Solo Save: Games, News, And Q&A

Ever have a week where you just want a straight hit of games, news, and honest opinions without the fluff? That’s the energy today. I kick things off with Hades 2 on Switch 2 and why its small, thoughtful touches—like audio cues that swell into boss fights—make it the perfect half-hour loop when life is busy. The Switch 2 port holds steady in handheld and docked, and those fast runs keep piling up because the friction is basically gone.

From there, we dig into three stories that matter. Tiny Bookshop is set for a physical console release, and its traveling store premise feels tailor-made for cozy, stress-free play with just enough management depth to hook you. Xbox Winter Demo Fest is rolling out early demos—and yes, Contraband Police, Froggy Hate Snow, Crystalla, and a mech-deck roguelike are on my radar. Demos are back in a big way, and transferring progress into full releases makes discovery meaningful again. Then we take a measured six-month check-in with Switch 2: the hardware impresses with a bigger, cleaner screen and a Pro Controller that finally rivals the best, while the software library still needs more true Switch 2 exclusives to define the generation.

The back half gets personal with a packed Q&A. I’m ready to revisit Gran Turismo 7 after Spec 3; that sim-lite feel still nails the balance. We cover disappointments that stung—Grid Legends’ shallow career, Need for Speed Unbound’s grind under a stylish hood, and the heartbreaking promise of Tales of the Shire. I also own my blind spots: Gears of War, classic Final Fantasy, and Castlevania are all on deck. And yes, Lance Vance remains public enemy number one. I close with the origin story: seaside arcades, Operation Wolf on a milk crate, and a Spectrum 128K that turned the living room into a neighborhood hub. That’s why I love portable power, cozy sims, tough roguelikes, and communities that keep curiosity alive.

If this mix of gameplay, news, and community Q&A hits the spot, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop your one-console-forever pick in a review. Your recommendations and questions shape where we go next—come be part of it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:21

Hello and welcome to the unofficial controller podcast, your weekly gaming podcast. And as you can tell, it's me, RGT. And today I am doing a solo. So uh yeah, if we're all I know as you all are as well, listeners, it's that uh holiday period at the moment, we're all very busy. Um and same of us presenters, we're all a bit flat out. So I had a quick spare hour or so, so I thought I'll jump on um get a show done for you guys, and although it is only me, hopefully that'll be uh give you something to listen to on your uh weekly commutes and bits and pieces. Um it's gonna be um pretty much in some ways like a normal show. Going to be a bit of what I've been playing, um, which isn't actually that much to be honest. Um bit of news, uh a few news articles. But um well, there'll be a bit different this week. Um I jumped into Discord earlier. Um if you want to join out, just you know, jump on Unoffish Controller Discord. Um, and I asked a question, just said, is there anything you want to ask me? Um I know this has come up a few times before from the listeners, and you know, we'd love to have a show about you presenters, you know, bits and pieces. And I was just like, well, maybe this is the time to do it. So I've jumped on there, asked a question. I've got a list of questions from different people. Sorry if your question isn't read out. Um, obviously, with time restraints, I've picked a few out and hopefully can answer your questions as as best I can, um, and give you a little bit of insight into uh my game and history and who I am. Um, but you know, before we go on any more, I suppose I'd better say to myself, RGT, what have you been playing? Um, and as you'll if you're a regular listener, you can probably guess. Uh it's just literally been Hades 2. Um, obviously, restraints with work, a lot of hours at work at the moment, so I'm quite restrained. But on the good side of that is Hades 2 is like when I was playing um uh Ball X Pit, it's one of those games where you can, even if you just got half an hour, you can jump in, have a run, sometimes two runs, um, and keep it ticking along. Um, so that's that was really good. That is a good side of that game. Um, am I still enjoying Hades 2? Um, yes, I I'm close to saying this game is everything I expected it to be. Um almost a perfect sequel. Um, and I've been on about it the last few weeks, so I won't go on about it too much on this show. Um, but yeah, it's absolutely brilliant, flawless as far as I can tell. I'm now up to I've probably gone on a little bit more, I can't remember what I got up to last week when I was talking to you guys, but I was um I'm very close to getting to the third level of the underworld at the moment. Um I'm now up to the I've had two or three goes at the the sort of second level boss, um, and yeah, she's a bit powerful for me, but with this game as well, I keep noticing these little these small little inclusions that you don't notice at first at just the details that they've put into this. For instance, I was sitting with Mrs. RGT the other night and I'd done a run, and then I I noticed something, and then said to her, Did you notice anything with that run? She went no. I said, Do you wait till I get to this this third um uh this second level? And you you as you go down, you can hear, once you've met the siren once, you can hear the siren singing, and each level, each room you go through, that gets slightly louder till you meet her, like she's calling you in like a siren wood into uh into a domain for your boss battle. I just think little things like that really shows what this game's about. Um, and yeah, for anyone that hasn't listened before, yeah, I'm playing Hades 2 on the Switch 2. Um superb port. Haven't played any of the other ports, so I I couldn't compare, but um, it is absolutely superb. Um, like I say, pretty much flawless. Um, I've had a few more um pickups this week. I won't go for them too much because I think a couple of them again could be future hidden gems, which I haven't done for a while. Um, but hopefully hear about more of them next week. Um, also, just a little bit of housekeeping, another uh another thing if you're new to the show. Um we have a sister show called Flashback. Um, if you want to listen to that, um that is very similar layout to this show, but it's set in a random month of a random year. It's just a snapshot of gaming, what the um magazines were saying, the articles, what games we would have played, what games we were playing. Um, it's now also on YouTube, it's in a uh section of our unofficial controller podcast. You can see on now, and uh there's the pilot episode one and episode two. So episode three will also be out this week as well, hopefully today. Um, but unfortunately, that is pretty much all I have been playing. Um so I think I'll head into the news. We've scoured the very darkest regions of the internet to bring you this week's news, and this first story um comes from Push Square. Um we normally jump on sort of the the big free gaming sites that we we uh we like. Um but we'll start off with push square. This is by Stephen Talby. Um, and it says one of 2025's most beloved and adorable games is setting up shop on PS5. Tiny Bookshop is on the way. Tiny Bookshop, a highly acclaimed indie title that released earlier this year on PC and Switch, is confirmed for release on PS5. The Cute and Cozy Adventure trundles onto Sony's console on 10th of April 2026, both physically and digitally. Uh, in the game, you run a mobile bookshop. You can take two different areas, setting up shop and recommending books to your customers. It's a stress-free management game about stocking different genres to satisfy different people, getting to know characters through interactions and making your little bookshop your own with all kinds of decorations. Um Tony Bookshop has garnered very positive player feedback and did well critically too, so it seems this is something of a hidden gem. It's still a a little while before the game is available on PS5, but as mentioned, it's coming to physical retail as well. The box copy comes with the digital soundtrack and a physical bookmarks bookmark, which is pretty nice. Are you interested in Tony Bookshop? Tell us in the comments section below on Push Square. Now, uh for me this was a game I really wanted to play on when it came out on Switch. Um I just didn't get round to playing it. Um and I'd sort of half forgot about the game until this this news came out as recording today. Um with the physical, I'm I'm very tempted. Um obviously PS5 and Switch. It looks such a lovely little game. Um, if you haven't lot I say, I mean it described it in in that article, but if you if you haven't seen it before, it's literally like um a little toe-along trailer, tiny bookshop that you go round, it's a lovely art style, sort of cell-shaded. You go around to different towns, meet different customers, and it's just like a little simple management game of stocking the right books for the right customers, and it looks so relaxing and so nice. Um, I'm definitely tempted to pick it up. I mean, what version? I mean PS5 or Switch. I'll probably go for the Switch version, um, just for that portability. