & Form, Brjann Sigurgeirsson speaking with us about their breakout eShop hit, SteamWorld Dig! In addition to a fair amount of talk about the mining platforming adventure, we talk about the studio’s early days of “edutainment” games and how they’ve transitioned to original IPs. We also discuss what drew them to developing games for Nintendo handhelds as well as what Image & Form might be up to in the very near future. Show Notes: While we’re understandably a little biased towards the handheld version of SteamWorld Dig, the Steam version is worth a look and works on Windows, Mac and Linux! To see some of Image & Form’s earlier work, check out their game Anthill on iOS.

Matt Giguere and Zach Fleeman return to talk about the year’s best in handheld gaming. For our second and final part (you can check out Part 1 here), we cover 2013’s greatest iOS and Vita games. And then we finally get down to business and pick our overall favorites of 2013. Thank you all for a great year! Gamers on the Go will be back in January.

Joined by Gamers on the Go veterans Matt Giguere and Zach Fleeman, we discuss the year’s best handheld games, starting with the 3DS.  What a fantastic year for this little system. In fact, it was such a great year, we had to dedicate an entire episode to all the great games found on the Nintendo handheld. Check back in tomorrow for Part 2 where we chat about the best games to come to Vita and iOS, as well as our picks for Handheld Game of the Year!

Giant Bomb’s Patrick Klepek joins Chase to talk about one of the best (and most interesting) Vita games to come out this year. In addition to the Tearaway discussion, Patrick and Chase also muse on the future of Nintendo, the potential dangers of PlayStation Plus and talk about some of their favorite handheld games of the year (and Chase accidentally displays some clairvoyance in today’s Smash Bros announcement). Show Notes: The picture above comes from Chase’s own Tearaway album. Go to Tearaway.me to see some of the amazing stuff people have been making. If you’re still on the fence about Tearaway, you should read Patrick’s review on the game. Near the end of the show, Patrick talks a little about his newest article on blind gamers having an effect on Kickstarter game FREEQ. Read it here. And for more audio-only game goodness, check out Episode 20 of Gamers on the Go about iOS horror game Vanished.

While not originally a handheld game, we bend the rules for one of the best-selling and best-loved portable games of all time. And who do we have on to talk about such an important game? Why it’s returning guest, Pierce Courchaine.  We explore the entire Tetris saga, from its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, to the game’s disputed rights and how it finally came to the Nintendo’s consoles.  We also take a look at the many improvements and no-so-improvements of subsequent Tetris games and declare what we believe to be the definitive Tetris experience.   

Fellow former Bitmob writer and Pokemon master, Matt Polen, joins Chase as we return to our look at the Pokemon franchise, digging this time into the second generation. The thing is…the new Pokemon X and Y are still pretty fresh in our minds, so the conversation inevitably deviates into that territory time and again.  Show Notes: Chase mentions a certain video regarding the reveal of Mega Kangaskhan. Maybe you should just take a look… You owe it to yourself to read Matt’s awesome Hunter S. Thompson-esque take on Pokemon’s fiction. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Chase incorrectly credits Matt with writing those Pokemon metagame articles on Bitmob. They were actually by Marcel Hoang. Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 3 Gen 4 Gen 5 Note that our impressions of X and Y are still pretty early despite each of us having crossed the 70-hour mark. Some of our statements are wrong and some of our issues actually have solutions (like Chase’s issue with foreign

Gamers on the Go goes international again, this time with Italy’s own Pixel Heart Studios, makers of the fascinating audio-only horror game, Vanished. English might not be Marco and Alessandro’s first language, but they do a stand-up job and we have a great time. Show Notes: You can buy Vanished on iOS here. Look for it on Android devices soon. Only $0.99! Pixel Heart’s first game, Pixel Rush, is also available on iOS and Android for free. Visit Pixel Heart’s website at pixelheartstudios.com and follow them on twitter, @pixel_heart.

Zach Fleeman makes his second GotG appearance, and this time we’re talking about the always crazy WarioWare series. Zach also shares his hands-on experience with the as-of-yet unreleased Nintendo 2DS from his trip to PAX and we talk about Sony’s announcement of the PlayStation Vita TV and how it might affect handheld games in the future.  Notes: Chase completely blanked on the late former president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Sorry about that. More information about Nintendo’s restructuring can be found here. Translated interviews are always a bit hit or miss, but there is some interesting info to be extracted from this interview with members of Nintendo R&D1.

Matt Giguere makes his triumphant return to Gamers on the Go to help shake up the regular formula a bit. This time, we discuss the launch lineups for handheld systems from the Atari Lynx to the PlayStation Vita (and end up deciding on a clear winner). Just a heads up: This is the longest GotG episode yet, clocking in at over two-and-a-half hours!  Notes: Make sure you check out Matt’s podcast, Shuffled. His latest episode is a catch up for all the great music that has come out in 2013 so far. Definitely worth a listen.