300 · Pin*Bot

• Dares you to survive
• NES Longplay
• Manual
• It is a conversion of the pinball machine by the same name[2] (developed and manufactured by Williams in 1986).
• The asterisk between pin and bot a representation of the ball
• A cool concept for a pinball machine, but does it translate when it’s in video form instead of a physical ROBOT
  • the synthesized speech of Pin Bot, though gameplay is interrupted while its phrases are being played back.
• The player starts with a lit marker set on Pluto and advances through the Solar System by hitting various lit targets.
• The screen splits to show the ball and the flippers simultaneously.
  • Was this ever a problem for you in other NES pinball games?
• Reaching a certain checkpoint planet (Saturn, Jupiter or Mars, and the sun) awards an Extra Ball.
• A 5x5 grid sits in front of Pin Bot's visor, and two banks of targets on the top and side of the grid allow the player to light the grid one or two units at a time. Once the grid is fully lit, the visor opens, allowing the player to lock the ball. Locking a second ball in the visor starts a two-ball multiball mode, during which scores are doubled.
  • Scoring a Solar bonus during multiball causes the playfield to change, effectively resulting in six different "levels" of playfield. The shape of the playfield and the locations of all targets remain the same throughout the game, but the playfield's color scheme changes and different enemies begin appearing after Level 1. Level 2 introduces a blob that advances through the planets, then when sitting on top of the Sun lamp, attempts to suck in and eat the ball, spitting out fragments of the ball if successful. In Level 3, a plane flies around the playfield, occasionally holding a missile that drops when the plane is destroyed by the ball or disappears on its own. The missile drops toward one of the flippers, damaging or destroying the flipper if allowed to reach it. Level 4 features the same plane, but the plane can now catch the ball and carry it away. Levels 5 and 6 both introduce a snake that appears in the outlanes and attempts to grab the ball, pulling it into the outlane. In all cases where the ball is "captured" by an enemy, the enemy can be defeated by "shaking" the machine repeatedly.
• In addition to changing the playfield, certain bonuses and level advancements also cause the ball to change from a sphere to a triangular wedge, then finally to a cube. Each new shape of ball is faster and more difficult to control than the last, but otherwise behaves identically to the original ball (the physics simulation is not altered).
• Sequels and Spinoffs
  • Bride of Pinbot (1991)
    • This is the real deal and one of my favs
  • Rare reused Pin Bot's game engine in another pinball simulation for the NES, High Speed (1991)
  • Jack Bot (1995, casino theme)
  • Pinball arcade had faithfully recreated these games but lost the license so if anyone knows a better way to play these please let me know
  • Silverball Retro Arcade has this physically
• EGL
• Next week - EPISODE 301 - Snake’s Revenge
• NEStalgia Byte - Honoo no Doukyuuji: Dodge Danpei
  • (HOE-NO NO MICHI-KOJI DODGE DEN-PIE)

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Pinbot dares you to survive.

00:18 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. And I'm Joe. Guys, Pinbot is a conversion of the pinball machine by the same name. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a pinball machine in the flesh. I'm sure we've talked about that in another episode. But the pinbot machine, you know, maybe one of the more well-known pinball machines, if that's even a thing in this day and age.

00:52 I've never heard of this one. I mean, I remember seeing, like, in more recent video game versions of pinball machines, like, you know, the ones on the PS3 and that kind of era. I've seen like, you know, the magic one and the whatever. But I've never heard of pinbot. Theater of magic. Yeah, theater of magic. That one. Yeah, I know very little about pinball and pinbot is no exception. I've never heard. I never until right now knew that was a real machine. Right. And so that brings up a good question before we get into this game, because Sean, you were having me think there for a second. Like, you know, Theater of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights because we both played pinball arcade on the PlayStation 3.

01:34 I basically forced you to play it. You did force me, yes. You know, that's why you know those games. But those aren't even like some of the most well-known pinball machines. They're well-known by pinball fanatics. But like, what is a well-known pinball machine? Like, even for arcades, right? Like, most people know Pong, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong. But could you name a pinball machine that everybody knows? There's gotta be like a Simpsons one that's everywhere. There is. Simpsons pinball party. I feel like that's gotta be up there. I'm sure there's a Star Wars or Star Trek. I think the Star Trek one's probably pretty popular.

02:10 Those sound like, you know, the entry level, oh, I'm trying to get into pinball machines. There was somewhere in my hometown, I don't remember where, where there was always a pinball machine that was an X-Files themed pinball machine. I just remember it was always playing the X-Files music. That tracks. So that's my experience with pinball is an unknown area where there was an X-Files. It's kind of actually very X-Files-y. It's like a lost, forgotten area of my life where there was an X-Files themed playing pinball machine.

02:45 And it's funny because those are pinball machines that probably feel comfortable to play because you're familiar with the IP. And that is definitely what pinball machines now have become. There have been very expensive, like, pinball Avengers and pinball Wizard of Oz. And I'm not joking. Those are two very recent examples of, like, very decked out, super modern pinball machines that have, like, amazing features that pinball machines just couldn't do until recently. And it's like, there's not really, to go back to, like, the Pac-Man example, there isn't a pinball of Pac-Man where, like, it's just every game is exactly the same. So it's more like pinball as a concept, not necessarily, like, one pinball machine that everybody knows.

03:29 And so it's kind of weird to have, like, pinbot be translated to video game form, right? Like, to pick this one and be like, all right, like, everybody loves this pinball machine so much that we should make a video game version of it where you can just play it all the time. I mean, even though I can't speak to whether that's true or not, I do prefer this to the, I guess, like, made-for-TV movie versions of pinball machines that we've seen previously. Um, because the things that I associate with a good pinball machine are actually here now.

04:08 Like, in the previous ones, like, you know, just pinball or rockin' ball or whatever, it was generic to a fault and everything was just bumpers and it was, like, weirdly symmetrical. And there was none of that, like, stuff that just felt, I guess the word would be, it wasn't, like, satisfying to watch. Like, you know, if you get a, if you're playing an actual pinball machine, there's those things that are just satisfying.

04:37 Um, this one actually has, like, areas that have functions that are more than just, like, hit this stuff for points. And there's the tracks that go into loops and, like, that really is more of a physical thing. And you're, like, oh, it feels good to get that, to get that pinball up in that track and that, you know what I'm talking about, right?

04:59 Yeah, it feels very analog. Yes. Oddly, even though it's obviously all, you know, all digital. But probably because it was designed first as, you know, by people who actually design pinball machines in an actual physical space. Not to say that I know that, you know, the people who made rockin' ball or pinball for the NES weren't those same people. But it just feels like it wasn't worried about being a video game when it was first designed and then it was translated to a video game. So then either way, you still have, like, a good pinball machine because you weren't trying to do both at the same time.

05:36 Now, PinBot has a really cool motif behind it in both the gameplay sense and in the idea of, like, what it looks like as a pinball machine where, you know, in a loose way, the pinball machine itself is this, like, robot that you are playing against that talks to you. And as you complete things, like, it says things back to you and tells you what to do.

06:03 That feels very alive and fresh and fresh for the pinball genre, too. Like, that wasn't something that was being done before PinBot. You had just, like, the, you know, the scoreboard with your current score and if you got, like, a multiball or something, like, it would say it on there. But to have, like, the idea of the machine itself be alive is a pretty cool idea.

06:24 So how well did that translate into the video form? I think it worked very well. Are you saying that this is the first pinball machine, like, physical pinball machine with, like, missions? Not missions, but, like, with actual, like, it's trying to tell some kind of pinball story? No, no, no. I'm saying it itself, like, the machine is, like, a, you know, like, it's supposed to be the character.

06:52 Yeah. Right. I see. Okay. I mean, I think that this was pulled off pretty well here. I also just like, because this isn't a thing that we really saw in the previous pinball games, that it did have those, like, achievements, I guess, that you're trying to do. And adding that with the personality that I've come to associate with, like, good pinball machines, I appreciate that that was there. And it was, you know, it talked to you. And, you know, it's not often that we see actual recorded lines playing on the NES. So that gave it some authenticity, too. I liked it. Yeah, I appreciated it. But I'll be honest, I most of the time didn't know what it was trying to say to me.

07:37 That's because you couldn't understand the speech, Joe? Yes. Yeah. And to be fair, you know, it's pretty cool always to have, and it's not the first example in the NES, but to have some kind of synthesizer speech form for a character. But the weird thing isn't how it's saying those lines or, you know, the delivery from a voiceover standpoint. It's that the gameplay itself is interrupted while the speech is happening. It's like it couldn't handle doing both. And I feel like that's where it loses me a bit. That obviously in a real pinball arcade cabinet, it wouldn't, like, freeze your ball in location and wait for Pinbot to finish what it was saying. It would just continue on and you would have to, like, listen in and be engaged.

08:24 Whereas here it's like your ball freezes wherever it may be. And now you're just, you know, talking to Pinbot. That's funny because I guess it didn't really, I didn't really feel that way only because it makes sense that there'd be like a dramatic pause during a line in a video game sense. So it didn't feel as confusing that, like, oh, this is breaking my simulation of a real pinball machine.

08:53 But now I totally understand that if you're familiar with the machine, that would not really work out for you. Yeah, but in video game form, though, there is a perk there, too, where because it pauses, like, you might have paused it in a great location to, like, take a pause for a second and be able to then think about, like, where you're going to lock for the flipper.