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's you know, it just looks a great little game. Um I think it was from New Lordic Games, I think it was. New Ludic Games, I think they're called. Um, it came out I think August this year, uh 2025. Um I don't think it was too I think it was around about 15 bucks when it came out, 20 bucks. So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't too expensive, but I sometimes nice just to have those those little chilled games in the background, those little relaxing games that you know you haven't got to think too much for, you haven't got to, you know, have these button mash and you know game craze bosses on there, you can just have a chilled out experience, um, some nice calm music, and I think, yeah, that I think that's gonna be good. And I think with with digital soundtrack, um, and a little physical bookmark, that's a nice little touch. Um, and I think it'll be worth um keeping an eye out for when that comes out, um, and maybe like I say, picking that up. I mean, I nearly did buy that on on um on digital on release, but now I now coming physical. I think of something that I will uh if I can I'll probably pre-order because that's a that's a great little one to have in the in the background on the switch. Um, next up we'll head over to Pure Xbox. Um, and this is by our usual one we read out is by Fraser Gilbert over there. Um, Xbox Winter Demo Fest 2025 begins next week, and a few have gone live already. Here's a sneak peek. Um, we've got a new Xbox Demo Fest taking place next week. This is the annual winter version of the event, which is officially known as the Indie Selects Demo Fest, featuring over 30 games that are free to try from December the 9th. We'll obviously have a fun roundup of the demos for UISAP, um, but they're being kept under wraps for now. Um, that said, we've been poking around the demos section of the Xbox store, and I found a few demos that have gone live already. These will probably be trickling out over the next few days as we approach December the 9th, and then the full selection should become available on that date. For now, um, here are the demos that we've spotted that should be part of Demo Fest. Uh, first up, we have Contraband Police Demo. The year is 1981, and as a young officer trainee, you are assigned to work at a border post in the mountainous regions of Karakita. Entry to the uh Acharist People's Republic is strictly regulated by La Party, and your every move is monitored. The situation at the border escalates when your comrade is killed during one of the interventions. Well, that sounds interesting. There's quite a few of these um sort of police simulators about at the moment, and they they do sort of intrigue me a little bit. Um next up we have Froggy Hate Snow Demo. Strange name. In this demo, you are Froggy, a determined survivor in a hostile snowy desert. Dig paths through the snow to discover treasures, battle eerie creatures, and adapt in a world where warmth is survival, and the freezing temperatures aren't the only thing that can kill. Mmm, from that title, I didn't think that'd be anything like that. So that sounds very interesting. Uh, next up we have Crystalla Demo. Crystalla is a dark fantasy action RPG that invites you into the role of a magically gifted feline warrior on a quest to master the ancient magics of the sacred crystals. Hmm, that sounds quite good, especially as an RPG and sort of fancy RPG. Sounds very interesting. Um, and then we've got mega battle demo. Uh, build your deck and your robot, fight with strategy and don't die, roguelike style, a unique and fun game where you create your own character and develop a one-of-a-kind way to fight. Um, a couple of notes about these. The Froggy Hate Snow demo appears to be a console exclusive on the Xbox as things stand, while Contraband Police is a game that's been selling well since its Xbox release in early November, racking up a 4.9 out of 5 rating on the Xbox store, and even reaching the top paid Xbox charts over the past month. Um, stay tuned to Pure Xbox for the rest. We'll be back on either Monday night or Tuesday to share the full list of games in the Xbox Winter Demo Fest 2025. Those four above are appliable right now, though, so feel free to give them a try. Um, yeah, brilliant again from Pure Xbox because I've obviously been delving in and just sort of going into the store trying to find out what is now coming in this in this demo fest, and I think I mean I think it's a great thing, really, these these demo fests, because obviously back in my day when we were buying magazines, um, right back from Spectrums up to you know Mi Amiga and bits like that, and you've got cover discs and used to have demos on there, it was a great way to sample games, um try out games, and although that died off a bit, sort of 7th gen onwards, we've that sort of died away. I think nowadays it seems to be making a bit of a comeback with the online stores, um, with like the PS store and Xbox and even Nintendo, these demos, or as PlayStation calls them, trials. Um there's quite a few there now that just gives you that insight, and that's nice now, especially. I mean, yeah, we know games are 60, 70, you know, the big titles 80, you know, bucks. So to have this little insight and have to little go on the game first, just to see how you get on with it. And I think a lot of well as well now is that um you play these games on the demos, you have a go, and it a lot of the time it will then take your progress over for when you get full game, um, which is good. I think like Harvestella, one of my favourite all-time games, done that. Um, and I just think that's that's a nice way of doing it because you can then carry that story on, you know, and it is good. But yeah, there's some interesting ones there. Like I said, contraband police demo sounds quite interesting. Um it's almost got that sort of I don't know, it's that police simulator sort of I wonder if I'm not sure myself is if it's SPS, but looks quite interesting, and I wonder where the story goes with that. I mean that froggy hate snow demo, um, that seems good as well, where you've you know, dig paths to survive um through the snow, that seems quite good. And you know, survival game again. Um the Crystala Um fantasy action RPG seems good, although there's not a lot about it. It just seems that sort of you know, dark fantasy RPG seems very interesting, almost sort of um um sort of Skyrim or something like that. Sounds quite interesting. Obviously, it probably wouldn't be nowhere near as big as that, but definitely interesting. And then Mega Mega Battle Demo, um build your deck and your robots. I take it that's more sort of a strategy deck building roguelike, which is quite unique. Um, maybe that's sort of taking um the style of uh Bellatro, that sort of thing with with with the deck side of it, and yeah, looks looks interesting and be interesting to see um going forward what else they have come up in this winter demo fest. Um definitely keep an eye on pure Xbox, keep dropping on their on their weekly news to see any updates on that and and what other games they're gonna be gonna be showing. But yeah, very very interesting. Um next up we have uh Nintendo Life, and that's the the Tri Factor, as we say. Um this is quite a big story, but I thought it'd be interesting to cover because um it's by Gavin Lane, um, I believe he's editor there at Nintendo Life. Um, but he's done uh quite a big piece here about um switch to um and the headline is talking point six months since launch. How would you rate the switch to the half year in review? Um I thought it was worth bringing this up because me and George obviously are switch to owners, and I know a few people in Discord have switch to's. I know a few people are thinking of getting switch twos but haven't yet, so I thought this might um sort of hit with with a few people. Um and this also has a little sort of mini survey on here as well. So if you jump over to Nintendo Life and search this article, um you can sort of put your your views across on how you feel the system is after six months and you know your views of it um and sort of going forward. But the article starts with uh Friday 5th December marks the six-month mark for Nintendo SQL system. Launching back in June, the earliest adopters among us have now been living with the console for half a year. Blimey. It seems like only yesterday we were all speculating about the follow-up to Switch 1. Would it launch in 2022, 2023, or 2024? Yes, Switch 2 has been in our minds for years, and it feels surreal to have possessed the thing for six months now. So before we get into the annual game of the year madness, now is a good time to look back, take stock and briefly discuss