The Tortured Fans Department

Ep. 61 - The Video Game Franchise Draft

• Shaun Boyle • Season 1 • Episode 61

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:18:49

Shaun is joined by Jeff Jezewski, Joe Zwiebel and Jake Myers to draft video game franchises. 

Each person will draft 5 video game franchises and 1 video game console. 

Stay tuned next week on our Instagram to vote on your winner.

Email the show any listener questions at: ttfdpod@gmail.com

Follow us on YouTube: HERE

Follow us on Instagram: @ttfdpod

Follow us on X: @torturedfanspod

Check out our shop HERE

SPEAKER_02

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Tortured Fans Department Podcast. As you could tell from the episode title, we are back with another draft. I've got the movie and TV show crew here with me. We're doing video games today. It's a bit of a different topic. I think we're well versed in this area. A couple of us feel a bit lighter than others, but I think overall we have the we have the men for the job. Let's start with Mr. Jake Myers, who's on the program last week. We're happy to have him back. Jake, how are you?

SPEAKER_03

Doing absolutely wonderful today, Mr. Boyle.

SPEAKER_02

We also have Mr.

SPEAKER_01

Joe's Weible. Joe, how are you doing? I'm living great. Jeff has seemed to fully adopt uh the Joey Zeitgeist nickname uh for me. I've heard it about 30 times in the last two weeks. So, you know, I almost put that as my name, but you know, I'm a teacher on summer break. It can't be much better than this.

SPEAKER_02

That's right.

SPEAKER_01

And last but certainly not least is Mr.

SPEAKER_02

Jeff Jazewski. Jeffrey, how are you?

SPEAKER_00

Doing well. It was uh great to spend uh a week with with Joey Zeitgeist himself and uh continue to call him Joey Zeitgeist. He was uh walking back to the house from the beach one day, and I just yeah, I needed to ask him something, so I yelled Zeitgeist. And he turned around, so he's bought in as well.

SPEAKER_02

We're building camaraderie, we're we're making nicknames on the pod. We prefaced it with this is a video games draft. I we have to dive into the details just a little bit. This is a video games franchise draft, so there has to be at least two iterations of the video game for it to be draft eligible. That kind of takes on any standalone games that don't have a sequel or anything like that. Also, some other draft rules we'll be doing six rounds. One of those rounds has to be a console. Now, the games that you take aren't required to be played on that console, but basically you will be judged on your whole draft. So the listeners will see a graphic, it'll have your five video game selections and your console. And then the other rule that we need to touch on is at least one of your picks needs to be a sports-related video game. Does that cover everything, boys? Does. Yeah, I think so. Got it. Let's do it. And in order to not be accused of any wrongdoings or cheating, Jeff is going to be creating the draft order. So, Jeff, hit that randomizer and tell us what we got.

SPEAKER_00

All right. Good old uh random.org has spit back a draft order of Joseph Zweibel, uh, number one, Sean Boyle, number two, Jake Myers, number three, and myself at the turn.

SPEAKER_01

We love it. Okay. Joe, please kick things off. Well, I can't say I'm thrilled to be number one because, you know, we got to make some tough decisions. And I'm a middle lead torn between two, but I think I gotta go the one that is especially timely with this time of year that we're in right now. June and uh and July has been glorious uh because the world's game has been center stage. And so I am going to pick the world's game, and that is FIFA. Uh, it is just an unreal game, been going since 1993. You know, it has, you know, changed uh a lot. Obviously, now it's EAFC, but you know, it will still forever be known as FIFA. It's more well known than the organization, which, you know, Jeff believes is is an honest, true, you know, honor, honor-filled organization. So I just want to make sure that's clear for everybody.

SPEAKER_00

I stand with Infantino and Bladder.

SPEAKER_01

He does, he does. But uh, you know, I mean, it it's an amazing game. Um, you know, I think it's gotten a lot of people interested in soccer. Uh, for me, it's one of the ways I picked the Newcastle, though I don't really want to talk about Newcastle today because, you know, I'm a little sad, but we'll just you know, we'll let that be. Sean, no trolling, you're not allowed, even though this is your pod. But it, I mean, 10 out of 10 game. Uh, shout out Wandos Wanders, Jeff and Boy, uh Jeff and Boyle. I have my club mates here. Shout out my club captain, Sean Boyle. But yeah, 10 out of 10 game. No notes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, I don't believe you with this being one-one. I I don't think you're truly speaking with your heart here. But to your point, I would say early 2010s, it really was sort of the the gateway drug to me to get into soccer. You know, I had my my waves where I would pay attention for three months and then I would fall back off. But over the last three to four years, I've been absolutely dialed in. Uh, you guys know I've been texting you about who the hell is this guy that that my team, that which what 19-year-old from Cambodia is siding with Aston Villa, and FIFA is a huge player in getting me into soccer at the level that I am.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Joe, it's a clear one-one for me. I was I was I shouldn't say crystal clear. I was kind of torn between two, but I would have gone with this one first as well. There's a lot of different elements to the game. I absolutely love career mode. That's where I've spent most of my time. I could play that for, I mean, hours upon hours, which is the case with a lot of these probably first round picks. And I think that's what creates the value in drafting it in the first round is you need to be able to play the game a bunch without getting sick of it. And I think there's always something to keep it interesting in FIFA. We do have pro clubs as well, it's always a good time. It gets the boys back together. No notes really. I I would say the game that got me into FIFA was FIFA 2006 with Ronaldinho on the cover, and also because it was a World Cup year, I remember that's like the first one I had, and I was like all into the international teams, and it was kind of a slow build since then, but there has been some absolute bangers in the past of this game. So I don't have any critiques with you taking this first overall.

SPEAKER_01

Speaking of bangers, arguably the best soundtracks of any video game.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna say, is it the best game soundtrack like consistently?

SPEAKER_01

Well, and don't name any others because you know we don't want to tip picks, no tipping picks around here. That's right, that's right. Jake, thoughts on FIFA?

SPEAKER_03

As a cas as a very casual FIFA player, I don't play a whole lot. However, what I love about it is that it's simple to pick up. I know it's challenging to master, but I think that is that is a sign of a great video game where anyone can really pick it up and enjoy playing it, but you also have to spend some time on it to master. So I do like that. Uh yeah, never got into it. It was on my board, but just it wasn't a first round pick for me. But again, I'm not the person that uh it's really for because I'm not a big soccer guy. But uh yeah, FIFA is huge, absolutely huge. Great pick by Joe.

SPEAKER_02

Much appreciated. You're not a big soccer guy, Jake, but you are a big football guy. And with the second pick, I will be taking EA sports, college football, NCAA football, whatever you would like to call it. It's back, it's been back for a couple years after a long hiatus. And I would like to just say Absence makes the heart grow fonder because this thing hit like crack cocaine when it came back. I don't know if it got better or not, but it certainly felt like it did. It feels like it was so long since we got to play it that anything would have been acceptable. And it feels like the new product is still pretty good. The transfer portal's an interesting wrinkle. Maybe college athletics is in a worse spot than it was. It seemed a lot more pure, at least when we were young and young and dumb back in the day. But I grew up on these games. I think this panel specifically spent a lot of hours in this game. And I would venture a guess saying among the four of us, this has to have the highest output in terms of hours spent on it. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00

For sure. Combined for the four of us. I think you'd be hard pressed to find four people in a room that have spent more combined time in that series than us. In any in any game, really.

SPEAKER_02

Four people in like and also I would say the my the Myers family household, I think they're the number one in America in terms of hours spent on this game because Tyler, your brother Jake, he's an absolute menace with this as well.

SPEAKER_03

Listen, I'll tell you so I'll here's uh a couple things. One, I I have to speak on this game, Sean, because the amount like you, like you alluded, the the amount of time, I wish I knew the amount of time I spent on this game because it would be absolutely disgusting. But this game right here, uh, it allows you to be a coach, uh it's mostly a coach game where like you're you're one coach and you're leveling up, and the real sick goes, the real guys that are in the mud in this thing, they start off at a low program and they keep uh climbing that ladder to like bigger schools, but that before you become the coach at uh the school of your you're choosing your favorite school. But the thing is with this game, every single stadium is unique, every single one, the sights, the sounds, pageantry. That's what makes this game beautiful. It is like a love letter to the sport itself. I absolutely love it. Yes, I I do love the games now. Uh a little, a little upset about some of the microtransaction stuff going on now, but we're not gonna talk about that because we're happy.