09:18 Like, is this thing going straight down into the gutter or am I going to be able to, you know, scoop it back up? There is one thing, though, more so than the synthesized speech, more so than the translation from pinball machine to video game, that is a questionable design decision that I feel like we need to get out of the way. And that is something that no other pinball game thus far has had to do. So it is a choice.

09:46 The split screen? And that is the split screen. They have made it so that at any time, no matter where your ball is on the, let's be honest, it's not a giant screen, but, like, wherever it is on that screen, you will always see the bottom half of your split where your flippers are travels up with you and then eventually just seamlessly connects back to where it actually is on the board. And it definitely takes some getting used to.

10:16 You can calibrate for it. But overall, I just found it to be unnecessary, especially because it's not, the ball isn't going so fast that it's surprising to be like, oh, and now there's my flippers. Like, I just, it wasn't that zoomed in on the ball. The ball wasn't moving that fast. I never felt like I needed to be anticipating it, like, at that speed. So the split screen between the flippers and the rest of the action just felt unnecessary. And a little jarring.

10:47 I'll agree. Yeah. At first, I thought that the split screen, well, like, initially, I was like, well, what is actually the point of this? Like, you know, it's cool to be able to see it, but I'm not going to need to know where, like, I know where the flippers are. And I'm not going to need to see them until the ball gets close to them.

11:06 So it felt like it was taking up a little bit of the screen. And then when it introduced a second ball, I was like, okay, this makes sense. So I'll be able to kind of, like, watch my flippers if a ball goes down towards there and also watch the other ball. But when the second ball is on the screen, the camera doesn't follow it up. Like, you're still on the flippers. So I don't know what the purpose of the split screen is at any point. I mean, I agree that it was definitely jarring at first.

11:34 When there is a multi-ball, it will track the ball, but it'll only track the one that's closest to the bottom of the screen. So maybe you just always had one that was lurking near the flippers so then it never tracked back up. Well, but even so, if it only tracks the one that's closest to the bottom of the screen, it's still unnecessary. Well, then you never get to see the top of the machine if they did that during regular play. And there's stuff up there.

12:05 Yeah, but if you're not tracking the one that's further away from the flippers, then that could still happen anyways. And if you're only tracking the one that's close to the flippers, then you would still see the flippers before it would reach them, you know? But if both are up at the top, then it would have moved. You know what I mean? Not really, because that is still what it's doing without two balls, you know? It feels like that's backwards.

12:34 What it should be, unless I'm missing something, what it should be is that it should only track the one that's further from the flippers. Since you can always see the flippers in the split screen, the one that's closer to the flippers wouldn't need to be tracked. Well, I mean, I feel like that wouldn't work out because then you don't really have too much lead time at the bottom, so you would just have a ball fly by, I feel like. I don't know. But that's what happens when there's only one ball. I guess maybe I'm not really understanding what you're saying.

13:06 It's hard to describe it. Maybe I'm not describing it right. But if the camera is only following the ball that is lower, and the split screen shows the lower part of the screen, it's like there's two things that are benefiting the lower ball and nothing that's paying any attention to the higher ball. Like, that's why I feel like the camera should be following the ball that's higher if you're going to have the split screen that shows the lower portion of the screen. I think the whole split screen thing is just like so that you always kind of have a handle of what you're actually doing. Because you don't have direct control over anything up top.

13:44 So I guess it would just feel strange to, you know, you're pressing buttons, you're technically doing something, but it's not being shown on screen. I mean, I feel like this was sort of a, this was always going to be a design problem when they decided to make something that, oh, I zoomed out too far, now it looks like crap. Like, they had to find a way to make this look good and also be able to display like actual information.

14:11 And they can't just have it locked to the bottom because that would then just, you just don't see anything up top. You may as well only have half the, um, half the pinball game. Um, and then, but you're also not like the, the scoreboard is there. Um, you're like, whatever you're actually inputting is there. I think it was the lesser of two evils from a design perspective. I mean, and I can see that too. I agree with that, but I guess I just think that they chose to follow the wrong ball with the camera. What's funny is it's like, no matter where you net out on this conversation between the two of you, which has definitely overstayed its welcome.

14:51 Oh, okay. Well, yeah, we haven't heard from Mike in long enough. You know, the people want to hear from Mike. No, about whether, which ball it should be tracking. The real question is why do it at all? Did it ever bother you with other NES games? Well, that's the question I was trying to answer. Right, right. I'm just saying like, think about it.

15:07 Other NES games were able to handle this without needing this weird, all of a sudden black bar line that says like, oh, just so you know, like the, the screen isn't like folding in on itself. Like the flippers are still down here and you're just looking at what's happening up there. And then all of a sudden it just locks perfectly back into the same view. And you're like, oh, right. Even though I saw my ball falling back down, looking like it was about to approach my flippers.

15:33 My flippers aren't at the bottom of the screen yet. Like they need to move down appropriately to lock back into place and then I can hit them. It almost makes timing more questionable than if they were just stuck down there.

15:44 Yeah. At first it was, it was a little like jarring to me, even though I am like impressed because you just don't see split screen anything on the NES very often. So like that was kind of, I guess just, it was cool that they were able to do that, but I don't know. I don't think I ever had a problem in other pinball games. And once I got used to this, it really wasn't a big deal, but it was jarring at first.

16:07 I think I prefer this to the alternative of just always tracking the ball because I don't know, you're, you don't even really notice it after you're playing for a bit. And I didn't think about that, Joe, but you're right. There is, there is a novelty to the, to the split screen effort here. And just like thinking about how does that even work? Like, how are they doing that? Like, cause you know, there's, there's only so many sprites that are allowed on a screen and like, how are they, how are they tricking the system? So I appreciate that.

16:37 All right. So, you know, the, the actual game, if you will, is that you're not like trying to disable the pin bot or something like that. Like this isn't a fight against a robot. The player starts basically traveling the solar system and you start on Pluto and try to hit enough targets and do enough things to continue to move around the solar system to get to the sun. And you're awarded bonuses for doing those kinds of things. Uh, if you get to like Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, or the sun, you get like an extra ball, which is kind of cool.

17:12 There's, um, a five by five grid, uh, that's supposed to be like pin bots visor and, um, hitting those kinds of things and, uh, hitting the visor requires like, it basically like does other things that open up other layers and levels to the game. So there's, there's a lot more going on here than just like, as Sean was saying earlier, here's two bumpers, three targets, um, a bunch more bumpers up top that score some points and one singular ramp.

17:45 There's actually like things that you can do and selective bonuses that will show up as you continue to play. So rather than break down each thing you can do, I guess I just want to know, did it hold your attention more because there was an ever changing set of like, now you're on this planet? Like, you know, was that information first conveyed to you in a way that felt appropriate? And was it more intriguing than say the rock and roll, uh, fifties aesthetic that we saw in, in our other pinball game?

18:19 I think that this, this made it more engaging. Um, I think with as much as I do like these pinball games, like they, they really couldn't hold my attention for that long. They, they were just kind of, uh, five minutes here or there. Um, if I do well enough, I'll, I'll play for as long as this ball lasts.

18:39 But this one, I actually played for a while because there actually were like objectives and like, you're actually aiming for things that are more than just like points. Like, it's almost like, what will the, what will the machine do next? Because things do change over time. They change more than a pinball machine actually would in real life sometimes. But, um, like there's just the different modes, like, okay, now the, now this like wall has opened up and this is where I can lock balls. And then you get the multi-ball this way. Like, it was always like something new that you could do if you had like the patience or the, um, uh, or the skill to hit.

19:17 Yeah, I agree. I was always kind of like, I was always kind of checking out what's going to come next. And, and it left me a little torn on, on, you know, a lot of times I, I talk about on pinball episodes, which is weird that we've had so many of them by now. But I talk about how, like, why isn't it doing something video gamey that a pinball machine couldn't do? And this, this does some of that. But before even getting into that, like, there are a lot of things that are changing in here that I'm like, oh, that's really cool. Because I'm imagining how a real pinball machine must be doing this.

19:51 Like, oh, they're like, you know, like they're unlocking this part for you now, or the color scheme is changing. But it's not just changing completely, like, because it's a video game and it's able to just do that. It's like, it's in a lot of cases simulating what I imagine the actual pinball machine does. And part of that actually just kind of makes me sad that I'm not actually just playing that, that, that machine. Because, like, that's really cool. The analogness of it is really cool. But then, on the other hand, I do appreciate that it, it did some things.

20:21 Like, it gave me a reason to play the video game version rather than play the, the pinball machine. And, like, of course, the obvious reason is because not everybody has this pinball machine in their living room. But, uh, but it, you know, there are some times where I'm like, okay, they did some video gamey things. And there are other times where I'm like, it's doing really cool things that are clearly from the original game.

20:44 And it kind of bums me out that I don't get to see those, you know? So, like, I don't know. I guess, I don't know exactly what I'm saying. I guess I'm saying, like, I... It's an imperfect simulation, right? Yeah. And the things that I'm impressed with, I'm, I'm, a lot of the stuff is I'm impressed with the actual pinball machine. But I'm not sure that, like, I still might be of the opinion that, like, if you're going to give me a video game version of it, just go crazy.