how we're getting on with the Switch part duh. Um you'll find some polls below, which is like I said, go over to Nintendo Life related to the hardware self, uh the software lineup, and how you'd rate the whole shebang now and the final marquee first party game of the year. Um and now that the final sorry, the final marquee first party game of the year is out in the wild. It's Metroid. If you somehow hadn't noticed all the articles with Samus in the lead image, let's start with the system itself. Now that the new hardware smell has worn off. Picking up my launch day console, I'm happy to say my initial impressions um as chronicled by my hardware review back in mid-June still hold true. Having gone back to Switch 1 for uh for review purposes a few times in the last few months, the older console feels to be uh feels so very, very slow. My heart still goes out to the OLED screen, but besides the novelty of it being slightly smaller, there's nothing about the first console I miss. He goes on to say Switch 2 came in very hot with a launch day update essentially activating it, and various system updates have refined things on the firmware side. Perfectly, which should be a given, but the spectra of drift lingers, as does the pile of useless OG Joy-Cons in the cupboard. I'm fairly careful with my devices, um, but I've taken the system on trips, packed it in suitcases, and generally given it a full and thorough using across all modes, and it's coped with those day-to-day rigors just fine. Users report user reports about a faulty or malfunctioning LAN port in the dock are disappointing, although it's not a problem anymore on Team Nintendo Live has run into. Sorry, not a problem anyone on Team Nintendo Live has run into. Likewise, legitimate complaints about blurry panel problems and ghosting seem to have died down. Two, not die down to not that those issues don't ex still don't still exist. They just don't seem to be troubling the vast majority of Switch 2 owners. On the whole, then there are areas to polish, and the screen on my trusty OLED model still looks spectacular. But switch to gets things mostly right, and it's holding up very uh holding up well after six months of use, if not abuse. What about yours? Um, and then that's one of the little polls you can take. How's your switch two holding up? Um, the next section he talks about is uh software. Um delightful, certainly, but lacking surprise. The number of of truly new Switch 2 games, exclusive or otherwise, might be lacking, but it's hard to argue with the breadth of um quality of games we've seen released since June. Plenty of familiar ports, yes. Um, another way in which Switch 1's legacy passes directly to a successor. But with 25 games in the launch lineup, is there anything to grouse about on the consumer side? Really? Perhaps Mario Kart World is a great game, but also just the new Mario Kart, not a genre-defined all-time all-timer like Breath of the Wild or even Wii Sports. Despite the brilliance of Donkey Kong Bonanza, there's nothing just yet that you'd absolutely have to get a switch to to play. Plenty of gems, some exquisite ports, and having them on a handheld hybrid is as convenient as ever, but the vast majority can be played elsewhere. Hades 2 and Met and Metroid Prime 4, for example, both perform wonderfully on Switch 1. Backwards compatibility has been expanded with Neo Automata fixes incoming in a recent update, and NSO editions have kept trickling in. We're still waiting on four of the ten announced GameCube editions to show up. But where where's where that but what's there is is good stuff. So plenty to play, but how are you feeling? So there's another little uh another little vote to go on there to see how you feel about that. Then he goes on to say, how would you rate switch to overall so far? We've briefly looked at the system and the software, but how are you feeling about your investment in the console? Any regrets? Any standout moments in your time with it so far? The future's looking bright, but let's get a numerical sit rep and feel free to head into the comments if you'd like to go any further. Um, and there's a final little one to vote on there. Now, that's a good little sort of review from Gavin. There, I think um, me personally, um, as same with George, we bought Dan Date, we pre-ordered um with Nintendo um and we got it on on release day. Um first impressions I've loved it. I mean I've spoken on the show and waxed lyrical about it. Um I think it's a brilliant system. Um I think the the power of it and the graphics of it has really brought it up to speed. Um but like George says, by the time you give their release and mid to end of this gen, they're sort of brought them up nearly level at the moment, but depending on what comes from Xbox, if anything comes from Xbox and PS6, could knock it back a bit, but you know, we're not talking about the future. Um it's very, very good, I think. It's it's a I know some people didn't think it was a leap enough. To me personally, I think it's a bigger leap than I thought. I mean, with the 4K, the bigger screen, um, although the Joy-Cons are supposedly the same, they feel much improved. Um, I've got a uh Pro Controller, Switch 2 Pro controller, which is fantastic. The smoothness of them analog sticks, um, playing Hades 2 on that is an absolute joy. That they feel like they're up for the task, and it feels like a very, very well-built controller. Um, it's got back buttons on as well if you want to use those or reprogram those, but um, just as a standard controller, it's fantastic. It's really took it close to me to the dual sense, which I think is the best all-time controller. Um, for what you know, um, what extras that has on it. It's took it very close to that. Um, but overall, I think it's it's a great system that has really improved over the Switch 1 massively, but still kept what was good about the Switch 1. Um, so yeah, after six months, I'm very pleased with it. Um, not to say that was talking about the hardware. Yes, I think it's really good. It's what I expected, it's just about perfect for me. Um software-wise, yeah, I see what you're saying. Um we tend to get this with a lot of consoles in the first six months, you know, your first party stuff sort of drips drips out, not you know, not massively quickly. Um, yes, we've had Donkey Kong. I haven't played it yet, but I will purchase it. I I've never been a massive Donkey Kong fan, but then once seeing this sort of 3D world they've built, I thought I reckon I might jump into that. Um we obviously had our back catalogue, which is upgraded again, which is a nice touch. I mean, if you're buying a Switch 2 and you've never played Breath of the Wild, well, that's the best place to play it. Same with Tears of the Kingdom, etc. Um, we've now had Metro Prime 4 come out. Um, I've seen a few reviews so far, sort of controversially, whether people like it or not. Um, they've gone a bit down a different route, but again, it's playable on the original Switch. It's a bit like when PS5 launched, um, you had those crossover titles, um, your God of Wars, etc., that you could play on one, but you know, you could still play on a PS4. That's once you start getting into those Switch 2 only games, um, which then are really pushing that hardware. And I know we've had the cyberpunks and that on there, which have done really well and run really well. Star Wars um as well looks superb, um, but that'll be nice to see when there is a game built ground up just for the Switch 2, just to see what it can really do. Um but yeah, it's it's to be honest for me, Hades 2. Obviously, that's the Switch 2 title. I bought Story of Seasons, Grand Bazaar. I bought the Switch 2 version of that. Other than that, I've been pretty much playing Switch and my back catalogue of my Switch on it, which does improve obviously on the Switch 2, but you know, it's quite an expensive way of uh just slightly upgrading your Switch games, but I know the games will they will start to come. Um so overall it says how would you rate your Switch 2 so far? I mean for me, I mean he's got a little list on here which you can go on obviously and do yourself. Um he's got from one, which is abysmal, two terrible, three bad, four poor, five average, six not bad, seven good, eight great, nine excellent, ten outstanding. Now for me um I think if it launched if it launched with I know that's a lot to ask for, but if it launched with three or four big IPs, and maybe uh even just a switch two game, which I know they I know they probably wouldn't do because of you know you've got over a hundred million switch one users, you know, and a vast majority of them aren't gonna have a switch two, so you you need to release on both to keep the sales up, but if it did release with just like with a switch two title and some and three or four big IPs, I think it would for me be pushing a 10. I think as it stands at the moment, I'm sort of between an eight and a nine, between great and excellent. Um I think it's definitely worth that. Um, it's by becoming more powerful um and as versatile as