SPEAKER_02

You're not spoiling my pick. Save that for a later date, please.

SPEAKER_03

But anyway, I will so you mentioned my brother. My brother, I think at like 10 years old, figured out how to go on a computer and create his own team using Team Builder and then upload that into the Xbox, and he would make guys. He found that like an old generic logo on Google and like used that as the logo, but our entire family played it. Like my dad, myself, and Tyler would play each other, and we all had separate accounts. We would play rivalry games, so it was basically like who had the most trophies by the end of the year type stuff. We would make a bowl game list. So, like, yes, my entire family has played this at nausea. We were a sicko type NCAA family uh for the longest time. But yeah, I I absolutely love it. And I wish I could know the amount of hours I put into this game.

SPEAKER_00

I will seed my time talking about the game uh because you guys have said all there is that needs to be said, but I just want to commend Jake. Jake just turned into Tom Rinaldi talking about the college football game, the pageantry, getting everybody all fired up for Saturday afternoon. I appreciate that, Jake. I'm riled up now.

SPEAKER_01

I agree I agree with that. Jake's never been uh an announcer before, to my knowledge at least. Maybe he snuck in some color analysts for football, but he uh he sounded like yeah, he got his announcer voice, Jeff, and everything. He was ready to go. This was the other one I was torn between a take in. This is why Jeff said that he didn't believe me with the FIFA pick, I think, but it is a stellar game, you know, and I could especially say that as the best uh player in in this on this pod currently. We have a lot of uh evidence to suggest that that's true. Jeff's definitely never rage quit, you know, can't think of one time playing me. I think we might I think I might have anywhere from a 12 to 15 game winning streak against him.

SPEAKER_00

Who won the first? That's the only one that mattered.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Uh, but it's I mean, it it's I've definitely played it more than FIFA in the at least in the last couple years. But for me, the reason why it's if FIFA was one was because of that big gap. And so, you know, I know obviously was there were some legality reasons and whatnot. Uh, but you know, for me, it's it's a great game. Sean, great pick. Also, 10 out of 10.

SPEAKER_00

Joe's teaching cloud and palm coverage at a comp lit because he can't stop thinking about the game, and he takes FIFA first.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know what, Jeff? That's right. He he took FIFA. He took FIFA. I don't want to call it another pander bear situation, but we're monitoring the situation. He's trying to appeal to a worldwide audience, is what he's doing.

SPEAKER_01

Crazy. I I don't like these allegations. Classic. Just like just like pro clubs, these two are are arguing against me. Man, absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_03

I wish I had it. I'm very disappointed. Is it me? It is, it is. See, I'm in a rough spot here because college football was my one-one. I want, I really wanted to get that one. Okay, I'm gonna go with just sheer selling and also games that when I was a kid that stayed with me, and I I still kind of look at, I don't buy these games really as much anymore. However, I did get the last big one that came out like a couple years ago, but I'm gonna go with the Mario franchise. I don't think that there is a bigger franchise in gaming than Mario. I have a question, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I think you gotta be a little more specific, no? We get all Mario here.

SPEAKER_03

I think you gotta buy more. So well, so I don't think I don't want to tip, I don't wanna I think if it's just Mario in the game with just Mario and maybe a some of his friends, but if they think it's the Super Mario Bros games, and I think that leaves some open interpretation on other potential picks down the line. So I think if they're doing a recreational activity, I think that can be on the side. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that could be on the side, but I I'm stunned.

SPEAKER_02

I'm stunned, and I will say this. I'm gonna try to pick something next round. And if I get vetoed on my own program, hold on.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna be pissed. In Jake's defense, when they list the top selling game franchises, they do lump Mario together.

SPEAKER_02

I understand that, but we're I'm out of picks, Jeff. I said I had 13 coming in. Mario was four of them, dude.

SPEAKER_00

So I think there's two that are clearly outside of this loop.

SPEAKER_03

I think yes. So I do think for me, you have to have multiple games for it to be outside of the Mario franchise. Okay. I do get in this, I do get him playing sports, but I don't get him doing a activity that requires him to drive.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. I get everything else though, because that one is its own separate thing. Also, if they're going to be a good thing. The other one he is a part of where there may be some uh some if they're f yes, same thing. If they're fighting each other, that's also on the outside. But everything else is mine. When Mario plays tennis or golf or strut sa soccer, if he's at the Olympics, if he's saving the princess, those are all me. I agree with that. Those all come to me. But if they're fighting, if they're fighting or driving, they're on the outside.

SPEAKER_02

I just didn't like how you preface it as Mario in all enterprises, and you tried to trademark the name Mario, is what it seemed like.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I wanted to see how much I can get away with.

SPEAKER_02

Which is a smart play by you.

SPEAKER_03

But I might have taken that over college football, even if I got everything the guy was in. I said it and then I let you guys kind of see where we were at. Okay. Smart by you. Great pick. Really good pick. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, these are the games that you you grow up with. Even, you know, before you own your own console, whether it's going to an older cousin's house who has one of the Nintendo systems, or even, you know, my parents had one of the one of the Super Nintendo's. So as they were kind of showing me games, playing, you know, Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2, and and some of that stuff was uh, you know, extremely formative. And uh, I think there's still good value outside of what Jake has, but I think this is the correct thing.

SPEAKER_03

For it was the first game I ever played. I mean, it's really it's the first game I ever played as Super Mario Bros. 1. And then it just kept growing and growing. And then and Mario 64 just changed it for me. So yeah. Sorry, Joe.

SPEAKER_01

No, I know I think this is I I think for me, just the ability for it too to like transform over time. It's I think been relevant on so many different well, you know, we'll obviously talk consoles later, but it's been relevant on so many different consoles and so many different forms. And so I think uh you know, I think you can't argue with it. I mean, it's uh, you know, arguably the biggest brand in games, you know, two of the some of the biggest branding in games. Uh it obviously it's entered the zeitgeist. It's entered the zeitgeist outside of gaming as well.

SPEAKER_02

So that nickname's here forever, Jeff. Just I'm changing my contact.

SPEAKER_00

All right, boys. You left me some decisions to make, but but I'm gonna do them with honor and glory and take two absolute behemoths off the board. It doesn't really matter what order you want to put these in, but I'm taking the the first 15 years of my life with Pokemon, and I'm following that up with the you know the highest selling first-person shooter and the game that I probably spent the most of my high school days playing, and that's Call of Duty. Yep, I knew it. It's gonna be tough to beat up the traffic, I'll say that.

SPEAKER_02

Those are two hitters.

SPEAKER_01

The snake draft here was tough. This was tough. Should have changed the rules.

SPEAKER_00

You look at Pokemon through the years, obviously, like growing up as a young kid playing the originals, red, blue, and yellow, and then it continuing to progress uh through gold, silver, crystal. Uh I didn't make it too far past sort of like the emerald, the diamond, and pearl uh in like the mid to late 2000s, because I would just play the original ones more and more. Uh and and then honestly, when when it started to sort of lose a little bit of luster in the cultural Joey zeitgeist, then Pokemon Go comes out and everybody's walking around town. It's getting people out exercising. You're going around, you know. Jake, I remember we would go down to like Tommy Boys, and we'd be like walking around the bar trying to catch Pokemon and Pokemon Go. Uh, and that kind of brought it back to an even higher level than it had been. Uh, so that to me is an easy choice. You know, you think about the time you spend sitting in a car on the way to vacation just playing Pokemon for eight or nine hours until your Game Boy died. Uh, and then from a Call of Duty standpoint, I got a I got an Xbox 360 in 2008. The first game I ever bought for it was Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare. I really played it up through Black Ops or through probably Infinite Warfare that I played Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 in the more recent iterations. I have not played it as much in the last three years or so. Uh, but the the amount of time I spent from 2008 to 2018 playing Call of Duty is probably comparable to college football for me. There was nothing better than coming home from football practice, and then it's a race to get on to Xbox to get in the party of eight before, you know, before you get locked out for the night, and then you're just spending six hours from 7:30, 8 o'clock at night until 2 in the morning playing Search and Destroy or whatever your game of choice may be, you know, playing video games with kids that you honestly didn't even speak with in real life in school, and just like, oh shit, get this guy in here and and just dominating and and running through that level. Uh freak camaraderie game. I think they have fallen off a little bit in the the recent years, but there's there's 15 years of outstanding stuff there as well.