21:07 But that's just me. Yeah, on the same, like, not the same thing, but on the same vibe, like, this is the first time that I'm seeing... I guess only because this is one of the first games that it's trying to actually simulate physics to, like, this kind of degree. Um, but, like, the first time that video game physics have... are wonky. Because it's obviously... it's got the actual pinbot machine.

21:38 And you know how a pinball machine should work in real life. And then just the way, like, it gets caught on things. And sometimes it feels like the ball clips where it shouldn't. And those are very forgiving things in, like, a made-for-video game pinball machine. Because it's, like, usually, like, a flat plane. And it's not based on anything. But because this is based on something, uh, like, the ball getting stuck in certain areas and just, like, not behaving correctly actually stands out, unlike most NES games. So that was also weird.

22:15 Yeah, you guys are giving me a lot I want to unpack. Uh, so I guess I'm gonna just try to go one at a time and see if we can, uh, all stay on the same track here. First thing that was brought up was a question of mine that, uh, I'm not sure if it was answered or not. Don't have to give a whole, like, spiel or anything. But I guess I just want to know, were the objectives and the progression clear to you guys? Or was it still just, like, this is pinball and I'm just gonna keep hitting this ball into things. Like, I don't understand why I'm getting the multi-ball or why I moved to another level of the machine. Um, or why my plan, why I'm moving from planet to planet. Like, were those objectives clear to you guys?

22:59 Yeah, I was saying that it was clear that there were objectives and I appreciate that there were actually objectives. Like, as opposed to the previous games we played. Yeah, I'd say some of them became clear to me over time. Um, like, as I'm testing things out. Or it's like, yeah, there's a giant arrow pointing, like, go here! You know, and there's, like, things like that where I'm like, oh, can I knock all of these things down and stuff? But it's really me trial and error.

23:23 But that's how I am with pinball always. I never have any idea what's going on. So, so, relatively, yes, it was clear to me. Yeah, and this is, you know, with pinball, it is a learned thing. There isn't, um, I guess just like any video game, too. Like, it could use a tutorial, in a sense. And pinball arcade and some other pinball effects and stuff like that have actually worked those into their video versions. Where, like, you can actually learn about what you should be doing on the machine before you ever play it. Which is probably a good idea. And I'm sure the manual covered it, too. But it's not so complicated here as in newer machines.

24:00 Sean, you followed up on a great topic of the physics of the machine. Because, you know, pinball physics do matter in terms of realism and everything. And I feel like even the example we've been using on the PS3, the pinball arcade, is much more forgiving than real-life pinball. And probably why you and I bothered to stay on it for longer than just a single day. Because it did make us better pinball players than playing on actual machines. Where we're just giving up quarters to the loose ball that just doesn't go our way. And there's nothing we could have done about it. But here it did feel, as you were suggesting, a little more forced or fake than usual.

24:40 Where, like, sometimes I even felt like, you know, the ramps were acting almost like vacuums. That just, like, there's no way that my shot had enough pull to get around. But it just did it anyway. Or, like, yeah, I totally should have gone down the gutter ramp. But instead, it just, like, lucks out and puts it back into the flipper zone. Like, you know, some of these were kind of bladed. Yeah, like, when you're trying to give the ball a little break when it's coming through the chute. I don't know if there's a pro pinballer term for that.

25:15 Usually when I do that on a real machine, it's, like, hit or miss. Whether I actually do the intended thing. And sometimes it just ramps off my paddle and goes where I don't want it to be. But when I did it here, it was, like, a perfect, like, oh, that's just going to stop it right where I need it. It's going to settle the ball down. And then I can do, like, a more precise shot with it. And I feel like that was too perfect.

25:40 I think I'm kind of, like, still just impressed, you know, to, like, have any, like, super positive or negative. I guess I don't know enough about, like, real pinball. I don't play enough of it that, like, really the physics stood out to me. Well, you bring up a good point there, Joe.

25:57 Like, it is a video game form. So does it really matter? Like, is the goal to be faithful to the pinbot arcade version or is the goal to make it, you know, more video gamey and fun? In which case, I do think they succeeded in the goal. Like, you know, it didn't make me – I wasn't so bothered that the physics weren't accurate that I was like, I can't play this. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't like that. Instead, it was just like, huh, this works differently. I think the biggest example of, huh, this works differently is that one of the first tricks – I don't pretend to be an expert at pinball machines. I suck at real pinball machines. I just know that.

26:33 But one of the first tricks you learn if you want to get better at pinball is to keep your flippers up if the ball is coming down, you know, slow enough. So this way you can lock the ball and decide when you want to, like – That's what I was trying to describe, yeah. Right. Let your flipper, like, you know, this way you can roll the ball down and hit it at the exact angle. And this game doesn't really give a crap about where you choose to, like, launch that ball on that flipper. And I don't mean that in the sense of, like, if you launch it at the very end, it just will still go to the opposite direction. Like, of course it will. But it doesn't really, like, have an exact spot where, like, yeah, hit it in this exact spot and you'll get the ramp.

27:16 Like, that never happens in this game. And so that is, like, an oddball thing of, like, well, in a real pinball machine, like, it would totally do that. But who cares, right? To Joe's point, like, it's not trying to be the actual – or you could go play the actual machine somewhere else. You're playing the video game form where things are a little more loose and fun. And so I'm not saying that this game has to be a perfect pinball simulation to be on the essential games list.

27:44 Yeah, but I don't know. I felt, like, the, like, lack of exact precision on, like, something happening exactly the same way every time if you're doing it the same. Like, I know that that is literally what would happen, like, in the physical world.

28:00 But I think that – I don't know. When I'm playing pinball, it's, like, my brain is not – does not operate quickly enough to, like, actually be exactly the same every time, you know? Whereas, like, just because there's so many – you know, an actual pinball has so much, you know, well, I don't know, like, entropy or whatever you'd call it. But it's, like, too hard for you to actually be exact. But it feels like maybe on the NES, because it's, like – because it's, like, these pixels, if they were to make it like that, it might be easier to cheese it and to just be, like, oh, yeah, as soon as I see it hit that, like, pixel of the thing, I can hit it and it'll always do exactly the same thing.

28:40 Which I know is literally realistic, but I just feel like from – for human reflexes maybe isn't as realistic. I think that if they actually tried to do a – there has to be some sort of randomness just in the game. Because if it was trying to be as precise as possible and the same input gave the same result, this would probably be a much less fun game to play because you would figure that out.

29:06 And there just isn't enough variation in that entropy as a real pinball machine, which is what gives those – like, there's that combination of kind of chaos, but also if you're really good, you can hit those shots. I think if they tried to bring that down to a lesser, like, reality, a lesser simulation of reality, it would just be too simple. Yeah, I totally agree.

29:37 And then for the last point, something Joe was alluding to but rightfully didn't want to jump into it too early into the show, there is a video game format here of, like, taking it further than the actual pinball machine did. And I don't want to spoil the Pimbot Arcade machine, but it doesn't have six levels that you can go through in some kind of crazy 3D format. Or, like, maybe it would, like, slip off the – like, reveal the next sublayer or something. That doesn't happen in the Pimbot machine.

30:13 And, you know, it was smart on Rare, the developer of this game, to say, like, well, we probably could do a little more video game twist to it. And so they added the idea of levels to the game. And so what does it mean to have another level? It's not a completely different pinball map. It's not, like, the objectives change or whatever. It's just introducing new challenges and a completely different color scheme to the pinball machine.

30:43 And the way to do this is essentially once you get a multiball, if you're able to score a solar bonus, go around the solar system, you will be able to then enter the next level of the playing field. And by level, what happens is, like, in level 1, there are no threats to you other than losing your ball. But in level 2, there is now this blob that travels around the solar system.

31:09 And if it gets to the sun, there is a chance that it can eat your ball if you shoot it directly at it, which, spoiler alert, the sun is in the center of the screen. And so you're at a lot of danger if you shoot anywhere towards the center because most likely it's going to eat your ball. So on and so forth for each other level. We don't have to get into them, but essentially level 3 adds a plane that flies around and then eventually – It can blow up your bumper.

31:34 Yeah, they can blow up your – That was kind of cool when I first saw that happen. Yeah, level – I think level 5 or 4 makes it so that that same plane can now catch your ball too and take it away, which is also kind of terrifying from that standpoint of just something that, like, a shmup enemy that roams around the screen and now your ball is the thing that you don't want to be touched by it. All these things keep happening and they're cool, but the game takes it even a step further than that, but maybe not far enough in that, in addition to these, changing playfields, there is the ability to change your ball from a ball to a triangle to a cube. And yet, well, as cool as that sounds, they didn't make anything different.

32:20 Yeah, it feels the same. It just looks different. It's the same. It just looks different. And they definitely did not change the physics on it. I would have loved if the triangle, like, hit differently, you know, like, if it hit the corners in a weird way that made it more likely to get a gutter, like, the stakes are on. But in exchange, everything that you score is now five times higher or something like that. Like, that would have made it worth it because, again, a real pinball machine can't just start adding other shapes because it requires a ball to roll around on the screen. On a video game, it doesn't matter what it is. You're just telling it to act like a sphere.

33:00 It is programmed to work the same way. And, you know, coming from, you know, a modern game like Rocket League and seeing that all you got to do is change the shape of, you know, the ball and you have a completely different game. That being their version of Rocket-powered car hockey.