the Switch One, it's pretty much became my primary console at the moment. Um, and I hate to say it from being a big PS5 player, and I've got Series X as well, um, from being a big PS5 player, that that has definitely moved me over just for having the convenience um for travelling, for taking it with me, and for having those big games on the go. And you always felt we've said this before on the show as well, I know, but you always felt with that Switch 1, um, you were always slightly compromised, you know. Yes, some of the ports come over, um your No Man's Sky, your Witch of Three, um your Assassin's Creed's have come over, but you always felt like you were slightly hindered by it, and yes, they ran, but they were a bit oh, they're not quite there, you know. Whereas with the Switch D, you think it feels like at the moment, you know, you could release a PS5 Series X game, you can release it on the Switch 2 as well. It feels that good. So yeah, um, I'd definitely put up between um an eight and a nine, I think. Um, but yeah, so I think that pretty much wraps up the news for this week. Um, if you think there's any stories I've missed or anything you want to comment on, contact us at questions at unofficial controller podcast.com or DM us on X or Instagram or anything like that, or even jump onto our Discord. Um, we've got a great great little Discord if you haven't heard of it before. Um, great gamers in there. We have um challenge accepted that Digital Mongery does, and we've got uh Gen 7 playthrough um games on there that we can play together. So it's good, it's a good little place for gamers to um um join up and chat and all things gaming and anything you want to chat about, really. Your game collection all the way through to where you're going on holiday. So, yeah, it's a great little place. Yeah, check that out. Uh Unoffish Controller Podcast Discord. Um check on Instagram, there's a link tree and bits on there, you can jump straight on. Um, but yeah, so if there's anything you think we missed, like I say, just give us a contact um or anything you think I've got wrong, or if you know, even if you think oh switch to is terrible RGT, well, jump in there, uh put your points across and um we'll have a chat. Um, but which takes me on to our uh um next part of the show, which is a bit different this week, um, which I said at the start. Uh this was um if you missed the start, I said uh I chugged a little uh question into Discord earlier on today and just said, look, you know, I know a few people have asked, they want to know a bit more about us and uh individually in that. And I thought, well, while I'm doing a solo, this would be a great opportunity to ask me a few questions. Um, and I said it can be anything from my fave game, um, favourite gaming console, or anything about me, really, um, you know, where I'm from, etc. Um, yeah, you know, how I got into games, how I got into podcasting, anything. Um, but yeah, so and the first one that came up very quickly after I put that up, um, within the minutes, was the legend is Badabinkster. Um, and his question to me was my question is with the new spec three update on Grand Turismo 7, are you going to jump back in? Now, that is an interesting one, Badabinkster. Um, I am very tempted. I've made my I'm looking down at my notes here, and but yeah, I'm very tempted. Um, because I heard it is the biggest update yet. Um, and I I I put some hours into it when it first came out, and I haven't, apart from the odd dabble, I haven't gone back, and I keep thinking, all I ever talk about is how good Grand Turismo games are. Yeah, I've only had I haven't really gone back to Grand Turismo 7. I'm thinking, why? Even if I've just done a new playthrough, it's such a good game, it is such a good game. Um, I think when it came out, I had my rig at the time, so I was playing in a sim rig, which was great fun. But yeah, just to have another playthrough even with the dual sense would be good. Um, my good friend and you know, Discord member and listener, uh Speedy Wheels, he's he's put hundreds of hours in Grand Turismo, loves all the new updates, bits and pieces, and he keeps talking about it. I keep thinking, do you know what? Maybe I should get back into it. And yeah, I think do you know what Badabin's thought? I think I will, and I think this has been the perfect year. Uh I know I said we've been a bit dry this year, we haven't been dry with games, but it feels like the big games have been very staggered. So maybe this has been maybe I should have got into it earlier, but I think I will. Um I think it's a fantastic game. Um of the best driving games I think there is, especially at that crossover, where it's not full-on sim, but it's not arcade, it's got that crossover where it's it's as good a sim as you can get without having to have a full eye race and rig. So, yeah, I've I think personally bad being start, I think, yeah, I will be getting back into it. And awesome, thanks for your question. Um, my next question, funnily enough, um Mrs. RGT. And she has put, what is the worst game you have ever played, and what would you do to improve it? Now this got the old grain out of thinking, because I was thinking, oh god, how far do I go back? I mean, I know I've been disappointed with quite a few games. Um, there's probably ones I'm forgetting, which I've just my brain is pushed out because of how much I hated them, but um I think I'm one of the ones that I've really really created on me was um Grid Legends. Um I loved the grid games when I'm PS3. Um obviously Codemasters, Grid 1 and 2 were fantastic racing games, put so many hours into them and really enjoyed them. And then obviously EA bought Codemasters, and I was just so worried that they were gonna take it down their their route. And with Grid Legends, for me, I know some people love the game, but for me, I just thought, no, they they added that sort of career mode in with sort of um not FMB but real real actors in the cutscenes and to give you that bit of tension, which yeah, was quite good. But then you sort of played from when I played on launch, and you sort of played it till certain end of the first season, and it seemed to stop, and that was either you had to repeat the season, or I don't even know if you had as a uh pay to play the next season, but I just thought this this is not what grid is about. I just I was so disappointed. I was so looking forward to it, and I know I'd I was a bit anxious with it being EA there, but yeah, I was I was pretty gutted with that, and I think as as of recent games, that is probably one of the ones where I just thought, mmm, yeah, that is probably one of the worst I've played. I mean, there's been plenty of games back in the years, I mean, right back from my spectrum days, sure and my age. Um, they were, I mean, for for the younger listeners, when you had spectrums uh over here in the UK, down cassette tapes, um, and you'd have artwork on the back. Now, later games did say on them um screenshots from C64 or Amiga or something like that. But when you're a young kid, you didn't tend to read those, so you'd you'd get say Rambo or Terminator or something like that. You'd turn the case over and oh, look at them graphics, you got home and loaded it up, and that was just monochrome or one colour and colour clash, and yeah, that weren't what was shown on that box. You had in your mind you're gonna be playing this action movie, 80s action movie, and what you were doing is just did yeah, and it was it could be disappointing. So I played plenty of games like that which were not what they were cracked up to be. They spent all the money on a license and didn't really put it into the production of the game, but yeah, for as as of a as of a more recent game, then yeah, Grid Legends um definitely is one of the worst games I've played. I know a lot of people probably won't agree with me on that, but for me, they destroyed the grid name with that. Um next up we have Captain Scarlet, one of our uh newest subs and great guy on the Discord. Um he said first up, well, one of these first questions, he's asked a few, is uh what's your biggest game in disappointment? Was there a game you were so hyped for that was absolute dross, new or retro? Um I've put a few down here, Captain, for you. Um mostly sort of newer games. Um when I was younger, you did apart from buying magazines, you didn't tend to know what games are out until you either went in Woolworths or bits and bites as we had round here and just look viewed the shelves and picked the game. So it's more sort of more recent games where you knew what was coming or pre-ordered. Um the first one I've put on here Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Probably another controversial one. Um a lot of people be thinking, oh, that's a great game, RGT. Yep. Maybe now for me Assassin's Creed Origins was a fantastic game. Um Assassin's Creed had been they'd been you know, that yearly release, they'd just that standard Assassin's Creed game had just been washed out, they'd overdone it again, which is a Ubisoft trait, but they had when