SPEAKER_03

Mad.

SPEAKER_00

That was that was Jeff, that that was beautiful.

SPEAKER_02

It was beautiful. Really good. Really good descriptions of both, Jeff. You you made us connect to the picks. Two great picks. I will say you had me hook, line, and sinker with Pokemon. The Game Boy in the back of the car on trips. I mean, that's all that happened.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean it.

SPEAKER_02

It was the best. I will say you listed a bunch of colors that I didn't know were Pokemon games. So I think you made it further than I did. I remember a rubies coming to mind and maybe a sapphire. Yep. But those were the two for me. And then I completely agreed with you up until the Pokemon Go when you said exercise. That was a crutch, and I'm not gonna that argument doesn't stand up in court. The people who aren't playing Pokemon Go were not exercising. Let me just say that for free. That was an excuse. Oh, we're active. No, you're not. You're on your phone, you be you're being a little bit of a nerd. Fine, we're all nerds, but just own it. So you lost me there. You lost me there. But the Call of Duty, that's just a great, like, I mean, it was going to go very soon. I'm just absolutely dog shit at shooting video games. Like, I'm talking, I'm not even invited into those parties. So that's why I'm saying my board's limited. And when you have a guy taking all of Mario and Luigi and the whole gang, that's where it's tough. I wanted some specific picks out of Jake. That's why I was trying to do that. But two really good picks.

SPEAKER_00

I want to be clear, I was an extremely middle of the pack Call of Duty player. I was very bad. I was good enough to be on the team, but boy, was I not the star of the show. No, I was nowhere near.

SPEAKER_03

I think I think Call of Duty is the game I was probably the worst at, but continued to play. I was I was not very man had his struggles. The Myersman, uh yeah, listen, Myers Man and Long Way Down had a had a good run there for uh Modern Warfare and Black Ops. But yeah, Call of Duty definitely revolutionized, I think, the multiplayer aspect of gaming. Uh them in another probably another game that we're gonna talk about later on. So, but yeah, it's it's great. I I got back into it with Warzone and then with the one after that, but I haven't played it in a year, but just huge there. Now, Pokemon yeah, the the first two gens really. Red, blue, uh, gold, silver. I mean, platum nauseum, and then fingers bled. It was the summer. Yeah. I think during COVID, I think I played Emerald on a ROM. And then I got a switch. And I'm like looking around, I'm like, okay, like, what the hell can I play? And it was I'll never, it was the night before I knew a snor snowstorm was coming. I'm like, huh. And there was a Pokemon game called Legends Arceus. And I'm like, hmm. All right. It says pretty good, I guess. I got it, and I was transformed into like a like an eight-year-old kid playing. Like, I was like, this is awesome. Like you could see all the Pokemon out there. Oh, yeah. Great. Anyway, yeah, great picks, Jeff. Great picks.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. Uh not much else to say. Pokemon uh definitely ran my life from like '96 to, you know, I think probably 2002, 2003. I mean, just, you know, some of the times are like, Joe, put the damn Game Boy down. Like, you know, like stuff like that. The car, obviously. Um, I'm with you, Sean. I was complete dog shit at any shooting game. All my friends would be in an Xbox party talking to each other, playing this, playing the game while I would be playing FIFA or college football, like doing my own thing while they were just, you know, yelling and screaming at each other. Um, and so yeah, I I, you know, it's it's for Call of Duty, it's a game respect game. Jeff, I can't believe, yeah, I was I was hoping I got the four pick, not gonna lie. So well done. Well done with the snake situation there.

SPEAKER_03

Back to me. I'm going to go with Grand Theft Auto franchise. It's also kind of funny that like this didn't take off until the third iteration. Like the first two like didn't really do so well. And then the third one gave us that like open world in a city where you could, it wasn't linear, like you could uh basically go at your own pace, you could do like all these side quests, you could go anywhere. And I think another thing, the radio in itself is like super cool because like it wasn't just a straight radio, like depending on what time you turned on the game or where you were, like you would hear different stuff, which were also objectively hilarious stuff came off of those some of those like radio talk shows. But yeah, GTA uh three, Vice City and San Andreas is definitely golden age, four was still very good, five was great, and now we get to see the sixth iteration coming in November where we're going back to Vice City, super excited for it. Uh, another revolutionized the open world type games, but yeah, going to Grand Theft Auto, I feel like is a is a heavy hitter.

SPEAKER_00

Jake, I had Grand Theft Auto one for the PS1, and it was one like it was unplayable. Yeah. And then it just absolutely took off like a bat out of hell. I started, I picked it up really, probably in San Andreas, uh, and have kind of gone on from there. Uh it's a it's a phenomenal pick. Obviously, going from continuing the hype for as long as they have, despite the fact that I bought Grand Theft Auto 5 for the Xbox 360 before they had even gotten to the Xbox One. And now we are, you know, in the year of our Lord 2026, potentially finally getting across the finish line for Grand Theft Auto 6 is wild. And there's still milk in it. There's still milk in it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, are you a GTA guy? I can't say I am. This one, I feel like I was banned from playing as a kid. I feel like my parents were like, no, it's it's too much for you. So I never got into it. I probably played for a total of 15 minutes of my life. But I do think I have a good story. I could be attributing this to the wrong game. But you guys know one of my good buddies, freshman year roommate, Anthony Sywell, he he basically spent, I think it was Grand Theft Auto, but there was a video game that came out and it had to be a GTA, our freshman year of college. He didn't leave the dorm room for a good four weeks. Like a solid month where he was just playing 24-7 and like classes weren't they weren't happening. Like you didn't have to worry about it. He wasn't partying or anything. He was just in the room playing GTA. It's it has that kind of a stranglehold on people. So I respect the pick. It's it's high up on lists, Jake. I think it's gonna look good for you in the graph.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

I'm between two games, and I don't know if Joe's played either of them. So I don't know what to do. This could be a reach, but I gotta stay true to myself. It's a game unlike any other. And I'm taking Guitar Hero. When this came out, it changed changed my life. I would all it it was it's the only like one-of-a-kind video game for me on anything that we're gonna talk about. This one has a special place. You needed a special control. I had guitar hero Aerosmith as well. I was just a huge fan. You learn new music, you play guitar. It's just I it changed my life. This game, I loved it so much.

SPEAKER_01

It was this was like it it didn't last, you know. I wouldn't say it lasted for a long time, but when it was big, it just re it it took over Hangouts. Well, I mean, I I just remember Jake. I remember a shout out Zach Morgus. I remember going over Zach Morgus' house, playing for hours, played for hours everywhere. Like everybody had it for like I feel like a year or two. It was just every single time people hung out, that was it. And so, yeah, that's a that's a great pick. Jeff, me and you, I remember the same thing going to each other's houses, just ripping this back and forth.

SPEAKER_00

So this hurts me so deeply. Yes, yeah, I was scared of the street. I can't play an instrument, I sound like shit if I try to sing. I was fucking good at guitar hero, and I loved every second of the gazillion hours that I spent annoying the shit out of my parents, slamming on a guitar or banging on drums once it got to rock band. And uh what a great pick.

SPEAKER_02

Jeff, I must say quickly, Jeff was great. I will back him up. He was great at the game. He played a little too aggressive for my liking, and I could see why his parents would get mad. He was a loud strummer, so I could definitely tell, but he was excellent.

SPEAKER_03

He was way better than me. Yeah. Joe, I remember, I think it was after your 16th birthday or something like that. Like you got, I think someone got guitar hero Aerosmith. I think we bait beat the game in like or went through every song, like throughout the night. It was classic. And to speak on parents getting like getting annoyed with their kids, there have been multiple times where like friends would come over to play something like that. And my dad opening the door being like, Can someone else besides Jake sing for the love of God, please? Someone needs to stop him. And yeah, good good memories. Good memories.