33:20 I was expecting a little more out of it. I mean, obviously not to the same level as Rocket League, but that was a little bit of a disappointment. Yeah, it feels really like a missed opportunity for them to decide to change the ball, but only to change it for aesthetic purposes. And then to decide from there that, oh, you know what? You know what everyone will love in an aesthetic choice is to make it a square.

33:46 Like, if you're going to make it a square, like, I get it if the physics are going to be different. But if you just want to, like, oh, what's a cool thing we can change it into, like, you could have picked anything if you're not going to change the physics. You're going to pick a triangle, just a shape. I think the whole, like, cube thing is just, oh, we're being cheeky.

34:02 Yeah. Use other rare characters. There you go. But, you know, all jokes aside on just the ball not changing and everything, I do think, like, you know, we were literally in our last pinball episode, we were asking for this. And it's kind of funny that the very next game would deliver on it. Does it deliver full way or does it kind of just give you, like, yeah, I mean, that's definitely, like, something you can only do in a video game, but I don't know if it's enough.

34:30 Well, the ball changing gives me that vibe. But the other stuff I think is pretty cool, like, having things flying around the screen. You know, because when I was first playing, I was trying to imagine, okay, like, this is all stuff that could really happen in a pinball machine. But then, like, when I got to, like, the, I guess it's a plane, I thought it was, like, a bug or something. But the plane flying around, I was like, oh, what, like, that definitely couldn't happen on a real pinball machine. But it makes it different. I love it. I wonder how people who, like, know this pinball machine felt about it. Like, you know, I wonder if purists were like, no, this isn't the experience. Kids these days need so much stimulation.

35:15 And that's why I think that, you know, it can't have been hard. And I say that about a lot of things that are probably hard. But I mean it for this one. It can't have been hard to just have a sim mode and, like, a remix mode. Like, just have a selection at the beginning of when you boot the game. Have it be, this is the machine you know and love with NES simulation. And this is that machine with, like, subcategories of challenges that you can have. I think that that's the only, like, big complaint I have. Yeah, I mean, I agree that it can't have been hard because the first level already is that. Yeah, exactly. So you can just, like, you can just copy that first level and paste it as its own mode.

36:06 And so now that we've seen, at least on the NES scale of, like, video gamifying pinball machines, what's on the wish list now for pinball machines? What can we, like, put into fruition for the next pinball game we play? They can stop. More than one machine? I don't know.

36:25 Yeah, they can stop as well. Yeah, next time, synthesized voice and the ball keeps moving. I dare them to give that a try. Well, you see, Mike, that it was impossible because of the memories. Two ramps. A spinning thing in the middle.

36:44 We had, you know, like, like a little bit of a, like, one-on-one pinball thing. But, like, what if there's just a full pinball machine that's one-on-one? Like, just take this pinball machine. Maybe you'd have to make it a little more symmetrical. But then just put flippers at the other side that player two is using. And I don't know how gravity works exactly in that. But, you know, a full pinball machine with all these bells and whistles, but also two players. Yeah, actually, Joe, that's the money idea, is that something that could definitely only be done in a video game. But all four players have their controllers.

37:13 All four balls get launched at the same time. And so it's kind of like multiball, but you only score points for your own ball. And so you want to make sure that you knock other people's balls into the gutters and get your own ball up to the top where the highest scoring point things are. How about a baseball game where you're the ball? Don't give away our... That was supposed to be our billion-dollar idea.

37:40 Seriously, though, if somebody wants to make that, I'd play it. I've got a semi-serious one here. Two players, asymmetrical. One person's playing pinball. The other person has the zapper and has to shoot the ball. Oh, I thought you were going to say, like, shoot the enemies on the screen. Or the enemies on the screen to protect the ball. Maybe there's two modes. It's one where it's like you as the pinball player are trying to keep the ball away from the hunter. And the other, the hunter is helping you shoot the planes. I think that the ball would work only if it's not like you shoot the ball and it explodes. Because there's way too many times where it's just got some hang time and it's really slow.

38:21 But if you shoot the ball, it just sort of fires off in a different direction. Yeah, okay. Why stop with just the zapper, though? Why not include every NES accessory? Yeah, get Rob and the power pad. Get them all in there. The power glove. Work them all in there somewhere. The power glove is actually, like, you use that.

38:40 And, like, how hard you, like, throw your hand is how hard it launches onto the, you know. So, like, you're rolling, like, dice. But it's the ball. But I think this is, like, five different players. Like, one person has a controller, one person has a zapper, one person controls, like, a little guy. And he's on the power pad, he's got to run away from the ball. And one is the DM. Very good, Sean. On the sequels and spinoff side, there actually are some things to cover here.

39:10 Mostly related to the pinball machine, Pinbot. Because that would get some other iterations, including one of my favorite pinball machines, Bride of Pinbot. Which takes the concept that I was talking about, where, you know, it's you and the robot machine. And actually pitting you in a weird way, both helping and hurting each other. And that is what happens in Bride of Pinbot. Sean, I don't know if you played this one on the pinball arcade. But it was on there.

39:40 And essentially, the way that works is, like, you're building the Bride from scratch. So, like, when it first starts, it's just a robot with no features. And then by shooting up the ramps, the head turns and reveals, like, now she can speak. And then, like, you have to shoot your ball back up the ramp and get the ball to land in her eye socket. And then that ball locks there. And then you lock the other ball to get both eyes in there. And then she can see. And she keeps saying things. And, like, it's so great. And eventually, you know, you piece her together. But everybody else, like, even the pinball machine itself is like, I think she says, I can speak. And the pinball machine is like, oh, no.

40:24 It's perfect. It's so fun and silly and campy. And it's a very easy to understand pinball machine. I think that's what sometimes even Pimbot is missing is, like, yeah, it becomes clear with play. But, like, Bride of Pimbot made it so clear right off the bat that you're building the Bride. That, you know, like, that you understand what you have to do from there out. I think even one of my favorites, Tales of the Arabian Nights, has, like, a huge spinning lamp. Which, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe that was one of Sean's suggestions for how to make this game better. Was add a big spinning wheel in the middle.

40:59 Yeah. You know, it had a big spinning lamp. And, like, yeah, you get it. Like, hit the lamp. It spins around. That's great. You're scoring lots of points. But then there's this whole other thing about, like, you know, collect the seven jewels to make your scimitar strong enough to take down the genie and rescue the princess. It's like, that's crazy. Like, that is nuts. And that's great. And you'll learn that over time. But it's not as intuitive to the machine as Bride of Pinbot is. And Bride of Pinbot comes out in 1991. So not even when this video game version of Pinbot was released. Well, I have a question just about, you know, the Pinbot deep lore.

41:39 So when you boot up the game, you get, like, a little splash screen that says Pinbot in, you know, handwriting. And then there's this, like, cyberpunk woman with, like, a visor and, you know, just very, very female presenting.

41:56 And I was under the impression that that was Pinbot. So I guess I, like, who was that? Right. And I'm not going to say that that woman looks exactly like Bride of Pinbot. But I didn't know that Bride of Pinbot came out in 1991. And so I would have thought, as somebody who played both of them, I would have thought that was Bride of Pinbot showing up and being like, huh, there is some lore here. But instead, I think that's just a random robot. Okay. We will play another rare game that reuses Pinbot's engine in 1991. And it is called High Speed.

42:32 It is based off of another pinball machine, just like how Pinbot was based off of a pinball machine. So get ready for that, I suppose, if you're excited for another video game pinball game. Did it say game twice in that regard? I don't think so. Okay.

42:51 And then back to pinball, Jackbot became, in 1995, became the next successor. So you have Pinbot, Bride of Pinbot, and then I guess there's Sun, Jackbot. I have not played this one, but it seems a little weird and, like, it got off the rails a little bit because now it's got, like, this weird casino theme going on. And, yeah, I guess Pinbot had this whole solar system theme going on. So none of them are even all that connected. It's just, like, I guess the machines are built and then they got married after the fact.

43:22 Right? Like, you know, it's just like, maybe you build Pinbot and then she's like, I'll just get married to the Pinbot machine. Yeah, no, I'm losing the thread now. And, Sean, we've been talking a lot about Pinball Arcade, but I think it's worth mentioning, you know, not really a sequel or spinoff. It's worth mentioning that all of these machines were faithfully recreated in Pinball Arcade, but I use were because they lost the freaking license.

43:48 Wow. So unless you bought the DLC a long, long time ago, you don't have access to these machines anymore. And that sucks. It does suck. There is a way, though, to play these, and it is on a, it's available on Steam. It's called Pinball FX. And if you have a semi-capable Windows computer, I suggest downloading Pinball FX if you're at all interested in how Pinball games have advanced. Because if you download it at 33 gigabytes. Oh my God. All you have to do is just complete the tutorial at the beginning of the game, and it gives you a one-day pass to play all of their machines.

44:28 That's what I was going to say. The one thing I would warn people about if they haven't already explored, you know, more HD-era pinball simulation is that it is, it is the, is the, uh, the image of over-monetization. Where I think every single board is its own DLC, and I don't even remember how much they cost. And it's, it's wild. You will spend, on Pinball FX, you would have to spend, I think, somewhere in the realm of $400 to $500 to have every pinball machine that they have in there. And that is stupid. But they're taking advantage of being the only supplier.