they took a break, went back to a more open world format with Assassin's Creed origins. Um I thought they had a great character, Rabiak, um, and that Egyptian setting, and I really enjoyed it. It the map wasn't overfilled with markers um or question marks, it was it was more do it your own time in your own pace. Um, I loved the world, the setting, I loved the story. Um, I even I even platinumed it 120 hours, fantastic game. So when the follow up was coming, I was thinking right, do this right. Assassin's Creed Odyssey, same again in a Roman setting, but just do it the same again. Um, got the game, fired it up, and within the first half hour I knew this isn't for me, it was just packed with question marks, packed with fetch quests and side quests. Now I know people like them, fine. If that's how you game, you game. For me, I was I like side quests, and I like you know, especially if they're linked to your main mission, but when you're just over hyping that map, over packing that map, it puts me off straight away. And then I found the character quite annoying. They almost tried to have this sort of comedic vibe to him, which I didn't get on with, and you didn't really you could fight for both sides, and it just didn't it seemed a bit directionless for me. Um, and it wasn't for me nowhere near as good as Origins, and I was very disappointed with that because I just expected a Roman origins, you know, and it just didn't happen. Um, I suppose what else? Need for Speed Unbound. Um, that showed great promise. Um, they'd done this. If you haven't played Need for Speed Unbound, it was it seemed as though it was going back to its roots, going back to those classic um Need for Speed games, um those races, night and day, car customisation, but they'd also added in this sort of almost graffiti cell-sheded art style to the real-world graphics. So for when you were boosting or drifting or smoking your tyres or jumping, um, which I thought was quite unique. At first, I was a bit not sure if they sort of mix, but after a while I I got into it and thought, do you know what? Yeah, I'll give this a go. This is quite cool, quite unique. Um, got into playing the game, first of all, brutally hard. Um, it was brutally tough at the start, which I don't mind any game being brutal. If you just want to get good, get good. But it was just something that I don't know, it seemed you really had to grind. Um, which for me seemed if you've got a grind to get further in the story, that's because there's probably lack of content in the game. Um, I put about 20 hours in, and in the end, I was just like, you know, I'm done with this. I think it just seemed it was overly tough to make you grind to make the game last longer. It's how it felt to me. I might be wrong. It's probably people out there that have platinum this or you know 1000 G that and loved it. Um for me, disappointing. I wanted maybe I was overhyping it myself, maybe I was expecting uh Nice Feed Underground 2 or something along them lines, but yeah, or a carbon, like a remake of a carbon, which would be awesome, but it seemed to promise that and it just didn't quite deliver. I was very disappointed with that. Um next up, um, there's a more recent game. Um I'd first heard about the hype about eight about a year, maybe eighteen months. No, about a year, I think, before release on the Switch, and I thought I think I could get into this, and that was Tales of the Shire. Um after about six months of this, I thought I'm gonna pre-order it. Um, I fancied that sort of little Hobbit Hobbit village, um the way the hobbits live. I just thought that looks really good, and being able to live in that world like Frodo and almost in a Stardew Animal Crossing way, I thought, yeah, I could I could get into this. I love that idea, they had the license, it looks great. But then after once I got to about a month before this game coming out, it was starting to get a few rumours that all was not right with this game. Um, and I kept thinking, do I keep my pre-order? Don't I? Do I keep my pre-order? Um and I cancelled my pre-order, and I'm glad I did. Um I originally I cancelled the pre-order in thinking that I will watch the first few reviews um from trusted people like Nintendo Life and a few YouTubers I follow, um, who uh you know not gonna overhype this for no reason, um, and see what they think. And the first few reviews started trickling out, and I was thinking, oh it looked broken, um, didn't play great, there was a few glitches, and it was again padded out with side missions that didn't sort of link in with the story, and uh it it seemed a mess, it it seemed it was just released, it got to the stage where they just thought we'd we're just gonna put it out. Um and yeah, and and it's pretty much bombed, and I thought it was such a shame because as like Captain Scarlet says, you know, was there a game you're hyped for it was absolute dross? And I was hyped for this, and I know you're thinking, Why are you hype for Tales of the Shire? I do like them sort of games. Um I like them sort of farm and sims where you live your life, um, especially one that was set in that in that world. Um, but yeah, it it's very disappointing. Um, and I think it was actually tell me if I'm wrong, Community Corrections, Arena Fish Controller podcast, but um I think it was made by people who actually worked on the Lord of the Rings uh films. So I think they jumped over to games development, and by the looks of it, it's probably a bit off more like and chew. The idea was good, and the game to go with it was a great idea, but the product wasn't, um, and it was yeah, it was a big shame. Um, and yeah, I'm glad I didn't buy it, but I just so wish it had been better. Um, finally, Captain Scarlet, I have gone with um Tony Hawke's Pro Skater 5. Um, I went with this because yes, I know that Tony Hawks had gone off on this tangent, you know, with Project 8 and Underground and all the rest, blah blah blah. Some of them were alright, but that they'd lost their way. Really, just these constant releases, and they only done the shredboard and all this stuff, and it just I didn't know what was going on with those games. Um, obviously, we spoke recently on um on the I think it was on flashback about skate and how that sort of took the mantle a bit. So when they announced Tony Hawks Pro Skat 5, I thought, oh, let's just go back to what one, two, and three, and maybe even four were pro skater, different levels, missions ofin them, you know, your grinds, you collect skate, your video tapes, let's do it. Um, early footage I saw of it looked good again. It was like likeness to the the skate skaters, but with cell shaded. I thought this would be good. Um, multiplayer as well, so you can play a pro skater with your friends. I thought, yeah, I'm on board with this. Spoke to my friends. I thought, yeah, we can get a lobby up and we can play pro scout five. Um and so we bought it. Um and initially playing together online, we had good fun. Um but after a while you started sort of seeing the the sort of glitches when you're doing certain tricks, and you thought, was that me or was that the game? And then you sort of realised the complete lack of content in it, and so it was the initial sort of buzz was you're you're playing, you know, Tony Hawk's skater game, your mates and you're all skating around together doing bits. But once you've done one mission, you've done them all, and it and the missions are really silly, like with beach balls and stuff, and it just didn't seem to make any sense. And then you ones that started really glitching, and once it started chucking me out of lobbies, and the game kept crashing, you just started thinking, This is a terrible, terrible version of a pro skater game, and something I really hoped would would bring the bring that that sort of IP back, but no, it did not, it's awful. Um, definitely the worst skateboard game I've ever played. Now, later years they've done the remakes of one and two and three and four, which I've got. I bought the collectors edition with the decks, brilliant. They've done a good job of those. Um, even three and four is a bit controversial with what's in it and what isn't. Um, but yeah, that Tony Hawke's Pro Scout of 5. Um, no, that was disastrous. Um, I've even still got the hard copy of it just so I can look every now and then and think don't make the same mistake again. Um, and another question now from Captain Scarlet is your favourite game you've never played? Um so I would probably say he's meaning IPs here, some big IPs that I haven't played. Um I would probably go with um there's a few in here, people are gonna be screaming at their radios or their their their stereos saying or their phones saying, How have you never played these RGT? But there's certain ones I haven't played. Um first up, I'm gonna go with the Gears series, Gears of War. Um I've dabbled with the first one, but I haven't gone through them, which I will. I've got the games. Um I've come if if you listen to the show, you know I've been going over the last 18 months, two years, I've been