Game designer and author Mathew Kumar joins a panel guest hosted by editor Esper Quinn to cover famous famiclones, the latest in Nintendo developments, and Tommy Tallarico’s unexpected ascent into backgammon legend. Hosted by Esper Quinn, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and Mathew Kumar. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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SHOW NOTES:

• 
  Snake Eater (Live at Symphony Hall)
  


• 
  Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  


• 
  Sonic Mania
  


• 
  Sonic Mania OST - Studiopolis Act 2
  


• 
  Snow Surfers OST - Ronnie’s Theme
  


• 
  Rippin’ Riders
  


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  alpha’s video game drum and bass music playlist
  


• 
  Bomberman Hero
  


• 
  Jun Chikuma
  


• 
  Saori Kobayashi
  


• 
  Sylvan Tale
  


• 
  Panzer Dragoon
  


• 
  Sylvan Tale シルヴァンテイル組曲/Compose&Arrange：小林早織
  


• 
  Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 by Mathew Kumar
  


• 
  Yakuza 4
  


• 
  Makoto Date
  


• 
  Yakuza 4 Theme “For Faith” (with lyrics)
  

1: merritt k asks, what are some of the more interesting bootleg or knockoff consoles? (06:50 )

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  Pegasus
  


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  famiclone
  


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  Nintendo Entertainment System
  


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  EA FIFA series
  


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  Battletank
  


• 
  Circus Charlie
  


• 
  Phantom System
  


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  Dendy
  


• 
  Xiao Bawang
  


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  Handheld TV game
  


• 
  Frogger
  


• 
  Scramble
  


• 
  Commodore 64
  


• 
  ZDog
  


• 
  Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
  


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  Zdinarsik (Z-Dog)


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  Battle City
  


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  Bomberman
  


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  PC Engine
  


• 
  Ghostbusters II
  


• 
  Predator
  

2: What The Hell Is Going On At Nintendo? Part II Chapter 2 - Online Network Test (20:16 )

• 
  Ash Parrish
  


• 
  Nintendo’s mysterious Playtest begins to leak
  


• 
  Minecraft
  


• 
  Roblox
  


• 
  Pokémon GO
  


• 
  Splatoon 3
  


• 
  Animal Crossing series
  


• 
  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
  


• 
  Fortnite
  

3: What The Hell Is Going On At Nintendo? Part III - Nintendo Music (26:50 )

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  Alarmo
  


• 
  Wii Shop Channel Main Theme
  


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  Animal Crossing - 5AM
  


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  Nintendo Museum
  


• 
  Rosalina
  


• 
  Astro Bot
  


• 
  Master Chief
  

4: At this point in your life, what would it take to get you to play more video games? (32:34 )

• 
  Metaphor: ReFantazio
  


• 
  NieR
  


• 
  Metroid Prime
  


• 
  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
  


• 
  Demonschool
  


• 
  Martin Scorsese
  


• 
  Stalker (1979)
  

5: Is Tommy Tallarico a backgammon champion now? (40:37 )

• 
  Tommy Tallarico’s New Goal Is Becoming A Backgammon Legend
  


• 
  Tommy Tallarico
  


• 
  Backgammon
  

6: Alex Jaffe asks, what is the strongest emotion that video games can produce? (43:49 )

• 
  Super Princess Peach
  

7: If you, somehow, wrote an essay for every game you’ve finished, what would you do with those? (51:04 )

• 
  Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 by Mathew Kumar
  


• 
  Ko-fi
  


• 
  Kofi Annan
  


• 
  Ninja Gaiden
  


• 
  Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
  


• 
  Digital Extremes
  


• 
  Digital Eclipse
  


• 
  Warframe
  


• 
  Dark Sector
  


• 
  Internet Archive
  


• 
  The Tower of Druaga
  


• 
  Clive James
  

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Magic: the Gathering Cards (58:24 )

• 
  Chaos Orb
  


• 
  Wurmcoil Engine
  


• 
  Sublime Epiphany
  


• 
  Simian Spirit Guide
  


• 
  Mass Hysteria
  


• 
  Waste Not
  


• 
  Nemesis of Reason
  


• 
  Sunfall
  


• 
  Sword of Feast and Famine
  


• 
  Otterball Antics
  


• 
  Thraximundar
  

Recommendations and Outro (01:10:45 ):

• 
  Frank: UFO 50
  


• 
  Mathew: It’s ver