45:10 Of the, like, they have the agreement with Williams. They have the agreement with, um, Bailey or whatever. EA to the NFL. It's just wild. Yeah, they also have just made-up cabinets on there, too, that don't exist in real life. Like, there's a whole Star Wars line of pinball machines that are just, you know, only available in this video game form. That said, I, I, that's why I was recommending it, is because you download the, you know, you download the game, you play the tutorial, you get the one-day pass, and you'll probably be pinballed out in that one day. You probably won't have the itch to go back. And if you do, I'm really sorry, because I probably just cost you about $400 to $500.

45:47 Last thing I want to say is that there is a website that, uh, you can, and I'll try to, like, link this somehow. There's a website that you can check out to just, like, type in the name of said pinball machine and find out if it's near you within, like, 100 miles or whatever. Turns out, I actually have a pinbop machine within 25 miles of me. So I might be going to Silver Ball Retro Arcade to check out, um, the pinbop machine in, in the flesh. And I think that's the episode, unless I forgot something. I think we spoke about everything this game had to offer more, longer than most people would play it. Joe, did you say something? We might have forgotten something.

46:26 But we've been doing this 300 times now. How could we forget? How could we ever forget? Yeah, how could we... I guess you're right. Let's, let's end it. Yeah, couldn't possibly be. Oh, I know what we forgot.

46:37 What's that, Mike? This is the 300th episode of Nostalgia. Oh. No, we were going to... That's the end of my contract. Yeah, I gotta talk to you guys about that, because we are, uh, we are definitely not like Major League Baseball, where the contracts just keep getting bigger. They're actually getting smaller. I haven't been paid at all. Interesting. I have to tell you, uh, in the 200th episode, I did that, uh, that, um... The game, where we guessed... The game, where we guessed who said what, and, uh... Sean, you said that joke. That's the end of your contract in that episode. There's no way I said that.

47:16 You said that. God damn it. Sean, every 100 episodes, your contract ends. And I just didn't want to tell you, because I didn't hope you'd notice. I... I just... I guess I just have, you know, things that are programmed into my brain, and I don't have any actual creativity. You know what's actually crazier than the contract conceit, is the fact that you do this without a contract.

47:40 That you guys just show up every... We record on Wednesdays, and every Wednesday you guys just keep showing up, and we just keep recording episodes that then publish on Fridays. And every Friday, these same people just keep downloading the episodes and listening to them. And, uh, I'm thankful for both ends of that. I'm thankful for you guys for showing up on Wednesdays, and I'm thankful for, uh, the people who keep listening on Fridays. And, heck, you know, it's practically Thanksgiving, so I'm just thankful for everything right now. I'm thankful for you.

48:11 Yeah, you put this all together. Guys, I don't know if you know this, but it literally is Black Friday when this episode comes out. Oh, nice. I was thankful for you yesterday. Yeah, thank you. That's all I was trying to get at. Wasn't trying to say anything else, Joe. Joe, did you prepare anything else for us, though, or no? Well, I thought we were going to do the Essential Games list first. Is that what I forgot? Oh, my God. You were joking that whole time, right? That's so funny. Of course I was joking, Joe. It's a bit. It's kind of... I don't know. I started to believe it myself.

48:43 You're in the biz. You know better. Yeah, we got to do that last thing. That thing we've done 299 times before. And heck, you know what? While I'm at it, since we've done it 299 times, I might as well give you guys some stats, okay? Going into the 299th episode. Well, wait. Should we do the stats before or after we have the 300th to make a nice round number? Oh, okay. Yeah, you know what? Sorry. I'm going to keep you guys hanging. Please join us for the end of this episode with the Essential Games list.

49:14 Is Pinbot the best pinball NES video game? That was weird. I should have said, like, the best NES pinball video game, right? You know, I don't know necessarily because I kind of, like, I got hung up on the fact that it is based on a real pinball machine and then did things that the real pinball machine didn't. And then halfway through the episode, I started saying things like, that doesn't matter. And I started having an identity crisis of, like, well, which one is it, Mike? You know, you're going to say this in the Essential Games list and then you're saying this on the episode.

49:50 So I don't think, like, whether I think it's the best version, I don't think that matters for the Essential Games list because I'm not ready to put it on there yet. I don't think I'm ready to put a pinball game up against the rest because pinball is its own thing. You know, it's similar to, like, would you put something that really put the power pad to use as, like, this was the best form of exercise in the 1990s and it was only available on the power pad. Like, would you put that on the Essential Games list just because it's the best workout game on the NES? Like, no, not every genre needs to be represented.

50:24 And so I don't think Pinbot has really done anything to go above and beyond the pinball category. That said, it's a great pinball game on the NES. Sean? I'm pretty much in complete agreement with that. I also don't think that every genre needs to be represented.

50:46 I would never vote a virtual novel. I'm sorry, a visual novel onto the NES Essential Games list. I don't know if that's because there'll never be one or just because I don't like them. But that's my point. Not Essential. Still fun. Joe? I do think it's my favorite pinball game on the NES we've had so far as well. But, yeah, none of them have really blown me away. They've all just been little curiosities, including this one. So, not Essential. All right. What a shame that we couldn't do it for the 300th episode. So, we couldn't just force the Essential Games just to get people talking, just to be like, hey, I heard they did something crazy on the 300th episode. Yeah, they put Pinbot on there.

51:30 Didn't happen. So, instead, I will just gift you guys with the current stats of where we're at with the Essential Games list. We have played 300 games. A reminder that there will be 673 officially licensed NES games, only in North America, of course. And so, of those 300, that means that we have played through 44.58% of the catalog. Guys, we're not even halfway. Well, we're pretty close to halfway.

51:58 Yeah, we're, like, closer than I thought we were to halfway. Okay, well, that's exciting. But I guess what I meant is, is, like, we started the show in 2018, and it's been five years, and we're not halfway. Right. Of that, 30 games are on the Essential Games list. So, 10%. That's pretty good. That means that we should have 67 Essential Games when all things are said and done. I'm excited to find out what those other 37 will be. That seems a little too perfect, you know?

52:26 If there's 673, maybe we should, like, either bump it up to 68 or bring it down to 66. I don't like the perfect 1 to 10, you know? Every 10 episodes, we have an Essential Game. It's in the contract. That's our guarantee. Is that in the contract? Damn it. And then, yeah, that's our guarantee. That was what the Nintendo seal of quality actually was. It was saying that, like, 1 in 10 of your purchases will be an Essential Game, and you might score higher or lower.

52:57 We also have a category that we call Play It, where we thought they were good games, just not good enough to get into the Essential. And that one we're still picky about, because that has 61 Play It's. So, 20.33%. For a total of 30.33% of the games we have played, less than one-third of the games we have played, we have enjoyed. I'll also just note that this is an unofficial stat, and it comes from Mike just sort of feeling out the vibe of the conversation, I think, because we don't have that as, like, an official thing that we say.

53:32 Right. I think, like, sometimes we've said it. But, like, I'll say that there are definitely, for me particularly, a lot of games that I would consider a play that you guys and Sam wouldn't, just because I feel like I'm, I don't know, a little more infatuated with games sometimes. Yeah, I feel like it all averages out. Like, there's probably a bunch of shmups in the Play It that Joe wouldn't have put his Play It. So, you know, it all evens out. But that means that 209 games that we have played on this podcast,

54:01 that's two-thirds of the podcast, have just been skippets, things that we don't ever intend to play or talk about again. And so, aren't you glad I made you do the show? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Like, you know, in some ways, this is, like, committing to this show has been one of the biggest wastes of time in my life.

54:23 Of all the genres that we've played, we have played the most in the arcade genre. We have played 48 games that are classified as arcade. Of those, 33 skippets, 14 playets, and just one essential. What was the essential again? You know, you're making me think. I was hoping you wouldn't put me on the spot like that, but I'm going to try and grab it as fast as I can. Talk amongst yourselves when you think about what it could be. How much time do you think you've wasted, Joe? Mock writer. How much time do I think I've wasted?

54:53 I've wasted a lot of time trying to convince you guys that Zelda 2 is essential. I don't hear what you're saying right now. You're kind of breaking up a little bit. Oh, it was Balloon Fight. Balloon Fight. Oh, I was going to say that, but I wasn't thinking of that as an arcade game. Yeah, I think it fits into the arcade more than the action. I agree. Yeah. And then surprising... Oh, wait. No, what am I talking about? Sports has the biggest genre, obviously. That's 46 skippets, 9 playets, 2 essential games. Got it. Yeah. And the 2 essential games? 2 essential is still shocking to me. Take a guess. Tecmo Bowl.

55:35 Do we count Mike Tyson as sports? Oh, yeah. We did. There it is. You guys are good at this. Okay. Now, the 4 essential shmups. Pericresta. Okay. Gradius. Guardian Legend. Oh, you know, I didn't have that in the shmup one because it's half and half. Yeah, it's half and half. But no, I'm giving it to you. So actually, there's 5 then in that case. The one that we really liked. Twin B? No, no, no. You're thinking of Stinger, but Joe, we took that off. Stinger. That's right. I forgot the other two.

56:14 Life Force? Yes. And then, you know, I can't really think of a bigger hint than this, but it has wanted posters in it. Oh, I was going to say, I thought we took that off too. No, Gun.Smoke, we put it on. We added it. It was never on before that. We added it in our Best of 89. I guess that's also like a running gun. It's auto-scrolling, right? No, it's auto-scrolling. Yeah, I feel like it's a shmup. Ah, whatever. We know Joe's biggest regret in the show is that Zelda 2 isn't on the essential games list. But Sean, do you have a biggest regret? I feel like most of the things that I say, I wish I could take back.