going for the Halos, which I'm up to four, because I never played those back in the day. Um, Love of Knows, and my next after the Halos are played, it will be Gears of War. Um but being in the ecosystem of PlayStation at the time, I missed these. Um and especially now as Gears has now had a you know a remake on a PlayStation 5, which is odd to me, and I don't think I want to play it on a PlayStation 5. I can understand it's great for new people to the series, but I'd rather play it on at least an Xbox, you know, that's an Xbox franchise. I do franchise, it doesn't feel right. Um, but yeah, so Gears of War, I'm definitely gonna play through those. Um, I know Boba, um Discord man. Uh he's he's big into those, he loves the Gears of War games, and it's always big them up, so yeah, I'll definitely be playing for those because it always looks a bit to me that game, that sort of third-person cover shooter. Yeah, I think I'd enjoy those, so I'll definitely play those. Um also I've got down here Final Fantasy. Um I've dabbled with Final Fantasies, um, but never really got into them, but I really want to. I mean, I've mentioned before, um in that especially in the PlayStation era, PS1, um people have raved about seven and eight and nine, and and I I just at the time I just didn't really play turn-based games, so I never jumped into them. And now I look back and think, oh, I wish I'd have been on that hype train, and you know, the love for Final Fantasy at the time. I've got the games, um, so I I'm now trying to play them. Um, I think recently I had to go at the Final Fantasy VII remake, um, which I really enjoyed. Um, I really need to go back and play that. That was good. And I played Final Fantasy 16. Now I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. Um I put quite a few hours in that. I did enjoy it. Um, I can understand it not being classed as sort of Final Fantasy, it's more of a sort of a medieval um, how do you put it, first person sort of action sort of game. But I enjoyed it for what it was. Um, I don't think you can a lot of people don't really class that as as Final Fantasy, but I'd love to go back um play the originals, I'm a PlayStation, um and just get that feel from the buzz for what what that was like at the time and how people just absolutely loved those games. Um next up I've got the Castlevanias. Um again I weren't in that NES ecosystem, even SNES. I had friends who had SNES, but I was Mars System Mega Drive. Um I know there was Castlevania on the Mega Drive, but I never I never played that. Um and I just think again there's always been that sort of big fan base for Castlevania's. Um sort of one of the first in that series. I know there's the term Metroidvania now, but one of the first games to have that backtracking and go for the levels, and and I think it's just got that sort of history to it, and even if you've never played them, um even if you're um a bit younger, um and didn't have those systems back then, everyone seems to know what Castlevania is. Um there's certain games that just hold that that passion for people, and I just think as again, they're ones I'd like to go back and and play through and and experience that hype and even into the later ones. Um, I know they don't went into 3D with Lords of Shadow and that, and I know a bit controversial, but it'd be interesting to see um you know what what they're all about. Are they that tough? Are they that good? You know, are they worth playing nowadays? Um I think this is my last one um from Captain Scarlet. Um he did do more, but I've I've had to narrow it down a bit. But thank you for all them, Captain Scarlet, and thanks for everyone who asked me the questions. Um he's done one here. Um, your irrational hatred of a gaming character. Now I don't think it's irrational, but one that really stuck out to mind when he said Um hatred of a game. Some characters in the past have annoyed me. Um we all have certain characters that annoy you, and you know, you think, oh, for God's sake, just go away, you know. And I think few games have those. But one that always stinks out to me was Lance Vance from Vice City. Um I got a right hatred for him when I first played through that game. I thought you sort of got a bit of an inkling about him, but you thought you double cross and cheat, you know, you know, he's supposed to be your friend, and he jumped on board with Tommy Vichetti and all what you were doing, and turned round to try and take you down so he could become the main man. And oh, I could not even now, um, over the last couple of years on our uh YouTube, um me and Board Board had done playthroughs on the new um well, say new it isn't new now, but when they done the the trilogy, the GTA trilogy, and we played through three um and voice city, and we'd started San Andreas. Um, and even then, when I was playing Voice City, I was just thinking, as soon as you see him come on the scene, Lance Vance, I was thinking, yeah, I know what you're about. Yeah, he makes me blood boil. But yeah, that was one character that I thought, mmm, I hate you. But then that proves how good the games are, if you know they want you to feel like that, and you do, but I'm sure there's many other characters I could go down over time that have either especially irrational ones that probably aren't meant to be horrible characters, but just annoy you. Um I suppose there was one a bit in um you'll have to forgive me, I can't remember the character's name, but in um Cena Blade Chronicles X, um, you had this sort of creature, um, alien sort of creature that came along with you and it sort of talked in this sort of cutesy voice, and after a while you just thought, can you just talk normally? But you turn my head in. And I know that's uh that is irrational hatred, but yeah, I did think, yeah, you're you're doing my head in now. Um, but yeah, Lance Vance was the main one I thought of there. Um next up we have Carlos One Man George Fan Club, Carlos. Um he's put what made you a gamer? What was that initial thing you saw or played that set you on the path to collecting a whole shed full of regret? Which he means I used to have a uh uh big shed which I'd converted into a big games room and consoles, bits and pieces. Um yeah, what what made me a gamer? Um I think initially um from a young kid um growing up in the 80s, I um arcades for me, um days out to Great Yarmouth, Seaside Resort, playing in the arcades, things like Outrun, Operation Wolf, um anything like that Pac-Man, Space Invaders, anything I could put coins in I wanted to play because I was just fascinated by um these huge arcade games that are just I just found them brilliant. Um, anything like Chase HQ driving games is brilliant because I was mad on cars as a kid, so then you could actually feel like you were driving a car. Um, Nuffed or Loves, Spy Hunters. Um, Operation Wolf fascinated me because I still remember now in the arcade in Great Yarmouth, the guy used to get me a milk crate to stand on because I couldn't reach, and then you had the recoil of the gun, and it just made me feel like I was Rambo and I had a real gun, it was superb. Um, and then we had in in sort of early to mid-80s, we went to Tenerife. I've said this story probably two or three times on the show, but went to Tenerife. Um, and the hotel we're in had a you know a proper little tabletop, double-sided tabletop arcade machine. Um and I just used all my because we had a big heat wave there, it's probably too hot for us to be outside for a while. So I just used all my posatoes I could get off my parents, and that was Space Invaders, and I just sat down on the little table playing Space Invaders, and I just thought that was the best thing ever, trying to get to that next level. Um, and I could still hear the noise in my head. That's how much that game sort of triggered me into gaming. Um, and after that, when I come back, I sort of my mum and dad got funny enough, got me a little Pong TV Pong machine, um, which me and my sister used to play on the on the on the big TV, the Ferguson in the living room, black and white. And then eventually one Christmas I'd I'd heard about Spectrums and was really wanting one. I knew I had a few friends who had 48Ks, and then mum and dad got me the action pack 128k. This is when obviously Amstrad had taken over uh Spectrum, so it's an Amstrad one. Um got up with a light gun action pack, and this sounds ridiculous now because people look back and think, you know, that looks rubbish, but at the time it was the thing to have, and we lived on a little estate where I live, and word got round that I had a spectrum, and I've even still got a photo somewhere of like six kids from the estate turning up knocking on the door saying, 'We've heard you've got a spectrum, can we come and play it with you?' It was incredible. There's just all six of us sitting around, mum and dad's TV playing, and then my dad got into it because in the action pack was ballseye, and he loved ballseye, and we'd play darts with a light gun, and there were space shooters. And once I had that spectrum, that was it, you know. And