SPEAKER_01

Joe, well that was a that I I was I was thinking that I was thinking that I might be able to get that a little bit later, but that's I think that's still a good pick. Man, I'm I'm a little torn. I know one pick, I don't know the second. So we'll start with the first. I'm gonna go, you know, thank gosh Jake didn't get the entire Mario series, uh, because for me, you know, talking about a game that has transcended time, that has transcended consoles, that has, you know, is beloved by, you know, all ages, you know, and is still so playable today. Mario Kart is just an absolute banger of a game. The way that it has, you know, adapted now and and still is is such a heavy hitter in 2026, I mean, is uh or or as Jeff would say in the year of our lord 2026, excuse me. Um it is just, you know, it it is almost unparalleled, I would argue. And so it's uh it's it's been an impressive game, it's so fun. Um so yeah, I'm going Mario Kart.

SPEAKER_02

That's an own goal by me. I I assumed Joe, uh, for some reason in my mind, Joe Zweibel did not seem like a Mario Kart guy. I cleared him for passage and he just tagged me right in the face. Like just immediately. As soon as I heard Jay, as soon as I heard him say Jake didn't take everything in Mario, I was like, oh no, I couldn't believe he was saying the disaster. I and then to hear him say he wouldn't have taken Guitar Hero until later, I can't believe what I've just done. Mario Kart's like my favorite game of all time. I should have taken it first overall. I loved it. I was shocked. I was shocked. I loved Mario Kart. I'm glad I got the pop for Guitar Hero. That was worth it at least, but I'm so bummed out that I don't have Guitario Kart. It's it's devastating to me. And Joe, great, great pick. What a great strategy game, too.

SPEAKER_03

Someone at the age of five to like 85, anyone can play Mario Kart. It's one of those games where, you know, you know, ease, very easy to pick up. Anyone can enjoy it type of stuff and has evolved throughout time.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, great pick. I'm in trouble. My board's in trouble.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm I'm really torn here. Uh I'm glad that Sean uh went against his better judgment and and you know didn't pick what he said is his favorite game, one of his favorite games of all time, which is just you know a wild thing. But you know, there's one I could take, but I didn't really play it a lot, and so I gotta I gotta respect the game a little bit. I I gotta be a man of honor. Uh and I'm gonna go with Super Smash Bros. But maybe unexpected, maybe, maybe tough to kind of double up on Mario adj a Mario adjacent game, but if we're talking a game that is just so fun to play with friends, is is so replayable in terms of you know all the different characters and and bring in so many, you know, different uh so many other games and and and concepts um and characters that I just think it's so fun to play. Um it's so frustrating, it's so like it's so many like you know, almost you know, so many moments of excitement where something happens out of nowhere. It's I think an amazing party game if you're if you're with other people. Uh yeah. So for me, Super Smash Bros. No day.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, definitely. I got I remember I had the first one on the N64, didn't have a GameCube, so Mr. Melee, then got back with the brawl, and then I got it for the Switch Ultimate, which is literally every single character you can even think of. But that that's like the cool thing, too. Like you start off with like eight characters, and they're all like pretty much just Mario characters for the most part, besides like Pikachu, Kirby. And then by the end of it, it's like solid snake from like Gears of War and like other guys are like coming in. Yeah. So anyway, but yeah, love Smash, great party game.

SPEAKER_00

Just like Mario Kart. Great party game. Was not good at it, didn't play it as much as I would have liked to. I was also bad at it, but it's a good pick.

SPEAKER_02

It was another one in my Mario group that I thought Jake had taken when he selected the guy's first name. So I was just devastated. That's why I reacted that way. I'm sure it was on everybody's boards at some point. So, Joe, you're off to a good start on the graphic. I'll I'll just be the first to say it. I said I was not good at any shooting video games, but the one that I was half decent at and really did enjoy playing, I'm gonna take here. And it's the only I need to I want a diverse board. I've got Guitar Hero, I've got college football. It's natural for me to go Halo here. I I did really enjoy Halo. I liked Halo 2, I liked Halo 3. I played them a ton. I didn't get much better anytime I played them, but that was another one for me. You got the group together and you hit Halo. That was the origin for me. Jeff, you mentioned Call of Duty. For me, it was Halo, it was the first thing that I really associate that kind of core memory of playing video games with friends that weren't sports related with.

SPEAKER_00

There was there was a time in in my life where I played more Halo than Call of Duty. I just, over the totality of it, it ended up being Call of Duty for me. But the the amount of time uh spent in Halo 3, and then I played a lot of Halo 4 when I was in college, and it was actually a game that uh that Jake, your buddy Pavlish, and I, when he was stationed in Hawaii, would play at like two in the morning after I would get home for from a party, and he would get off his shift at like seven o'clock at night or whatever it was over there and play Halo and annoy the shit out of my my freshman year roommate at 2 30, 3 o'clock in the morning. But can't go wrong here, Shawnee.

SPEAKER_01

I I do just want to point out here that that we're just we're just you know saying, good job, Sean, when literally 20 minutes ago, I want to quote my captain, I want to quote quote my Wandos Wanderer captain, Sean Boyle. I am dog shit at shooter games. And then you can't enjoy them. 20 minutes later, says 20 minutes later, oh the the one I wasn't the one I wasn't half bad at was the one I wasn't half bad at was Halo. What a pander pick. There's no way you saw Fall to you and you decided that you that you were gonna pander. And so then out of nowhere you became half decent at Halo. I stand with Sean Boyle. You're a man. I thought you had I thought you were more of a man of honor.

SPEAKER_02

Listeners, you're seeing a true Sean Boyle. You're seeing a true, evil, ugly side of Joe here. What he's done in this draft is disgusting. He definitely likes college football more than FIFA. He lied through his teeth. And then for him to say that, oh, I'm the best one here at college football, blah, blah, blah. Sean, you're not good at shooter games. You can't pick it, blah, blah, blah. I'll pick what I want. I don't care if I ran out there and got killed for two straight hours, Joe. I enjoyed it, and that's all that matters. So that's disgusting of you to try to paint me in a bad light. I did love Halo, and that's it. I I admit when I'm pandering, that is not a pander. I loved Halo. I played Halo a bunch. You're you're really losing your grip. You're losing your fastball here, Joe.

SPEAKER_01

And now it's becoming All I'm saying is I can smell the panda. I can smell the panda from 10 hours away, brother.

SPEAKER_02

So why? He's lying through his teeth, listeners. He hasn't been honest once with you. I liked Halo. Thank you. Thank you, Jake.

SPEAKER_03

Uh yeah, I liked Halo. I liked the pick. Uh, I was more of a campaign person with Halo. So I played like the first three, which awesome campaigns, and then the fourth one. I also played the fourth one for a little bit, and then that's when I kind of like jumped off the wagon. Sean, that was my next pick. Thank you. You took it right in front of me. Yeah. I love the campaigns too, Jake. A great time. Yeah, it was it was great. Playing it for the first time was definitely like an experience more so than like a Call of Duty game was because like you're discovering different stuff, aliens and all that stuff. But yeah, definitely love Halo. Back to me. It's already me. Um, this might be, I think we're at my I think I'm at my first reach. I'm at my first reach. However, this is a sports game, and it is one that I've loved since the very beginning, and now it is remastered the last couple years. I'm going, Joe, you want to talk about great soundtracks? No, this franchise has the best soundtrack, and that is the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise ever since the beginning. I was hooked on it. I uh underground Tony Hawk's Underground is the best Tony Hawk game. The remasters they've done were excellent, and the music, I I will say this, and this is not an exaggeration. The music in Tony Hawk, I believe, shifted my uh love for music later on in life. Like I discovered so many bands and so many genres based off of Tony Hawk. Not not just punk, but also some of the rap music that they use. So yeah, definitely love Tony Hawk, and I will I I still fire it up even today.

SPEAKER_01

It's a good pick. I was hoping it could I was hoping it'd last longer.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was very high on my sports list. I wanted to get it before anyone else did.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. The soundtrack is the best part, though. I completely I do agree with that. The soundtrack slapped.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah. The band Goldfinger needs to thank their lucky stars that Tony Hawk used it for their game because they are still making money based off that song and the cover that they did of the 99 Red Balloon song. But anyway, but yeah, they gotta thank their lucky stars. Tony Hawk picked them up.