56:52 So I don't know if there's a biggest, but there's a lot of them. All right, good answer. And then Joe, I'm sorry if I spoke for you, but is there anything else you wanted to say for that? Bigger regret? I don't know. I've got other things that I regret, but I'm definitely the most vocal about Zelda 2. And then the last thing, we've recorded the episode for Super Mario Bros. 3. It's available. It's already one of our most played episodes because everybody, I guess, got word that we were doing it. And more people than subscribe to this show listen to that episode. And so that's kind of funny. But now that Super Mario Bros. 3 is out of the way, what's the game you're most looking forward to in our future? I mean, in the near future, it's Final Fantasy.

57:32 In the far future or the mid future, you know, I'll have to get back to you. But I mean, we also got like, we got Snake's Revenge coming up, even though that's not like. That's the big episode 301 next week, Sean. That's true. So I'm looking forward to that. It's the 301st episode spectacular next week. Don't miss it. Yeah. Final Fantasy is also like the one that I've been looking forward to since the very beginning. But yeah, other than that, I don't know. There's a lot of things that I just can't think of right now. Maybe Color a Dinosaur. Yeah. Color a Dinosaur is definitely up there. I've been wanting to play this game since you first started the podcast.

58:48 All right, Joe. That's correct. I'm thinking maybe in every 100 episode thing. Well, we say enough stupid things to warrant it. You know, I'm disappointed. I don't know if I got as many stupid things that were said. But they're all, you know, I feel like there'll be good challenges. There's some interesting stuff we talked about. But yeah, last time you guys got 15 points out of a possible 30. I'd say that's pretty good. This time there are 36 possible points. So I think you guys should shoot for more than 18 points to beat that 50%.

59:23 So to those that may not have listened to the 200th episode game, can you explain what the game is? So what we're doing, even though I know everybody listened to that episode, you know, I wouldn't skip an episode. But what we're doing is I have, generally, I have a quote from an episode. And I'll be asking either to identify who said the quote, identify which episode it was from, or both for two points. I also have on here a little extra bonus round of just the back of the box. Just guess which game this back of the box is. Oh, I love that. So a couple of those, too.

1:00:05 But yeah, I mean, that's really it. I'll keep track of your points, see if you can beat it. Last time we did, a friend of the show, Mark Pascualato, actually answered the questions first. And we tried to see if you could beat him. This time you're trying to beat your former selves. I like it. Now, should we also give a little time maybe for the listeners as well? Just not answer right away. Yeah. Well, yeah. Deliberate. You know, discuss. Yeah. You know? You got to come to a conclusion between each other, too.

1:00:33 But I'm going to start out with this first one. And for this one, you will be giving the person who said it and also the game that it was from. Each one is worth one point. So two points total. Here's the quote. I mean, I can kind of feel myself fading away. Ha ha ha. Like the picture in the game and movie. Because this was not good. And it's getting not a vote for essentialness from me. All right. That's Sean.

1:01:03 But we should discuss a little. I don't know. I feel like you could say, I feel myself fading away. That feels like a Sean vibe. I don't know. I feel like in certain situations, you might say the same thing. I don't know if I've said essentialness. Ooh, essentialness. Yeah. Maybe I have. Joe, Joe, can I get this? Can I get after the fadeaway what was said? Okay. Right after the fadeaway. Ha ha ha. Like the picture in the game and movie. Because this was not good. And it's getting not a vote for essentialness from me. Okay. It's Sean. And it's got to be from like a very recent episode. Like Ghostbusters 2. Because that has Vigo with the portrait. And it was also in the movie.

1:01:47 No. No? No. You don't think you said that recently? I mean, it would track. Other movies with portraits. Other movies with portraits in them. That's just weird, right? I don't know. Ghostbusters 2 had one. Sure. Let's go with that. All right. Sean and Ghostbusters 2. Okay. So for Sean, that is correct. That is one point. Ghostbusters 2, unfortunately, incorrect. The answer is Back to the Future. Oh, in the picture. Yes. Oh, my God. Wow. So Ghostbusters 2 ripped off Back to the Future with the fading picture concept.

1:02:26 Although the quick picture of the fading Ghostbusters 2. We just played Ghostbusters. All right. Oh, because we just played it. It can't be eligible? No. I mean, I don't remember a picture in Ghostbusters 2. Oh, okay. Yeah. You don't fight Vigo in Ghostbusters 2. You just get to see. By completing the stage four times, you just get to see the picture of him. I see. Okay. Moving on. All right. Moving on. It's not that I don't know the difference between the shape of the letter E and a cake mixer. Okay. This is definitely I can remember. Sorry. That's Joe. That's a Joe thing, right?

1:03:03 Or do you think it's a you? Are we all candidates or is it just between Mike and I? Anyone who's ever been on the show is a candidate. Okay. I think that's a Joe thing. It does sound very witty and very Joe-like. Right. Unlike us. Now, it's a trap because it seems like it's for Sesame Street, but I think it's for Fisher Price. Yeah. Fisher Price, I can remember. I can remember or perfect fit, right? Isn't it perfect fit? With the, you know, where you're, where you're. Hold on, Joe. The quote again, please.

1:03:40 It's not that I don't know the difference between the shape of the letter E and a cake mixer. Yeah, I think it's perfect fit where you're putting the things into the slots and they were Fisher Price toys. I thought that was I can remember. No, I can remember is the memory game where you just have to keep flipping ties. But that had Fisher Price toys as well. But I guess you're right. Okay. We'll go with perfect fit and we'll go with Joe. All right. Final answers. Yep. Correct on both accounts. So that's two. You're up to three points. Very good. Total. Now this next one in reference to the same game. So you're just guessing who said it. Somebody said, I played competitively. That's also Joe. Right? Didn't he? Like, yeah, that was Joe. He was the only one who played competitively. Correct. That was also Joe.

1:04:34 Four points. Let's keep going. All right. You guys are on a roll. Okay. It sounds like a company that like usually makes fragrances and just wanted to try their hand at video games. Fragrances? Yes. That's definitely a me thing. I feel like I say that. I feel like I talk about developer stuff more than anybody. But what would have been the company? Does it sound French-ish? Yeah. Oh, but you know what? I think I know what this is. What is it? This is that game Joe loved.

1:05:12 The Zapper game that he like bought and then kept playing for like weeks after the fact. Oh, the Journey to Earth? Yeah. To the Earth. To the Earth? Yeah. And I think the developer was French or something. And they just did. This was like the only game they ever made. But you wouldn't have said that about French. It would have been. Oh, the word was French. Not the actual word being the word French. Okay. Right, right, right. They're not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go with Mike to the Earth. To the Earth is correct. However, it was Sean that said that. We're the same person. Good memory on the, because it was Cirque Verde or something was the. That's weird. I don't remember saying that at all. All right, moving on. Yeah, it's Quentin Tarantino's version of soccer.

1:06:06 Now, I will take. There are two possible answers for the game that I will accept. Right. Now, I think because I know where that was going. And so I think we said in an episode teasing to another episode the actual line. But the game I was referring to, of course, was Captain Tsubasa 2 Super Striker, which we played for the Nostalgia Bites podcast. But I couldn't tell you which game I would have teed that up for in exchange. Yeah. Okay. But it was me and Captain Tsubasa 2. Final answer?

1:06:49 Sean, is it our final answer? No, yeah. That's definitely correct. It would be fun to also know the other, like the game that we pitched it on. But I don't think we know that. Well, correct on all accounts. So I'll give you two points there. The game, I don't think there was really any chance that you would have gotten it as Road Blasters. Okay. Just happened to be the game that you pitched, Captain. I barely remember what Road Blasters even is. Who does? That should be the next question. Just to really screw us up. Yeah. Sputnik's picking up the signal. Okay. So that's a back of the box? No. That's a quote. Sputnik's picking up the signal. Okay. So it has to do with the Cold War. So I would hope. I would hope. Or space. Space, yeah. Space more likely.

1:07:46 Damn. That's tough. I don't know. On either count. That would have been another one where I would have said, like, to the Earth or something. You know, like, I'm thinking of recent space games. So we may as well just guess. Yeah. No, but we should think about who would have said that. So, Joe, what's the quote again? Sputnik's picking up the signal.

1:08:04 Sean, I feel like you're the only one who would have name-dropped Sputnik. Name-dropped Sputnik as if it's, like, a reference. No, like, a reference to something that people don't know about. I just feel like me and Joe wouldn't have a reason to bring that up. Okay, fine. We'll say it was me. No, no, no. It's like, you know, you also say things, so you can tell us. I do say things. All right. I mean, you know, I don't particularly know if I said that one thing, but let's say...

1:08:33 Let's say Sean and let's say, like, Ashton X. Sure. It was Sean. Wow. But it was not Ashton X. It was not space-related. It was Tetris. Oh, okay. That's perfect. Yeah, it was Russian. We were talking about how there were conspiracy theories that, like, the Russians were using the cartridge to spy on us. Oh. And we were asking, like, how did they think that it wasn't hooked up to the internet? Like, how... Like, so we talked about, like, were they breaking into our house to, like, pick up the cartridge? Or was Sputnik picking up the signal?