friends started getting spectrums, and friends had C64s, um, but my friends. Of spectrums, we'd we'd swap tapes and um um collect different games, and it was just a great era because that was just suddenly a new hobby, you know. And my mum and dad were were good with it, you know, they'd sort of tie me with it. I'd also play outside and you know, play football a lot and go on our bikes, but we were allowed a certain amount of time a day on the computer, and it was yeah, it was brilliant. So I think that's probably my initial you know thing that got me into games, and then once the spectrum had sort of served as course, and then I was on to that's when the console started coming. Um NEDZ's weren't big over here in the UK, but the master system was. Um, and I got master system 2, then I went on to Mega Drive, went on to Amiga, and that's just it barreled down. Apart from a small gap in my teens, it it barreled on from then, but that was those initial arcades, and I think it has for a lot of people of my age, my um who are game was um the arcades is where it started. Um, and once Clive Sinclair and Commodore brought brought them into the home, and although they weren't the full arcade experience, you're able to play multiple of games on your TV that you know the rest is history, and that just owned up to me, and I've I've loved it ever since. But yeah, great great question, Carlos. Um yeah, really good. That's nice going back over the old ground air and and um looking back. Next up we had uh Boba. Um if you had to get rid of your entire gaming collection that you could keep one console and it's games, which one would it be? You're not allowed to cheat and pick one that plays multiple formats. Ooh, crafty. Um, because yeah, I would probably have said when when I read the first part of the question, I'd probably gone strange enough with Retron 5 just for how many options it gave me. But now I've got to think uh a bit more of a system with plenty on it. I think um I think I'd probably go um it's sort of it'd be maybe Gen 7A. I think PS3 Xbox 360, one of them would be good because of each system had the third-party stuff over all the triple A stuff, but they had their good exclusives in, um, and it was a great era for gaming. And yes, I've said multiple times, but yeah, Gen 7's probably for me the peak of what gaming was, you know, and I think one of those would be good, but I think overall saying that I think I'd probably go PlayStation 4, and I say PlayStation 4 because of the vast library of games, um, and they you haven't seem to have got it on on the PS5, even on the Series X. I don't seem to have that every day you can find a really good new game. It doesn't seem to be like that at the moment. Um, but the PS4, I had so many, I've got so many physical games that I love love them all, from indies to you know, sort of triple A's to um shooters to everything seemed to release it. You had a bit of everything on there, plus you had the the the the remasters from the from that Gen 7 era with your last of us and GTA's and bits like that. So you could you could play those and res Resident Evil's and that there was a lot of stuff that was that was good on that Gen 7 brought over to the PS4. So I think I'd probably go PS4 just for the vast library and the amount of great games it had on it. Um I keep doubting myself now, but yeah, I'll I'll go PS4, Bo. But that's a that's a great question. That is a great question. Um then we move down to there was a few other ones which I'm not gonna comment on Digital Monkery. Um I'm not gonna all I'll say to uh what his question was about. It had the word human center or words human centipede in, so I'm not gonna mention that one. Uh um, Ro Space Monk is up next. He said, Who would be your dream guest to have on the show? I think someone like Johnny Millennium would be great, nice guy, and could talk gaming memories for hours. That's a great show. Great question as well. Um, and I think Roe Space Monk knows me very well. I'm a massive fan of Johnny Millennium. If you don't know who Johnny Millennium is, he is the Happy Console Gamer on YouTube. Um, if you ever have a lull in gaming or you think your passion's weighing a bit, stick on Happy Console Gamer. Um the the passion oozes out of this guy is absolutely fantastic. Um I would love to have him on the show. Um, it would probably be about a four-hour show just from his memories of originally growing up in England and moving to Canada and now a Canadian, and his he does a few of his sort of flashbacks on his show to when he was a skater kid, but really into his JRPGs and into his PlayStation and all the big games he's played. He's got a fantastic, superb collection. Um, and just a great guy with it. So Johnny Millennium is a great show, Ro Space Monk. Um more recent channels I watch, I'd like to have on. Um JRPG Life. Um they're a married couple, and each week, every every show, I sit down every Sunday evening and watch their show. They go around different events and they're they're ticking off collections like the Atlas collection um and different developer collections, and they got a wonderful little games room of all their RPGs and the games they play together and stuff they collect together. It's such a relaxed channel to watch. I'd love to have them on and just chat about how they get into gaming and were they separate gamers before they met and you know, and what genres they really love. That would be great. Um, another one would be Pixel Game Squad with Riff and the guys and Rick. Um, watch them for years from their NES pursuit and right up to where they are nowadays with their channel, and they now own their own convention um and their podcast and their flipping and the stuff they've sold and discovered in block-ups and uh uh um their sort of what you know we call car boots over here. Um it's great to see where they've come from and how how well they've done um and how riffs now into his head, and then that I'd love to chat to them guys because this again, their passion and energy for the for the hobby is is superb. Um, another one who's close to Pixel Games called is Retro Rick. Um, I love to chat to Retro Rick because fairly new, I say fairly new to YouTube, sort of five, six years, but built a really good big channel, and then he bought a store, he bought a game store, a big game store as well, well stocked, and he has a second channel, um, which is uh Retro Rick's game point, which is all about his store, the day-to-day running, um with his staff and customers and what tradings they've had. That's fascinating, really makes me want to work in a game store. I'd love to work in one, but also, which is very unique, um, which I like what he does, is he's very open with finances. They sometimes sit down with the computer, they show you how many trades they've had, how much stuff they've sold, and he breaks down the run and costs of a shop, which is fascinating to see behind the scenes. And again, Hister started his own convention as well this year, which has gone down a storm, and they he gave away as a prize a Jurassic Park Jeep that they built. Looked fantastic. So, them guys I'd love to chat to. Especially Rick for just seeing how he transitioned into a game store owner and how he's found out and the hours, and is it stressful and blah blah blah? That'd be brilliant. Um, one of the guys I've already had on Dan the Games Man, he's been on a couple of times. Um uh it's a great channel. Um, he just gets bigger and bigger, and podcast he's got now. Great guest to have on. The same again, it's great watching his videos, whether he's collecting steel books or he's doing a PlayStation Platinum collection, or you know, it's fascinating and just gets you hyped for the hobby, you know, and he's just got that persona that shines through. And I I know this was like who would you dream guest to be on? Well, I've said Dan Gamesman because it was awesome having him on, and he was definitely one of those. So he was one I've ticked off and would love to have him back on at some point. Um, but I think that's where I will end the questions there. Um, if you've liked this format, um let me know. Sorry if your question hasn't been read out with time restraints and bits and pieces. Um I can do another one and we can get some new questions and some new comments out by all means. Um and like I say, if this is new show to you, first sister show, we've got our sister show, which is flashback. If you'd like a bit of retro, we've got our Discord, come and join on now. Go on our Instagram, look at the link tree, and you can jump straight in. It'd be great to have you on board. Um, it's it's a great place for gamers. I think it's a great great, it's a very friendly community on there. Um, we've got, I mean, we've had a new guy join this week, Mr. Pete. Welcome to the Discord. Um, straight away jumping in, talking about his games and stuff, which is brilliant. It's great to have you on there, mate. Um, and that's that's what it's about, and that's what I love to see when new people join and people come in and give