I have two completely unrelated questions. First, if Muscle March by some chance should be released in North America, should they rename it Muscle, Muscle, Muscle? Second, Kefka is a lot like the Joker (painted face, distinctive laugh, and gleefully destructive evil). Keeping that in mind, when Dissidia is released in North America, would it be awesome to have Mark Hamill voice Kefka, or is that too much of a typecasting/repeating himself/ripoff sort of thing? (Forgive me, I'm not doing so well with descriptive words at the moment.)

First, I'm kind of in a slump; I need some new characters to make Perler bead sprites out of. Who would each of you like to see made up Perler style?

Also, Aaron Linde had a mini-rant about the idea of "retro" being used to describe games like Fez and Cave Story, and how he'd like to ban that word from existence. He basically said that games with older graphics aren't "retro", "They're legitimate design choices that are just as valid as any other direction in which you could take a game." (quote from @aaronlinde) What do you guys think of this, as you are THE retro podcast of Destructoid?

Finally, if you could have one video game icon/character/item tattooed on you, what would it be?

If Sam and Max fought Wallace and Gromit in a bloody fight to the death, who would win?

(BTW Sam and Max is the only correct answer)

There are a few precious games that, upon starting, the quality of the music is such that I can only sit transfixed and listen to the music play through several loops. What games have this affect on you, other than Uematsu-scored games?

Mainly to Topher (but also to the other members of the podcast: What Shmup would you put in the Video Game Canon? Or, to be more general, which Retro-Game?

I always wanted to ask this, but didn't, because I thought that would be too much of shameless promotion of my Video Game Canon creation together with this community in the forum.

What with the lack of cute animals in the RFGO questions, why did this trend stop?


Two nights ago I had three consecutive dreams, one was irrelevant, the 2nd starred Chad and the third was about topher. Is this a bad thing?

What game do you find yourself constantly restarting a new save file but usually forgetting about it or never beating it? I think I've played through the beginning of Wind Waker too many times to count.

Are you able to continue a save file if you haven't played that game in over a year, I always have to start a new one for some reason.

Chad, the season finale of Sex decoy is on Hulu and it's a cliff hanger ending! How awesome is this? (Please describe sex decoy if necessary)

Chad what makes Showgirls so amazing and how many times have you seen it?

I miss the cute animals personally.

pronunciation guide: Dr. Spe-chea-min

Would you rather eat a broken wine glass or a poison ivy plant?

Chad, which member of your royal dolphin guard is most likely to betray you when he/she get's caught up in a conspiracy to stop the world from being amazing?
(That bottle-nose Beatrice is acting mighty fishy lately)

Jackson walked into a store that sold horse feed and tree saplings. He went up to the counter and asked the store manager if he had change for a dollar. The store owner replied, "I don't know, do you like to dig your toes into sand?" What is your favorite cake, frosting combination?

Is is just me or have the last 20-30 episode posts severely lacked cute animal pictures? I know that I have not broken Destructoid with pictures for a long time, and I apologize.

If a metroidvania type of game like Shadow Complex came out back in the retro game days, what woud you think the reaction towards it would be? Do you think a winning formula like that, but slapped with a realistic modern skin would of been applauded or decimated? Today it seems fresh, since almost every other metroidvania game is fantasy or sci-fi, the change of setting is welcomed. But back then I don't think people would of been that interested in it. What say you?

Do you remember: NO ONE CAN STOP MR. DOMINO?


Also: Do you have any plans for RetroforceGO! 100?

What would you consider a failed retro-revival? Whereas games like SFIV and Punch Out got it right, what are a few games that didn't?
Also Topher, I want you to do the XBLA reviews in a happy voice. If not, just find a good sentence to say. Another thing, if Mike Patton were to score a Treasure shooter, what would you want it to sound like?

@ Aiya

Apparently there are only ten cute white tiger pictures on the internet and I posted them all.

Oh well, I guess I can post them again.














Also,

How did Chad get the achievement for beating Contra in under 12 minutes O_o

Also, Topher: A future of cel-shaded Zelda games is only inevitable. There will be a certain point where character animations will look uncanny, so Nintendo would have to be forced to implement some slow and clunky GTAIV style movement controls for realistic animations. And I doubt Miyamoto would ever allow that to happen in a Zelda game. Wich means the future for us cel-shaded Zelda enthusiasts looks bright!