1:09:05 All right. That actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Joe. You got it. That's what I'm here for. All right. Here's a longer one. And there's a name in here which I will not say. So, you know, ignore the redacteds. Okay. Who could forget the classic chase scene between Redacted and the killer bees? Or the Looney Tune hijinks where Redacted throws a bowling ball at that girl with the hula hoop? Or when Redacted fought over 100 thugs at the diner? So this is definitely... Back to the future. Again, yeah, Back to the Future.

1:09:38 Back to the Future. And I think it's Mike because it flows too well for it to be me. Or it's either you or... It's either Mike or Joe. Yeah, because Joe was poking a lot of fun at Back to the Future as well. So that was my hesitation. But we haven't had a me yet. So I was thinking this would be me. But are we sure it's Back to the Future and not Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It's 100% Back to the Future. Okay. All right. So me and Back to the Future. Correct and correct. And we also have had a you for... Well, it's good that I forgot that because it convinced me that it was me.

1:10:16 All right. Moving on. Faxana do what Zelda don't. That had to be... That had to be Mike. That's gotta be me. The only question is... It's too dad jokey. This... And this is... You're only guessing who because obviously it's on the Faxana episode. Definitely. The intro back in the box. I'm gonna just take a... I'm gonna take a celebrity shot here though too and say that I said that on the Essential Games List portion of the episode.

1:10:51 So we're going with Mike? Yes. Mike and it was said on the Essential Games List portion. Okay. Well, that will just be for pride if you get that right. But it was not Mike. It was also not Sean. Big shock twist here. It was Sam. Wow. It was me. Oh. I said it. Do what Zelda don't. What Zelda don't. But here's the thing. Immediately following that I said, but that's not true. I just thought it was a funny joke. I didn't actually believe that. You immediately covered your tracks. I see. Okay. Damn. You did vote it on the Essential Games List. I did vote it on the Essential Games List. How many points do we have? You have... Let's see. One, two, three.

1:11:37 Very scientific. Terrific. Ten points. Okay. We're doing great. We're going to get to 18. Yeah. We're getting there. And the game's over. No, I'm just kidding. Next quote. You have to be given the choice to do what the game is about. Even though you putting the cartridge or disc in your system and deciding to interact with the controller, is you giving your consent for the game to happen to you?

1:12:02 Okay. Why do I see now? Like, at first I thought it was a me thing. And then when it got to the consent part, I was like, it's a Sean thing. No, I think this is a you or Joe thing. And it's for Dragon Quest or something. Dragon Warrior. Interesting. Okay. Joe, one more time to quote. You have to be given the choice to do what the game is about. Even though you putting the cartridge or disc in your system and deciding to interact with the controller, is you giving your consent for the game to happen to you? Yeah. Okay, so explain to me why it's Dragon Warrior. Because this is, I remember talking about this.

1:12:39 So maybe it might have been me. But this is just a thing in Japanese RPGs. Like, there's this, there's this motif, not motif. There's this trope of there being choices to play the game. Like, do you accept this quest? Oh, you're right. And at the end of Dragon Warrior, you can actually join the evil dragon guy. And then it's like, the game will let you. Yeah. But that's less so what I would have meant. But, I mean, maybe, I don't know who said this. So it's Dragon Warrior and, um...

1:13:22 Maybe. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't, I, I... It doesn't have enough... It's too... Yeah, it doesn't have enough words. It's too concise. Yeah, it doesn't have enough words for it to be you. Um, I'm gonna say... I'm gonna say it was me again and Dragon Warrior. Sean, you... The reason I think you have such an opinion on this is because it was you that said this. God damn it. And it was not Dragon Warrior. It was Magic of Shaharazad. Oh. Okay. All right. Well... But yeah, what you described is exactly what you're talking about. Is that, like, you have, you have to get the call to action and accept it. Yeah. Even though it's like, yeah, I already, I'm here. Well, we got points for a vibe. No, no vibe points.

1:14:09 Okay, here's, there's, there's two kind of quotes here that go, um, that go together. So, the first one being, just think of how they'll be able to print one extra word in the manual because they didn't use it on the box.

1:14:24 And then later in the episode, the same person says, just think of how many more words he'll be able to name his kid because he's not using his last name. Okay. That is just funny. All right. I just want to say, sometimes this podcast hits. Okay. And that is, like, out of context, really funny. So, it can't be me. That's for sure. It's Joe. I don't know what game that is. I think it's Joe, though. I think it's Joe. It's very witty. And then, okay, so they didn't, they left something off in the manual? No, it's the back of the box. It didn't have much. The back of the box. Or maybe it was the manual. Think about how much words, think about how much they'll say by adding an extra word somewhere else. What? Uh, Joe, one more time, please.

1:15:09 Just think of how they'll be able to print one extra word in the manual because they didn't use it on the box. And then, just think of how many more words he'll be able to name his kid because he's not using his last name.

1:15:23 I have no idea. Yeah, I really don't know the game, but I'm going to just take a stab in the dark and say code name Viper and Joe. Okay. It was me, but it was not code name Viper. Uh, it was Al Unser Jr. Ah! And on the back of the box, and oh, I'm blanking now, but it was something about, like, it said, like, experience, experience, what was Al Unser Jr.? It was a racing game, right? Yeah, it was a racing game. Yeah, experience racing like you've never experienced.

1:15:56 And Mike thought they should say never experienced it. And we were going back and forth on why the it wasn't there. So that's when I said that. And then, like, later on, we talked about how Al Unser Jr. And then, like, it also said that he was sometimes called Al Jr. And we were talking about, like, was it really necessary to take out his last name?

1:16:14 Yes. Now, Joe, the back of the box was get ready for racing action like you've never experienced it. And I think what happened was that it wasn't the problem, but it was saying it like you've never experienced it. It should have been like you've never experienced before. It's saying get ready for racing action as if it's your very first time is the way the back of the box is wording it. It is weird wording.

1:16:37 Sure. All right. Next up. I lost the plot of the G there for a second because I'm not used to seeing them like that. Okay. That is, again, Fisher-Price perfect fit. And I don't know if that sounds like a me thing because Joe had the kick thing or whatever. So I'm going to go me perfect fit. I don't know why I remember that, but I'm pretty sure that there were letters that you could. And what happened was the G came in upside down or something for me. And I think this is a very personal experience. No, I think you're 100% right. Yeah. Me, perfect fit. Correct on both accounts. You have a very clear memory. I remember that playing the game. Yeah. I remember playing the game and that G coming down and having that thought.

1:17:27 I knew that one would stick with you. I knew that was like burned into your memory. All right. Next, this one's just for the game. Just because I don't think there's really much contextually that will tell you who said it. Okay. So the quote is, I was just hoping we wouldn't talk about the book again. So I wouldn't have to sound like I hadn't read it. I mean, I think that's, oh man, I don't know. We played video games based on books.

1:17:55 Is it the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? No. Is this only the last 100 episodes? It is actually. I didn't mention that at the beginning, but I've only gone from the last, well, since the last time we've done this. Yeah. Okay. Didn't want to mention that I haven't read the book again. I just can't even think about games that we played that were based off books. Can you give it a quote one more time? I was just hoping we wouldn't talk about the book again. So I wouldn't have to sound like I hadn't read it.

1:18:25 Full disclosure. Those last like four words, somebody else is talking also. And I'm not exactly sure if those like, that's my best approximation. Yeah. Okay. So here's a weird thing, because I brought it up earlier. And Who Framed Roger Rabbit did have like, it was a book that there was like several. First, it was a book. Then there was a sequel for the book. But we ever talk about the book? Yeah, we did. And the sequel was in spinoff section. It was like a whole thing.

1:18:52 But I'm not really confident about that. I'm not confident that we would have an opportunity to talk about the book again. Right. Or that I was saying like, you know, oh, I wasn't sure that I would, you know, because I think it's me who said it. So I guess I'm saying like, I didn't read the books or I don't know enough about the books to answer your questions. All right. Let's go with Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And then we need some context, Joe. It is not Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It was me, even though that doesn't matter.

1:19:22 And the game was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Oh, my God. Wow. I mean, like, I kind of knew that. But like, at the same time, I thought that was so long ago. That was so long ago. Yeah. The thing I was hoping would give it away is that like, I feel like I wouldn't be like talking like I'm embarrassed to have not read Roger Rabbit. No, because that's like an American classic. Like Tom Sawyer is at least like, yeah, yeah. I haven't read it either. It's okay. Yeah. Adventures of Tom Sawyer is episode 203. So that's crazy. Yeah, it really was. Three years ago. Yep. All right. Next one. A little interesting. They decided to go with ABC instead of 456, the natural progression of numbers.