them a wave and oh, what's your favourite games? And bang, they're off. We're all chatting, we're all friends, and also it's a good place for advice. You know, has anyone played this? Has anyone tried to fix this? You know, what controller should I use? There's always something there to help, there's always someone there to help. Um, so yeah, come and join that. Like I say, questions at unfished controllerpodcast.com, X, Instagram, we're all there. Um, but this will also lead me on to the show's always free, the show will always be free, but we do have some subscribers who are paid subscribers. Um, they get their perks from three dollars to ten dollars as something we've added on to help the running of the show. And my god, does it help the running of the show? It is an absolute life saver. Um, and next up, I will be reading the list of these brilliant people that contribute each week. Um, if you ever feel like you're really enjoying the show and like, yeah, I'd like to help out. When you whatever your podcast provider is, if you go down to the bottom, you've got you know, subscribe to the show, support the show, click on that, and then you'll see on there where you can go on from the link tree. Um, but don't worry, no one has to do that. There's like I say, the show's always free, but if you do, there's little perks for for you know um each level you go at. And the perk that everyone gets is you get read out on the show. Um, so I'll read these out. And first up, you've probably heard his name two or three times on this show, but it is Captain Scarlet. Thank you, mate. Um, as always, um, we go back a little bit of a way there, don't we, Captain? But yeah, he's uh he's he's jumped in like he's been part of the show for years and part of the community. Brilliant, um, brilliant on Discord. Um, really helping us out behind the scenes fantastically, and all I can say is thank you so much, it is very much appreciated. Um, oh, and enjoy your break because I know you're white at the moment, so you have a fantastic time. Next up, we have the wonderful RetroRed off of the YouTube. Um, RetroRed again, great YouTube channel, great guy, really. Um, yeah, go and check him out, give him a sub, give him a like, tell him UCP sent you. So thank you, RetroRed. Next up, as could I'm contractually obliged to say, it is the one man George Fan Club Carlos. Thank you very much, my man, as always. Um, hope your question was answered okay. If not, let me know, and I'll try again. Um then after that we have firm returns, as always. Um, yeah, brilliant firm returns. Another one, that's great supporter of the show. Um, always in there of a comment, always saying how much he enjoys the show, which sometimes just seeing that on you know, a show goes out on on a Sunday, and now we're doing two shows. Um, there's a lot going behind the scenes with the editing and bits and pieces and getting the show out. Just seeing the comments saying, Oh, really enjoyed your show this week. It's great laugh, makes it all worthwhile, you know. Really, really, you know, makes us happy just seeing that. Look, we're we're doing something right. Then we've got um trestles in New York. George's other show from there with Bobby, and uh, yeah, thank you, Trestles. Best best wings in New York. Next up, we've got Roast Space Monk, the Dreamcast man himself, as always, very long time supporter of the show. Um, and the Dreamcast Guru, as we call him. So thank you, Roast Space Monk. Then we've got Better Bingster. Thank you, my man. Um I've got some obviously I've got some uh bits for you, some gaming bits, as I have a few other people, but we're gonna arrange maybe having a little meetup on that, aren't we? So maybe we could uh get a few other people involved and we'll we'll have a bit of meetup between us all and exchange a few games and maybe have a have another little UCP get together, that'd be good. But yes, thank you, bad Binkster, as always. Then we have the delectable tingletuner, um, one of the best and best curated Switch 3DS and DS collections I've ever seen. Not many games, but everyone's a banger. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Tingletuner. Then we have one of them, goddamn Winchester boys, it's Digital Monkery. Thank you, mate. He is uh one of the sheriffs of the Discord, not only that, he does our challenge accepted every month, which is absolutely brilliant. If you don't know what challenge accepted is, just a brief spiel here about it. He uh he does a random game each month. It could be anything from Mega Drive to current console. So we even had Minesweeper once, so it's a bit for everyone, and he'll do either a high score challenge, blah blah blah, and you submit your scores each month, and at the end we have a winner, and the winner gets a little prize, and it's just a bit of fun, quick jump in and out games. I think the one at the moment's a little bit longer, but still not long at all. Um, and yeah, brilliant. So uh thank you, Digital Monkry, as always. Next up, we have the man himself, the bald border. Thank you, my man, and yeah, I think you probably remember what I was talking about with Tony Hawksbro Scoutter 5. Started off a bit of novelty, but yeah, terrible at the end. But yeah, thank you, buddy, as always. Then we have goddamn other Winchester boys. Boba, the guy who runs our Discord for us. Um, he's an absolute legend. Um, and as always, every week I see on Instagram he's at a different uh convention, he's collecting them Pokemon cards, he does cosplay, he's getting different games. I mean, his cabin and his garden is looking special, very good, but thank you as always, mate. Um, after that, we have George's red-headed stepson. Isn't really, but that's what we say. It's ginge. Thank you, ging. I hope you're well, my man. Hope you're well. Um oh, and I did see you got platinum number 719, I believe. My god, son, you're a machine. Then we've got the Lord of Darkness himself, Harvey Retro. Thank you, mate. Um, as always, another long-term supporter of the show. Um, check him out um on his YouTube and stuff, it's fantastic. Then we have Emma Sharp, thank you, Emma. I see you're doing well in your new job. Much deserved, my love. I hope you're getting on well, and thank you again, as always. Then we have Greg, nowhere near Berlin of um Forever Sky's fame. I hope you I hope you're doing well, but I bet you are busy, so don't work too hard, fella. Then as always, we've got mumsy. You know, you can't go far wrong with mumsy, can you? Thank you, mumsy. Then we've got the fantastic RGT fan club, the only fan club as far as I'm concerned. But thank you as always, it's very much appreciated. Then we've got Pete Brocklehurst, second hardest man in the Discord, apart from uh chinge, but yeah. Max and Paddy, thank you, mate. I've got love and hate and Billy Marmite, the silent type, but is always their supporting. Thank you very much. And I won't do it this week. I'm congratulating obliged to it because I haven't got George here. I'm gonna do a normal one for you this week, Mr. Fat Sangeef. Thank you as always, mate. And uh Fat Sangeef is actually uh helping me with the Gen 7, so uh much obliged as Genesis to help me pick those games and get them out. That's been absolutely fantastic fun. Um I'll get now on to what I'm hoping to play. Every week I keep saying I'm hoping to play this and hoping to play that, and just through the sheer hours of work, I haven't been able to, but yes, obviously, definitely more Hades 2. Um, I really must get back into Halo 4, get some more of that played. Um, I really need to get that done. Um, and like I say, I've picked up a few more cartridges this week. Um, some ones I've been after, some retros, some SNES, Mega Drive, need to need to get them playing. Um, hopefully, if it that might settle down a little bit, give me a little bit more time next week I can play. But I think other than that, that's definitely just going to be Hades 2, I think. Um, as always, I'd just like to say thanks for listening. Um sorry, it's only been a solo, but hope it's been okay. I hope you like the questions. And like I say, if it's something you think going forward you'd like to try this, maybe with George, with Seb, with Bobby, or with um Scott, there's something we could do, maybe with a few of us in and we could all answer questions together. We'll just see if it's something you like or something we can do going forward. Thanks for everyone who contributed to it. That was really good. Um, I didn't give you a lot of notice, but you responded very quick and gave me plenty of questions to to answer. Um yeah, so thanks for listening. Um, thanks for downloading. Check out Flashback, download that, which is now on YouTube as well. We had a few hiccups, but it's on there now. So if you like it on YouTube, go and give that a go and give um unofficial controller podcast a sub and give that a listen. Um, yeah, and I think we're about there, which just leads me to say there's nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller. That's what you do that that counts. Do you like the gamers?