Power Button - Episode 383: All New For 2024! More Updated Re-Releases! (Part 2)

Following on from last week, back in 2018 we did a two-part look (Episodes 269 and 270) at video games remade with new or changed features such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening gaining a color expansion as Link's Awakening DX.  I don't know if you've noticed, but video game publishers are still doing this sort of thing six years later, so it's time to take another look at the topic.  This one is so large that we're breaking it into pieces; Part 1 was released last week and this is Part 2. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Power Button - Episode 382: All New For 2024! More Updated Re-Releases! (Part 1)

Back in 2018 we did a two-part look (Episodes 269 and 270) at video games remade with new or changed features such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening gaining a color expansion as Link's Awakening DX.  I don't know if you've noticed, but video game publishers are still doing this sort of thing six years later, so it's time to take another look at the topic.  This one is so large that we're breaking it into pieces; Part 1 is available right now with Part 2 coming next week. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Power Button - Episode 381: Dangerous Blake In "Copyright Infringement"

I sent my international buyer, Blake Grundman, overseas to acquire some rare gaming antiquities for me.  That is, he picked up some fairly priced amiibo and games that are hard to find and not so fairly priced here.  This leads into a discussion on how else to play retro games whose corporate ownership has turned to dust over the decades, and that's how we get into hacking devices to run emulators. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Power Button - Episode 380: Yakking About Llamasoft

We were fortunate enough to get advance access to the new Digital Eclipse Gold Master series of documentary releases, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, so for this week's episode of the podcast we discuss the title, its interactive exhibits, and the 42 games and light synthesizers included.  From Attack of the Mutant Camels to Hover Bovver to Tempest 2000, there's quite a collection of history here.  Join us and find out what all the fuss is about.  Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is available now on all major platforms.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Live Service Multiplayer Spider-Man Trailer Revealed

Developer Insomniac Games suffered a data breach last year that exposed much of the company's upcoming plans and scrapped ideas, one of which was the existence of a live service multiplayer Spider-Man game for the Sony PlayStation 5 in which five players each take on a character from the Spider-verse such as Venom, Silk, or Spider-Gwen to bash the Sinister Six.  The project, entitled Spider-Man: The Great Web, was cancelled, but today a trailer for the game was posted online.  There's discussion on ResetEra as to whether this is a proper announcement trailer meant to be seen by the public or some sort of internal pitch trailer aimed at getting the project a greenlight, but either way I have to admit I'm glad this game isn't happening.

After the costly failures of games such as The Avengers, Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad, the last thing we need is another live service superhero game tying up resources that could be spent on traditional single-player releases.  There are only so many hours in a day that can be spent on playing games, and the glut of live service titles have saturated the market.  Not everything can be Fortnite.  Not every game needs a battle pass.  There just isn't room for anything more and it's presumptuous to assume that this would be the game to break through.  Spider-Man is popular, sure, but so are The Avengers and look what happened to them.

A Brief History Of Mario's First Film

2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a real "local plumber makes good" story that the media loved to frame as making up for the 1993 film loosely based on happenings in the Mushroom Kingdom, but if you weren't around back then, you may not understand what all the fuss was about.  That's where Dan Larson steps in.  Digging into what made Super Mario Bros. such a troubled production is a very deep rabbit hole, but Larson condenses the key points down to a half hour tale of discarded drafts, inexperienced directors, and dissatisfied actors for an overview of what went wrong.  Consider it a gateway to a larger topic and a good starting place.  I'll say it once again: it's not a perfect movie, but I enjoyed it and have happy memories of watching it.

Princess Peach's Regrettable Cake Comes To Life

My wife has a knack for baking special birthday cakes.  In the years we've been together she's made me a Triforce cake, a Kirby cake, a Borderlands vault symbol cake, and a special cake for Homer Simpson to ruin on Maggaggie's birthday.  This year she outdid herself though.  Taking inspiration from @giganticbuddha's famous comic about Princess Peach telling Mario not to come to the castle, my wife baked a real life version of the princess's terrible cake.  This is about as in-jokey as it gets because anyone who didn't play Super Mario 64 will be lost as to why this is funny.  When I sent photos of the cake to non-gaming friends to show it off, I had to include the comic and the original screenshot from 64 of the princess's letter inviting Mario to the castle for cake.  There's layers to this joke is what I'm saying, just like there's layers to this cake.  Thanks to my wife for another amazing cake!

Original screenshot from Super Mario 64

@giganticbuddha's comic

My wife's terrible Peach cake made real

Power Button - Episode 379: Hack Pack

We're strolling on the shady side of the tracks this week as we focus on some favorite retro ROM hacks and the baked-in achievements that go with them.  All of this talk of emulation inevitably leads us to touch on the Nintendo/Yuzu Switch emulator lawsuit, too.  Join us and bring your ROM patching tools for some new takes on old fun.

ROM Hacks Mentioned In This Episode

• The Real Ghostbusters Remastered
• Sonic 3D Blast Director's Cut
• Mega Man X3 - Zero Project
• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Color Edition
• Mega Man World 5 DX
• Smash Remix
• Ghostbusters - Special Edition

Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

H Is For Horse And Other Hodge Podge

When we were recording our podcast this week, Blake Grundman described our grab bag of topics as a hodge podge.  That phrase knocked loose an old childhood memory of a Commodore 64 game called, fittingly enough, Hodge Podge.  A quick Internet search found that it's been archived and you can play it online in a browser.  Hodge Podge is a primitive educational vocabulary game created by Leonard Bertoni & Rich Scocchera for preschool children that maps each key on the keyboard to a specific related animation and, sometimes, music.  Press H and you'll be greeted with art of a horse.  Press Q to see the quick worm scootch across the screen.  E, as it turns out, is for Empty.  Press J to see the word JUMP literally jump across the screen.  Hodge Podge is one of the first games I remember playing for the Commodore 64 in 1985 along with another word-based edutainment title, Sea Speller.  Goodness, games were so simple back then.  Soon the Mario brothers would show up and then nothing would ever be the same again.

Power Button - Episode 378: More Grab Bag Goodies

We have a hodge podge of smaller topics for you on this week's podcast as we touch on the recent Nintendo Direct, Microsoft taking select Xbox games to other platforms, retrogaming emulation made easy, the Borderlands movie trailer, and much more.  Join us for another reach into the grab bag!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way.