1:20:14 That's not good enough to be. Like, that's not witty enough for me. so um you're so down on your wit yeah well you know you are the fast talker okay you're the guy who says such classic lines on the podcast yeah on the podcast i've staged fright no didn't you say recently and i quote i think just recently baja blast entered the public domain they're making a baja blast horror film now i did i did say that but i feel like those are few and far

1:20:49 between uh just okay okay uh so sesame straight abc and um i'm gonna say me actually you know what because joe's got me second guess on myself okay well this is why this is why you always believe in yourself because it was you mike oh yay but i we're toward we're getting towards the late game here and i and i'm not being uh merciful anymore it was not sesame street abc it was nfl but we were teasing sesame street abc coming up the next week oh wow that's really i mean like that is unforgiving but i appreciate it okay coming up always be closing doofus everyone farts

1:21:33 wow these are really hard and this is now like this is the part where i'm saying like thank you all for listening to the podcast despite what we say yeah i mean i feel like i would make a glengarry glen ross reference um i don't know how prone to those you guys are that's the only reason i would say it's me but i didn't even know there was a glengarry glen ross reference so always be closing yeah i didn't know oh uh i don't know why there would be farts after that yeah this is a great one um do you want to hear the whole thing again yeah always be closing doofus everyone farts

1:22:21 everyone farts i don't know it's not like everyone farts as like a stage action it's like yeah sean it's you who said it i probably said it i don't know what context i don't know what pick a game pick a game um wheel of fortune yeah wheel of fortune there you go all right we sticking with sean wheel of fortune sure yep it was sean now i was hoping the always be closing what is that commonly abbreviated to is it sesame street abc oh my god it says sesame street abc and i asked you you said abc always be closing and i asked you if you could continue that for the rest of the alphabet and you got as far as always be closing doofus everyone farts

1:23:04 darn it wow you're picking some really good ones now i feel better about that quote though like at first i was like thanking the audience for sticking with us now i'm like yeah guys we give you the best yeah all right uh next up if i were a child or teenager or adult or elderly person or i hadn't been born yet and thinking about been thinking about playing a game on a peripheral i'd like to think i would have had to pay good money to buy that game so maybe it's a bargain

1:23:40 we also say complete word salad at times yeah okay okay one more time joe if i were a child or teenager or adult or elderly person or i hadn't been born yet and thinking about been thinking about playing a game on a peripheral i'd like to think that i like i would wait that like i would have had to pay good money to buy that okay now maybe it's a bargain fact that we went on such a journey and the beginning of the sentence doesn't mesh well with the end of the sentence i want to say it's me

1:24:14 again um i usually take you on those on those trips uh that where the sentences don't make any sense i was thinking it was joe i mean i do that a lot too okay i mean just because of the whole like you know um like covering all the bases children touch teenager not born yet like would you say not born yet i don't know i probably would have mentioned dead not been oh oh it's joe he just gave it away

1:24:44 no no no he was just asking the question yeah all right but what's the the game must have been expensive or i mean no it was a peripheral based game okay um and it must not have been used very often so i don't know not one of the robs obviously i want to point you to the last part of the sentence

1:25:16 is it that miracle piano system oh where i you know because i i've actually paid for that and then yeah yeah you did pay for that yeah so maybe it's you uh no it's not me though okay they could still joe but miracle piano teaching system let's do that that is a no on both it was sean although i do i feel like this has been a sean heavy like answer i didn't realize until now but i do think that i'm

1:25:47 more word vomity than sean normally but also um it was short order slash explode the bargain thing because it was two games in one yeah i i don't remember that game was there a peripheral that we used yeah the dance pad okay um you know it's funny it's like one of those things now where like we could have just picked sean every time we'd probably be scoring better than what we are now

1:26:13 i think we've been okay what are we at are we even close to 18 anymore let's see 15 okay we're close how many more possible points oh that's it eight oh okay okay we can do it we can do it more possible points the last one is worth three all right joe believe in yourself i mean sean believe in yourself but also joe believe in yourself another one with a redacted name coming up here try to do your best to figure out what he said and think like redacted maybe you can maybe you can be the third guest speaker on this episode huh try to figure out what he said and think about

1:26:55 redacted think like redacted think like redacted maybe you could be the third guest speaker on this podcast episode episode not that it matters but i feel like it's a me quote yeah it sounds right but what would be the game did we do a bit where we had guest guest speakers we never oh you know what actually yeah hold on hold on now it's all coming it's all it's all um okay remembering is it i can remember you know the fisher price i can remember episode when we got a little silly with

1:27:32 it and i i started like calling you a different name during the essential games list vote do you remember that like uh yeah yeah i guess i remember you saying like sam i think maybe you said yeah and then i yeah for joe i didn't even say i was like jonathan or something um all right that's my best guess me fisher price i can remember it is mike it is not fisher price i can remember it was chess master chess mask wow what was the context what happened there was i i was on the episode with you guys but my file didn't record my microphone didn't record so this was mike's like in fact maybe this is

1:28:16 a little unfair to sean because he probably never heard this no mike came on at the beginning of the episode and and explained that like joe was on this episode he's not in it now so you might hear us reference him i tried to cut around it try your best to figure out what he said and think like joe maybe you can be the third guest speaker on this episode but like yeah you guys were talking to each other and i had been in the conversation i forgot about that nobody could hear me yeah that's pretty wild that that must have been a great episode for everybody to listen to yeah yeah um all right let's

1:28:47 jump into a couple of back of the boxes we got four back of the box things they're all very very generic so these are gonna be tough ones um but what so what you're at that was one extra point so what you're at 16 all right so you need two correct two correct you need two points now because that the final question will be worth three points so if you don't get any of these at least you still got that final question um the first one nobody ever said it would be easy oh oh that it's gotta be

1:29:21 it's like a beat-em-up or like something that where like the vibe is that it's supposed to be like cool it's cool right okay so maybe like not double dragon i was thinking double dragon too for a second when you were like beat him up but you're like maybe uh river city ransom that i feel like that's oh that's

1:29:43 yeah that's kind of what about rescue the embassy mission oh okay like you know like nobody ever said that rescue would be easy like i don't know um yeah that's tough um but that could also be like abadocs right that game where you're like inside it could be any game yeah yeah let's do rescue i i feel i just think that's cool okay i think that has more connective tissue it is not rescue the embassy mission it is sky shark sky shark okay yeah nobody ever said that this would be easy yeah next one something deadly in the air sky shark i was gonna say it sounds like another they're all sky sharks they're from back in the box something deadly in the air something deadly in the air

1:30:35 cyber noid the fighting machine twin eagle yeah let's go that twin eagle twin eagle oh wait wait um yeah twin eagle it was in fact stealth atf ah gosh darn it it's tough strategy that hurts strategy that hurts uh conflict like as it may be that's an interesting one but joe wasn't on that episode was so would he listen to it oh i mean who am i to judge um was i not on conflict i don't think i'm thinking of i'm thinking of anticipation from like two years ago strategy that hurts does it do you think it would be a strategy game i would hope so but you're you're right it's not

1:31:23 requisite strategy that hurts i don't know what would make it hurt though um is it like chess master only i would have never thought of that game but joe used it earlier what about the black and white game what's the black and white game yeah the one i like the one joe really likes oh the chess like game yeah um what is that game called it's on the essential games list no come on it's on the essential games list sean you gotta remember it if you like it um i remember now it has it has a name that also my um my medicine balls have at my gym um archon yeah it is archon oh wow

1:32:09 see i knew i just very good didn't know no is it that you guys are one point away from tying which isn't winning one point away from tying two points away from winning okay uh next question your next move could be your last move could be that's yeah that's like adventures of lolo 2 because you you sometimes get into like fail states where you have to commit suicide that's too self-aware though yeah no i know i know there's no way they wouldn't know this it wouldn't be that dark on it um your next step could be your last oh wait that's like shadowgate right because you always die in the game yeah maybe that's to die yeah let's go with shadowgate

1:32:53 shadowgate for the tie it was shadowgate yeah all right so if you want to win you got to answer this final question which is arbitrarily at this point worth three points doesn't matter you only need one point to to win okay so this is going to be a quote by all three of us you just got to tell me you know where it's from not from not obviously not who it is i'll tell you who said it yes mike said a chronological expiration of every king and queen in great britain to which sean replied it has to be

1:33:26 we still have to not do any research we'll just kind of look at them and judge them by that to which i replied we can just judge how the decisions hold up today too without considering the time period okay so sean hear me out hear me out let's lose on purpose so this way next hundred episodes it's not so hard if we win now right we'll have to get even more points to beat ourselves in the future no no i need to play to win i play to win the game i know i know you gotta improve chronological exploration of every king and queen

1:34:03 well that makes it sound like i was saying like the show's over and we're gonna do a new show yeah we did that we did we made that joke yeah that was the april fools episode but um that was not like that was a canon that wasn't canon yeah well we didn't say king and queen on that one we didn't do okay hey it doesn't have to be canon wait what was something you said it's that april fools episode then what did we talk about during the april fools episode it was the uh ten yard fight remaster oh okay so all right ten yard fight remaster is that your final answer i literally couldn't think of anything else to win the game or lose the game it was not the ten you guys are gonna hate me it was

1:34:50 dash galaxy in the alien asylum no it was the boss rush podcast interview we did oh no i knew he would make it i knew he would make it impossible it was the last question was worth three points it's gotta be a hurdle yeah i know i know okay so yeah for those unaware we did a uh interview with celeste on the uh boss rush podcast and uh i'm sure we made the same kind of stupid jokes that we make on this

1:35:15 show so if you love those then you'll love watching that interview i've got a mustache you guys tied yeah we did exactly what i wanted us to do yeah all right here's the problem is each is apparently each year i'm adding more questions so to just tie yeah technically answer more questions right okay so episode 400 just make it one question one so that we have to get 100 or nothing or nothing

1:35:42 whatever all right well i'm happy with tying the record um for those wondering uh the 400th episode is uh werewolf the last warrior and um that sounds pretty heckin awesome you guys better uh just pay attention to all the goofy things you say for these next 100 episodes also when you get a chance look at the box for werewolf the last warrior what the hell is going on there uh check that out guys when you get a chance