Also Chad: Yesterday I had a chance to play some Scribblenauts and I made a group of dolphins and rode on them. It was AMAZING!

Is it possible for you guys to describe one another in the form of a haiku?

Why is it that a mediocre to bad sequel can get lavished with praise as long as it tickles the nostalgia bone of gamers? I would be laughed off a stage if I put the direct-to-video Disney film "The Return of Jafar" on the same level as the original film "Aladdin." Yet I feel that this is precisely what is going on in the realm of retrogames, because here nostalgia seems to be more important to people than quality and aspiration.

I am really interested in your views about this because while RetroforceGO! has played such a huge and important role in my thinking about video games, particularly retrogames, I simply do not understand how you guys could have given so much praise to "Mega Man 9" and "Final Fantasy IV: The After Years," two sequels that are beyond a doubt unambitious and lazy, especially the latter of the two games.

In the "Mega Man 9" episode of RetroforceGO I was the only person who expressed a strong negative opinion on the game and I was promptly eviscerated on the air. Yet in responding to the very next question, you all agreed that the next "Mega Man" game needs to do something new for a change. Well with all due respect, as someone who has played through all of the "Mega Man" games straight through at least once a year instead of flat out dismissing the latter "Mega Man" games, I didn't need another NES-style "Mega Man" game to tell me what I already knew: that the series needed to go somewhere new. If this game came out for the NES right after "Mega Man 6," it would have been promptly hailed as a sign that Capcom was losing it. Yet because of nostalgia, this game is being hailed as a masterpiece.

With respect to "Final Fantasy IV: The After Years," I just don't understand how, once you get over the stroke of nostalgia that hits you in the first 10 minutes of the game, anyone could recommend this game. The balance in this game is screwed up beyond belief (i.e. getting chain constricted to death without having any chance to make an action or being frustrated to death by the moon phase system that is pretty much worthless given that 3/4 of the game has you controlling a group without strong casters). The story is not only beyond pathetic compared to the original (a tacked-on afterthought) but it is not even told very well (the Mt. Ordeals section was incredibly confusing). Other than the music, I couldn't even enjoy this game on a pure nostalgic level once I saw that Cecil and Rosa were barely more powerful than you were and have none of the awesome spells you spent so much time grinding for. Well at least Cid was still pretty worthless so I guess nothing's changed. Back in the day I hated "Final Fantasy X-2" for tackling on a half-assed epilogue onto "Final Fantasy X." After playing "Final Fantasy IV: The After Years," I owe "Final Fantasy X-2" an apology.

When does the old "Next Gen" become retro? Like when will PS1/N64 become retro? Also, what is anything between those and the SNES considered? Like Saturn or the other obscure consoles that didn't do too well?

Colette, where the heck were you and Niero during SGC? You were missed.

Why haven't you guys had Dreamcast episode yet?

If you could choose to have any retro game have a Mega Man 9 style retroization on a current gen system which would it be?

How did you guys come up with the name RetroforceGO!?

HEY, WHACHAHAPPENINWITYOU!?

Chad, sing this to Topher please:
"You're one year older, one year wiser,
Rock 'n' roll star, king, czar, and a kaiser,
A room full of friends, a mouth full of cake,
Every present is for you, and it feels pretty great,
You're the man of the hour, the V.I.P.,
You get the first slice, of the P.I.E.,
But first blow out the candles, and make a wish,
Put a smile on, cause it's your berfday, bitch!"

This summer seems to be seeing a sort of revival of 2D fighting games, with Street Fighter IV starting the onslaught, but with two weeks of SNK fighters on XBLA, BlazBlue and KOFXII coming out within two weeks of each other and MvC2 coming out later this month. Any idea why this is? Also, which newly online classic fighting game is the most fun online? And of the new games, which do you prefer?

Another fighting game question: How many buttons do you like to have in your fighting games?

Personally, I'm starting to enjoy four buttons due to BlazBlue.