SPEAKER_01

Did you say you remastered that? Like, have you been playing it?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah. So they uh 2021 or 2020, they did a they remastered one and two completely, and they even added some more skaters, but it it was probably one of the best remasters job because not only it did they remaster the whole game, but they also added more goals. They asked, uh, they made it a little bit more replayable, and then they just came out last year, they remastered three and four, which wasn't as good, but like it's it's fantastic. And they kept all the same music in the in one and in the one and two remastered as well, which I thought was really cute.

SPEAKER_00

Jake, to your point, as somebody, as somebody who had knew nothing about skateboarding, had very little affinity for skateboarding. The amount of affection that I had for Bob Bernquist because of these games. Yes, yeah. Couldn't have picked Bob Bernquist out of a lineup, but I knew he was my favorite skater because of of Tony Hawk. My favorite Brazilian, Bob Bernquist.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, dude. You like you throw in the X games and it's like, oh wow, like there's Bob Bernquist, there's Eric Austin, like Rodney Mullen was always like my bottom later adaptation. The godfather of uh the godfather of street skating. Uh yeah. See, how do I know all this? Because I play Tony Hawk pro skater. Literally, it's it got me into it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Jeff, make your first one and we'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. All right. Uh, so you guys made some great picks. Guitar Hero is one that I that I had circled in this area. But since then, my board has stayed true. So I feel good about my next two. I'm gonna go first with a game that I started playing probably at eight years old, maybe even younger, on the PlayStation 1. And as you know, as time went on and I played through the series and then remastered, bought it on the PS4, we're going Crash Bandicoot. The Crash Bandicoot games gave me so many hours of enjoyment. They were they are extremely difficult now as a 31-year-old, and I can't even imagine how I beat some of these levels at eight or nine years old. Just from Crash Bandicoot to Cortex Strikes Back to Warped to even Crash Team Racing. Like the the amount of characters in that game, the the ripper roos, the neocortexes of the world, the hoo-a-hu-as, the it was a phenomenal game that seems very much you know shifted towards like the early, you know, 10 to 12 maybe kid range, and then you play them as an adult, and they're still so hard. It's uh I've I've had a lot of fun and have gotten a lot out of the Crash Bandicoot franchise.

SPEAKER_03

So I played a remastered version. They remastered like the first three, and I was playing this. I'm like, I can't believe like I got to the later levels and I'm thinking, this is for children? Because this is that stupid, Jeff, that stupid bridge. I don't know if you remember the bridge. On the hog? Uh it's the hardest level in human history. I want I wanted to throw my controller out the window. I was like, there's no way this is for children. But yeah, yeah, Crash Bandicoot, like huge mass. That was like PlayStation's mascot.

SPEAKER_02

Uh-huh. I have some fond memories of Crash Bandicoot. I have to say, I thought I was nodding along. I was like, oh, that's a good pick. And then there was a point in Jeff's breakdown where it felt like I was back in like college Latin class, where I just we I must have missed a week where he just made a jump. He started saying stuff. I had no clue what he was talking about. So I I I'm with you, Jeff. In my in my little baby brain when I was eight or nine, Crash Bandicoot was great. I don't even know what the fella looks like right now in my head. So this is just all I'm just going on recollection. I'm gonna give you two thumbs up because I think that was a very from the heart pick. I can't comment any further. Neil.

SPEAKER_01

Oh man. It was it was a solid game. I I did not expect you to go on that route. So I'm curious to see where the next one goes.

SPEAKER_00

So now the the next series that I'm going to choose has let me count 14 games of which I have played 12. So it would be it would be outside of of my uh you know outside of my mind to not take this series, and that's gonna be Assassin's Creed. No!

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

Wow, a stomp, a stomp from Jake. You didn't even you didn't even react that that strongly to NGLA. Oh. Because I knew it was happening. This I thought I could get away with.

SPEAKER_00

The first Assassin's Creed game I played was Assassin's Creed 3. I loved it so much that I went back and played the games before it with Desmond Miles as the main character and my guy Ezio Auditore. And then it's just continued to progress. They all have different stories, they have different characters. They just resynced Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag, sort of like an open world on the water pirate game, which was, you know, one of the games that I really played a ton of, probably my sophomore and junior years of college. And then down the line to some of the new games, Mirage, which came out a year or two ago. I just played through that last year. The series continues to evolve and feel fresh, despite the fact that you're doing many of the same things in those games. Uh, but it's a phenomenal series. It's one that I've I've played, like I said, 12 of the 14 games. So it would have been uh it would have been wrong of me to not choose it here.

SPEAKER_03

On my board, I was thinking. About taking it next. You better have been taking it next. I was. It was uh Assassin's Creed is some of the best historical fiction. Yep. Because like they're all historical, like historical fiction games. Um obviously not historically accurate, but like it is cool to like come through a lot of these historic come in contact with a lot of these historical figures. Um I've played all the main lines except I didn't play the first one. But here here you go. Kind of like the TV show thing. I didn't start playing this franchise until like 2018 when I moved back to West Virginia. I started at two and I just played through them all and I just finished Shadows a couple months ago. But yeah, some of the best historical fiction going. Uh absolutely love it. Sean, or not Sean, uh Jeff, do you have a favorite?

SPEAKER_00

It's probably Black Flags, probably the one I played the most after completing the main storyline. But I think I I have a special, I have a special place for three because that was the one that got me into the series. And it really like playing through that game, I was like, I have to play all of these now. Like it was just such a great experience, you know, on the Xbox 360, and then being like, okay, now I have to go, I have to go back and play one and two and brotherhood and revelations and and through all the the full storyline. But I would say four is probably the one I I revisited the most, and I will probably get the resync in the uh the near future.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I was gonna say Black Flag and I loved Odyssey. Odyssey was great. Um the the uh the Spartan one. Yep. Yeah, those are probably my two big ones and Brotherhood 2.

SPEAKER_02

Very good. Listeners, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that I am out of my depth. I am swimming in a very shallow end of a pool. I live, I live where Mario Kart is, I live where Guitar Hero is. I'm a fair, I'm a simple, basic guy. You guys are talking about completing games. I've never here's a fun fact: I've never completed a video game in my whole life. So there has never been one where I've sat down and completed. So if I wasn't hosting this show, I wouldn't be on this episode. I I really I'm I'm in a dark spot with my board. Jake, here's my thing with Assassin's Creed. I think I had Assassin's Creed 2. I literally was given the first mission. I walked around for probably three hours of my life not knowing where to go, and I never played the game again. It I was too tiny of a brain. We're gonna close up shop here. Yeah, never again.

SPEAKER_01

This is one of the this is one of the I think one or two non-sports games outside of the like the fun, you know, the the the Mario Kart ones and whatnot. But if we're talking like story mode and storyline games, this is one of the like one or two that I actually purchased. Can't remember which one it was. When I played it, it was fun, but it was just, you know, I I I always sports were sports games were always my my number one, so I I never really stuck with it. But again, this is a similar to Call of Duty earlier. This is a game respects game. Yeah. Nod. So good shit. For sure.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's a great pick. It's gonna good, it's gonna do well for you, Jeff. It's just I'm learning quickly on the fly that I'm not qualified to talk about these.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um Sean, what round are we in? This is the fourth second pick of the fourth round, Jake. Okay, I am gonna take my console now. I'm gonna take my console, and I'm it's down to two, but I think I'm gonna go with the Xbox 360. And I'm going with that, well, just the multiplayer. Just the the ability to do multiplayer so seamlessly on the Xbox 360 was something we never really saw before. And with that, it gave it gives it the edge over some of the others that maybe have came before it. So I'm going with the Xbox 360.

SPEAKER_00

It's in I have I I put four consoles down and said, okay, I'll be happy with one of these four, and it's very much in that uh that group.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, same. Completely agree. Same boat. It was probably my one or two as well, Jake. I was right there with you.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That felt like it felt like an elevated period on anything we had previously.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I'd love to take an older console, but just the the multiplayer just sells it for me.

SPEAKER_02

I'm up and we're like I said, I was swimming in shallow water to begin with. It's it's ankle height. I am going to take this game stinks now. I'm pretty sure I haven't played it in probably a decade. I don't know. I'm taking Madden, John Madden, the franchise. I just feel like in the fourth round, I'm not gonna be laughed at for Madden. You know, I I did love I did love the Mike Vick Madden back in the day when he was on the cover. I thought that was electric. He was maybe the most fun person to ever play with in a video game. It felt like a cheat code. So I did play this when growing up, you know. Like, I mean, college football I preferred, obviously, but guess what? I have both on my board. So I'm gonna take Madden and I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna embarrass myself trying to talk about a game I haven't played.

SPEAKER_00

I respect it. I haven't played it in probably four or five years now. But listen, for 18 years, I sure as hell played it, and I played a lot of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. Played a good amount when I was younger. I will say this it's so grained in people's minds, like Madden being a thing that like I I believe kids believe John Madden invented football. Are you talking about that? Like, I think that's a thing. No, he did not. He believe it or not, he he did not. The man that was making Turduckens in 2003 on live TV did not invent football.

SPEAKER_00

That's what they want you to think.

SPEAKER_03

Good good choice, though, Sean.

SPEAKER_00

Do you believe in the Madden curse shot? That's what the people want to know.

SPEAKER_02

You know, that used to be a thing. That's an added little bonus. You got a little treat. Like whoever was named the cover athlete, you knew was gonna have a bad channel. Like, don't draft him in fantasy. Yeah, there was a tie-in for that for sure. When we were of age to be playing Madden, that was a real thing. Remember when they put Peyton Hillis on the cover? That was neat. Borderline racist. That was real cool. That was we need to investigate that. That was I mean, that in hindsight, that's a shocking decision.

SPEAKER_01

Uh oh, but yeah, no, I mean Madden's a great game. A great game. I feel like I don't know about you guys. For me, Madden was one of the first sports games where it was like really head-to-head. Like, obviously, I guess you played franchise mode, all that, but like there was something about like Madden, the early days of Madden for me were really associated with like playing people head to head, whereas I don't have that feeling with all the others. And so I think that that is a cool feature of Madden. Again, I wouldn't say it it stacks up today still. As a high school teacher, I don't hear my kids talk about it a lot. Uh whereas kind of early on, uh, you know, in my earlier years of teaching, you definitely heard a lot of kids talking about playing Madden and whatnot, but it's uh, you know, it it's a foundational sports game, uh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. It's nice to hear a compliment from Joe on one of my picks. That was nice.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I gave you some compliments. I I I talked glowingly about uh college football.

SPEAKER_02

Because you had to. I I thought you were lining up to say Madden was gonna be a pander as well, and I was gonna lose my temper. So I'm glad you didn't.

SPEAKER_01

No, I'm gonna go, uh I am gonna go to my roots here, which as I've said a couple times are sports games, and I'm actually gonna go with a game I'm gonna go 2K for a couple reasons. One, this is uh growing up, I think you know, Jeff and I's friendships were were forged, playing two games uh in kind of career modes, franchise modes, whatever you want to call them. It was it was uh another sports game, which I won't name because I don't want to tip uh and uh and uh 2K. We we played them a ton, uh, you know, had a lot of fun, a lot of customization. I think what's kind of cool is that as the the world of sports games kind of is starting to go to this kind of open world model, like EA FC is going to with 27, 2K has had this open world kind of you know format for a while. Um, and so I think it was pretty cool on that front. Uh there is uh it is a very in-depth career mode, which I'm a career mode guy. It's a very, very in-depth like GM mode. You can control a lot, a lot of customization. I think the gameplay is kind of lacked a little bit. Um, but you know, the last couple, I'm gonna be honest, I haven't played it a ton the last couple years, but in terms of a basketball game, you know, there is no need to bring back a college basketball game, even though I would love it. There's not really a need because 2K has been that good for that long. You know, I I think the franchise stopped before college basketball ended before any of the league legality issues with with college football because 2K was that good. 2K slammed NBA Live and you know removed it from existence. EA didn't even take a shot uh because 2K was that good. And so for me, it's definitely, I think, you know, for me, I would say honestly, maybe like the three most notable sports franchises of all time. And it's really the one, correct me if I'm wrong, guys. I mean, it's it's the one that has survived outside of EA. For sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I think that as they made the game better in all of the areas you talked about, they stopped caring as much about the gameplay, and that's kind of where I exited stage left. But I think from the, you know, the the mindset of all the things that the game has to offer, that's why it still remains so popular. Whether you just want to play as your own guy and go to the park and join in, you know, join in with your friends or just random people and play five on five games, or whether you want to lock in by yourself and do 30 years of career mode, it offers that. I just think the when you're doing that and then trying to go play the game, I just feel like it's taken a significant dot.

SPEAKER_01

Fair point. Absolute, absolute fair point.

SPEAKER_00

As far as franchises go, I mean, there's probably seven years in a row where I thought the games were all excellent and played a lot of games.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. This one, I mean, it it should definitely be drafted. I feel like it's a it's a good pick. I played it a ton, I would say, probably between the ages of maybe 10 and 16, was probably my prime years playing 2K, but during that time, I I really enjoyed it, it was one of my favorite games. So I think it definitely deserves to see it at the table.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, another game that I was bad at. Uh, have played it, uh, just got back into it actually, not too long ago. Play with some of the fellas. So not bad. Definitely deserves to be drafted.

SPEAKER_01

All right, and then for my I I'm also gonna go here with my console. Jake started it, and I don't want to get left left with the last one, even though I think there's a lot of good options, to be honest. You know, I'm gonna pick with what I think is the best here, even though I don't think it's gonna play for the graphic. So I I am, you know, I I'm maybe sad about that, but it is what it is. It you know, it's about being a man of honor, as you know, Sean is a living, dying proof of that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I'm gonna go with the I'm gonna go with the PS2. Uh it's the high. It is the highest selling uh console of all time. It had, I mean, the built-in DVD player, crazy. Yeah, so many different games. It like it caused delayed releases of the of Xbox, of GameCubes, like it just dominated. It absolutely positively dominated. And uh, and for me, it's it's arguably, you know, if not the best console of all time. I was a PlayStation guy, you know, in the early days when there were the kind of PlayStation Xbox Wars, I was always a big PlayStation guy, and uh, and gotta stay true to the PS2.

SPEAKER_02

That was my book here, Joe, if you didn't make it.

SPEAKER_03

So I was between 360 and PS2. I just the multiplayer put me over the edge, but Joe, you are right. Like highest selling friend, highest selling console. Also, there are games on the PS2 that are so good, and we're not they're not even gonna show up here. Like, not draft or even honorable mentions, like that it had an absolute ton of stuff. Um, but yeah, it just went with the 360. But yeah, dude, that that was definitely my 1B. Yeah, just start the train, Jake. It's like taking the tight, it's like taking the tight end in a draft.

SPEAKER_02

I'm really between a rock and a hard place here because I can basically assure you that Jeff isn't gonna take my video games at all because they're not good video games, they're just from the hard picks. But I also I have one console in mind, and it could be just disaster. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm on the clock. God, it's it's tough. I'm gonna just take my console. And this console, when you stack it up, it's dog shit, but it has such a sentimental place in my heart. I'm taking the Nintendo 64. I just have to. Excuse me. Excuse me. It was dog shit.

SPEAKER_03

It's not dog shit. No, it was not. Well, thank you. It's a special, special console. Thank you. I agree.

SPEAKER_02

Special, you know what I'm saying? When you stack, I say when you stack it up, like if we put on hey, hey guys, which one's better, kids? Is it this graphic or the PlayStation 5? It's like, well, yeah, I seem like a fossil. But this one has a real special PlayPal. It's I think it was all of our first consoles. It it was this is the first controller. This is it for me. I'm happy to have it.

SPEAKER_03

If you don't know how to grab things, like come on. It was if it was not how to grab things, yeah. If you know how to like hold on to stuff, like it's not that hard of a control. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So why did they keep that shape, Jake? Why did they keep that shape?

SPEAKER_03

Because, like, if you have to use the C button, you just move your hand over. Like, why did they keep that shape?

SPEAKER_02

It's evolution, Joe. Why do we have finger?

SPEAKER_03

I'm not I'm not I'm I'm not Hidechi Miyamoto, okay? I don't know. Ask him. He's the one that created it. I'll make the phone call when we get off the pot.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Jake, anything else?

SPEAKER_03

Sean, that's a great pick. Don't let don't let the PlayStation elitist bully tell you any different. Okay, that is a good pick, but N64 was better than the PS1. I'll die on that hill.

SPEAKER_01

I make the PS2. But Sean, I I will say that was gonna be my second one. You're right. The nostalgia play for the N64 is 10 out of 10. Like there are so many nostalgic games on that. Is that the one that Pokemon Stadium was on? Yeah. We had a different that was. On the nostalgia play. I'll give you that.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks. Means a lot coming from you. All right. So here's the deal. I have one that I feel like is gonna play better on the graphic. They both might. I'm gonna go with the Legend of Zelda. Ocarina of Time, one of the best games on the N64. Majora's Mask was also very good. They had some decent games in the middle there on the Wii and at GameCube, but now Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are just fantastic games. I played Breath of the Wild. It was, I mean, it was amazing. So I'm gonna go with Legend of Zelda. I don't know if that's gonna play well. I don't think the audience is going to like that pick, but I for actual best franchises, it's Legend of Zelda. And here's the other thing there's like 15 games throughout GameCube or sorry, uh Game Boy and everything that I haven't played, but I've hit I've had the main one, so I do feel comfortable taking it. But I also have a feeling none of you guys would have picked it. I'm a Zelda respecter, I'm not a Zelda player.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Jake, it was in my notes as break glass in case of emergency. Pretend you played Zelda.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I probably could have taken something else.

SPEAKER_00

Because I know it, I know it's a well-respected game. I think it plays well. It's just not something that I spend a lot of time with.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean, I I've seen people do lists like this and put like Zelda on it, and it just do very poorly on the internet because I feel like it's more niche than we think. And actually, like decently difficult games for like Nintendo. Yeah. Like it it is not an easy game by like even I have to like look up like where where am I supposed to go now?

SPEAKER_00

Type of stuff as a 30-year-old man. Jeffrey? All right, so I I need a console and a sports game. Doesn't matter what order I take them in. What would you boys like me to start with? My console or my sports game? Console. Sure. I'm going the Game Boy color. We're tying it together with Pokemon. You're sitting, you're you're living in the car, you're living on the couch, you got about this big in your hands. You start to see that little bit of development from the original Game Boy, just a monumental piece of handheld video game uh console work. And uh I I would assume when you look at it, like more people have had a Game Boy Color than almost anything other than uh you know, uh PlayStation or otherwise. Like the the handheld market, I think, for that 15-year stretch in the the 90s and and into the early 2000s as they continue to advance from Game Boy to Game Boy Color to Game Boy Advance, like that was that was a moment. And uh I'm gonna take the Game Boy Color to commemorate that moment and tie it in with my Pokemon pick. It's a powerful combo.

SPEAKER_04

Those two.

SPEAKER_03

Excellent, excellent value with that one. And like that's one too, where like the story goes, like they wanted to put like a Mario game as like the one that it comes with, and the developers were like, no, send it with Tetris because adults will also get it if it if it has Tetris, and that's what they did. So like even like young adults were like playing Game Boy because of stuff like that. But no, that's excellent value.

SPEAKER_00

And it's because of that reason that Tetris is like the third highest grossing video game franchise of all time. Yeah. So that's my console. Game Boy Color was number two. Admittedly, I would have taken the PS2. I I thought about doing it at the turn last time and starting the train, but I feel okay getting my number two uh with the last console pick. Uh I'm sad to leave some of these games that aren't sports games on the board, but I think I'm getting great value here. I'm taking us back again to the nostalgia, to the childhood. It's got a wide berth of games that I get to take here. And we're going with my boy Pablo Sanchez in Backyard Sports. Well done.

SPEAKER_02

Well played. That was an ego mission for my board. I just missed it. Well played. Just missed it.

SPEAKER_00

From from every every sport imaginable to the the the real life players that they would add in with my guy Ernie Wheeler and Ahmed Khan and Ernie Steele, Dmitry Petrovich, things of that nature. What a what a franchise. Just thrilled to get Tony Del Vecchio and the gang here in the final round.

SPEAKER_03

Good pick. Good pick. Dmitri Petrovich was my guy throughout every game. Always picked him. Him and Pablo, but that's a given. But yeah, that's that's great. Jeff, very, very nicely done, Jeff. Nicely done. Thank you. Golf clap for you. Getting big value there. Jake, who's your last pick? Well, this is we're gonna hit some controversy, I think. Oh boy. So this is up to the this is up to the group. Okay. I'm going with LucasArts, aka Star Wars. I feel like it still holds its own as a video game franchise. However, if you think it's just a movie franchise that just has games, you can you can veto it.

SPEAKER_02

I think you get Star Wars. I had Star Wars on my list.

SPEAKER_00

Because I think this is hard because there are your battlefronts and there are your sort of MMO games like uh Knights of the Old Republic or Knights of the New Republic. And I I think it's really hard to group all of that together while we kept Smash Bros. and Mario Kart out of Mario.

SPEAKER_03

No, come on, everything. Because like it's not just the movie game. I guess you're saying there's just there's the pod racing, there's battlefront, there's the one where uh the redhead from Shameless is a Jedi. I was just gonna say there's the one with the redhead from Jedi on something, I don't remember what it's called. I played the first one. Rogues, Rogue Squadron. Knights, by the way, Knights of the Old Republic. Knights of the Old Republic is one of the best, the greatest, best games I've ever played, and it's a Star Wars prequel. Like, it is absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_00

So am I getting vetoed? I feel uncomfy with all of that going under one totem.

SPEAKER_02

And Jake, frankly, it seems like there's a theme. There's a theme happening in this episode, and you're you're up to no good, is what it seems like.

SPEAKER_03

I don't I'm up to no good. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_02

It's it's terrible. I'm the Mario Umbrella, the Lucas Arts. I know. It's gonna say Star Wars, it's just Lucas Arts.

SPEAKER_03

Lucas Arts, it's LucasArts. The pod racing game.

SPEAKER_02

You could take one of those series, I think, but I don't think you could.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, well, then I'm not taking no, then I'm not taking. Okay, fine.

SPEAKER_02

Just remember who vetoed. Just remember who vetoed it was oh I I remember no good. Yeah, after you guys made a good Point. I didn't know there was other Star Wars games outside of Battlefront.

SPEAKER_00

I'm willing to eat it if people if people think otherwise, but you're getting like 70 games under this under this umbrella that you've created. You don't think you don't think you thought about that? You don't think that's why I'm trying to get it? You get like six games. Or if you go, you know, the Force Unleashed series, you get like three games. Yeah. Not the old Republic, you get like six or seven.

SPEAKER_02

It it is like two. They're teaching, they're teaching me about all these different games that I didn't notice.

SPEAKER_03

No, listen, I also get I also get the stinkers. I also get Jedi Academy. I also get nobody knows those games exist. They're not gonna be on the graphics. Super Bombad Racing. I get The Legends of Teramasu.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's time to pick a new game.

SPEAKER_03

Like I get all I get the stinkers too. I think it's time to pick a new game. Alright, fine. You guys are no fun. Um, all right, I'm going to take God of War with my much better effect. You just love we should have let you keep Star Wars. So I'm taking God of War. Uh again. Uh started playing these during COVID when I was in like West Virginia. So yeah, uh, the first three are great on PlayStation, and then the the soft reboot of the Norse gods, because again, before it was Roman gods, now we're like Norse gods. I mean, absolutely fantastic games. And I think there's gonna be another one coming out based on the his son or his wife. I think there's one coming out for, but anyway, uh yeah, God of War. I played all the main lines, excellent franchise. Kratos, one of the best characters in games. So complicated man. Very complicated man. Listen, he wants to be the God of War, but he also has to be a dad.

SPEAKER_02

I've heard of it. I can't comment any further than that. I know nothing about this series. Me either.

SPEAKER_00

It it plays very well with people who know video games. It is one of the most revered PlayStation Sony series. I played the first game of the reboot and the original. They're they're good games. Can't go wrong there. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Mindless, mindless mayhem. Should have should have left them keep pod racing. I will go with my last pick. This is undoubtedly the worst pick of the draft. Just in terms of like, I don't think this I can't remember any other game modes that this video game offers other than just some pickup hoops. And I'm taking NBA Street.

SPEAKER_00

That's a sweet pick.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, thank you. I I rip this game. I Jake, I think Tyler and I, your brother, played this game a bunch. I absolutely loved NBA Street. I prefer volume two, with I believe Dr. J on the front.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that was that's the best one.

SPEAKER_02

I was gonna say that was the one I remember playing the most, but this it was just so much fun. Just pure fun. I like I said, I don't know if there's anything else you could do in the game other than play pickup hoops, but I was all in.

SPEAKER_00

We had to like be the different like bosses, like what was one like stretch arm strong or something like that. Stretch something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And beat three teams or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And then like you'd unlock like um, was it Ruck Man? What's the one in Harlem? Was it Rucker Park? Yeah, Rucker Park. Yeah, Rucker Park. And then like then you can like unlock like legends like Bill Walton, Bob Coozie, Dr.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, those would be the guys you would go to first.

SPEAKER_03

Moses Malone. So like that was like really cool to like unlock those guys, and then like, you know, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, the second I only played the second one. Okay. Volume three was okay with uh Baron Davis on the cover. Yeah. Let's gonna say, yeah, who was on the cover there?

SPEAKER_03

Baron Davis.

SPEAKER_02

Wow, look at that. All right, I'm glad other people had at least played it. So, Joe, wrap us up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I I'm gonna be honest. We thank God we didn't have another round because we were in, I would have been in deep. I mean, we've all dang near all the games I've played have already gotten picked. Haven't played a ton of games, but I am gonna go with this is kind of a nostalgia pick. I was looking at lists, and you know, when I think about hanging out with your friends, going to the movies, you know, when you get to the arcade, what's one of the first things that you and a friend go and do? And it's you go and play Mortal Kombat. I love this. You know, just the the button mashing, you know, like when has there been a game when that when so many people play it and have a lot of them, not all, a lot of them have zero concept of zero concept of the buttons. But yeah, you have so much fun playing. You know, it I I've played some kind of newer editions of it, and it's been pretty fun as well. On uh on I think on my old um PS4, I think I played it, it was really fun. But when I think of Mortal Kombat, I think of in an arcade as a kid, like matching up against a friend and just playing over and over and over again. And so for me, that's that's what I'll wrap up the my picks with.

SPEAKER_00

I thought you were gonna try to jump on Sean's pick and take NBA jam there. When you start talking about arcade.

SPEAKER_03

I was thinking he was taking DDR Dance Revolution. That was at one point. I was like, whoa, is he doing this?

SPEAKER_01

Nope. Nope. Again, only stuck with games I played. So, you know, I'm a man of honor.

SPEAKER_02

All right, we could go through some honorable mentions quick. We'll go in draft order, maybe, just to keep some organization here. But then also if you guys can prepare the list of what you took so we could just recap that before we head out.

SPEAKER_01

Do you want to do that first or do you want to do that after the omission? After honorable mentions, yeah. Okay. For me, honorable mentions. I think the uh in college I played a ton of NHL, and so that was that's a really fun, I think underrated sports franchise. And then the other one for me was uh was this was like an N64 Sega situation, but Sonic, some of the Sonic games were so fun. I had a lot of fun playing Sonic, top 10 selling of all time, and so I I was gonna go Sonic possibly as well.

SPEAKER_02

I had Sonic written down as well, Joe. I I used to love that. I also had Donkey Kong, which I think is the OG, it's where we got Mario from. So a little tip of the cap there. I just haven't I haven't played that in 20 some years, so it just felt like I couldn't even tell you really what we were doing in that game. I think we were wasn't Mario called like Jump Man or something in.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he was. Yeah, I was gonna say the original Donkey Kong, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So that that was a Donkey Kong Country games were great too.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. And then the only other thing I had was MLB the show. I felt like, especially on the PlayStation Portable, that game slapped for me when you did the when you did the My Career. I played that on family vacations for I mean hours sometimes. So that was another one I had written down, but my board was exceedingly thin.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so mine. So I have a couple on here to keep them quick. Horror games, uh, Resident Evil, probably one of the best-selling horror games. I played, I played a few of them. Here's another one that I absolutely love. There are four main games. Uncharted. Yeah, it's on my list. That Uncharted was there in case I needed it. Also, I did have Batman the Arkham series. Sure. There were three, there were four games in there that were really good. Uh Spider-Man had a whole bunch of games. Listen, Spider-Man 2, you could like swing through like actual New York. Like it was very tailored to like actual New York, which I think was the first time that's ever been done. Uh Tomb Raider, never really played the original, but like the reboots I loved. Metal Gear, I played a bunch of the Metal Gear Solid games. They're very good, very complicated for the story, but are very cool. Here's another one. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of it. Has any of you guys ever heard of Mass Effect? Yeah. Yeah. I had those. The the trilogy, like what you do in previous games, like if a character dies, you lose them in three if you load up that memory. So like I thought like your actions in previous games reflect outcomes later on. Awesome franchise had a ball with it. And then the other one, I don't know if we can count this as a franchise because there were two technically three games, but like Red Dead Redemption is one of the best stories ever in gaming. I didn't take it because there technically was a first one, but then they rebooted it hard with redemption, and there's only two of them. So I didn't feel comfortable putting it on there because of uh because it's not a huge franchise, there's only two games, but like it's literally Wild Wild West Grand Theft Auto, and it gives you some of the best storytelling in all of gaming. So yeah, I those were my omission, or those were my honorable mentions.

SPEAKER_00

Uh Jeff. If if we're doing a single game draft, I would have taken Red Dead Redemption 2 number one. There is three, Jace. You would have been you would have been well within your rights. You had Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption, and Red Dead Redemption 2. So you would have been just fine there. Uh a lot of other different directions we could go here. Ratchet and Clank from the PlayStation 2. Uh played a lot of those games. Xbox 360, I was a massive Gears of War guy. Uh played, I was quite good at Gears of War 3, played a lot of that. Single player game campaign style. I played a lot of Borderlands. There were four or five of those. I probably played three of them. And then some old PS2 games that I considered as well. Jack and Daxter was a was a great PS2 series. Very good. And then my backup plan for sports, if somebody nabbed Backyard Sports, was going to be the SSX snowboarding series. SSX Tricky was one of the greatest PS2 games ever. Uh I played SSX and SSX 3, but Tricky was the sweet spot for sure. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know if I knew a single one of your guys' honorable mentions. You guys were just cooking there. And that's why the draft needed to end when it did. Because, like you said, Joe, I was about to be off a cliff. I was going to be Googling really soon.

SPEAKER_03

So Googling and Pandora games. Video games.

SPEAKER_02

Uh all right. So why don't we just run through Joe? We'll start with you. Just run through your picks in the order that you select.

SPEAKER_01

Oh man. Alrighty. First I went with the FIFA franchise, then Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Super Smash Brothers, the 2K basketball series, PS2 for my console, and then Mortal Kombat.

SPEAKER_02

Strong list. I went with EA Sports College Football and then Guitar Hero. My third round pick was Halo. My fourth was Madden. Ever heard of it? Fifth was my console Nintendo 64. And then my last pick was NBA Street.

SPEAKER_03

The Mario number one, the Mario franchise where he is not driving anything. Okay, so if he's driving, I don't get it. I get everything else. Let's come back. Or if he's fighting people, if he's fighting other characters. So I don't have that. So Mario franchise, then GTA, uh the Tony Hawk Skater franchise, the Xbox 360, the Legend of Zelda franchise, and then lastly, because I could not get Star Wars, God of War. Thank you. I will be much quicker. Thank you for the assist.

SPEAKER_00

I took Pokemon, then Call of Duty, then Crash Fandicoot, then Assassin's Creed, then the Game Boy Color, and then Backyard Sports.

SPEAKER_02

Good, really good stuff. Jeff, I before we go, the only thing I would say, I didn't comment this at the time. I was I must have missed all the other backyard games. I really was only familiar with baseball. Baseball, basketball, everything, soccer. See, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00

Skateboarding? There was a skateboarding with Landon Donovan and Abby Womback.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Yeah, I never knew. The first backyard soccer was amazing. It was so good. Well, like it was, they made it like a 98 or something like that. But yeah, backyard sports. Yeah, elite.

SPEAKER_02

Boys, thank you all for joining me. I had a good time as usual when we do these. Absolutely. Thanks. Always appreciate the invite. Oh, yeah, man. Don't work, lads. Listeners, thank you all for tuning in, and until next time, take care of it.