WEBVTT - What's the World's Most Ridiculous Video Game? 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.200 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:13.920 I guess what, Mango? What's that? Well? All right, So 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.560 I was looking at old video games and video games 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:18.880 systems this week, as we've talked about. I know, both 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.760 of our boys are obsessed with video games these days, 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.200 and William is trying to find every game ever made 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.080 on every system ever made. And they of course make 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.280 these like little computers where you can go back and 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.199 try these games from pretty much every system, so it 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.599 is kind of fun to, uh, to get into it 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:38.319 with him. But there's one that he's not familiar with. 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:39.920 So I don't know if you know this, but before 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:44.040 they were making graphic calculators, Texas Instruments used to make 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.559 a computer for kids. It was actually called the t I. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.800 So weirdly, I actually know this because I had one. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.880 My dad was super into gadgets and early computers and 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:56.160 and so I had one in my room when I 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.080 was like four, which is which is crazy. But you know, 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.280 the weirdest thing about the system is that, like the 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.520 t I definitely had the place for cartridges, but it 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.440 could also hook up to a cassette player and and 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.920 it would play games through like tape cassettes essentially, so 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.200 so like the cassettes would feed data into the computer, 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.280 which is which is nuts. And I actually like thought 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.240 about this like a few years ago, and and I 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.000 had to look it up because it felt like a dream, 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.800 like it didn't feel real. But but but the weird 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:24.280 thing about my T I nine was I had none 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.360 of the fun games. Like everything my parents bought for 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.919 me was educational. So I think like the most fun 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.840 game I had was Chess. It's a lot of bit 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:35.200 of a relief because I thought I was going to 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.400 tell you everything I knew here and you're gonna be like, sorry, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.160 I already knew that. But uh so there's a T 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.600 I ninety nine game that's definitely not educational. It's called 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.280 Garbage Belly, and it's why I brought the system up 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.760 in the first place. I was reading about it in 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.960 PC mag And this is what the back of the 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:55.080 Garbage Belly box said. It says, help garbage Belly gobble 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.680 up the ripe garbage in a field of garbage pails. 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.320 But watch out if you make him eat raw garbage, 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.400 he will die. Garbage Belly. I feel like I've never 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.760 heard anyone say the word garbage so much to like 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.639 sell a product. But isn't it weird that the character 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.280 dies from raw garbage, like like he only feasts on 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.240 the finest garbage, which is cooked garbage. Yeah, I mean 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.360 he's got to die from something. Plus, you know, just 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.760 because his name is garbage Belly, I don't think we 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.840 can assume like that he wouldn't have discerning taste, like 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.399 some garbage does have to taste better than other garbage. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.119 That is a good point. So what was was this game? 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.360 Any good? No? It's terrible game. I mean, you're lucky 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.760 your parents brought you the the educational games only, But 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.360 Garbage Belly is just the first of nine ridiculous video 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.960 games that we're going to talk about today. So blow 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.480 the dust off that old cartridge, enter the up down 0:02:43.560 --> 0:03:07.480 up down code, and let's hit start. Ya Hey there, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.400 podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.200 and as always I'm joined by my good friend Man 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.320 guesh Hot Ticketer and on the other side of the 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.280 computer screen cleaning house in a ferocious game of pac Man, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.080 that's our friend and producer Lowell. He is actually guys, 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.520 he's sharing a screen right now and I honestly, I 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.680 wish our listeners could see this because he is tearing 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:31.320 through those ghosts, just one after another. It's a total 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.640 blood back. Yeah, it's really impressive. Um. It actually reminds 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.720 me of that scene from Dirty Rock, just saying the 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.000 word pac Man, like when someone tells Tracy Morgan but 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.000 uh that the guy who created pac Men just passed away, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.080 and and he says to put out a bowl of 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:52.280 cherries and some ghost meat in his honor. Pretty fitting 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.880 tribute there, But unfortunately pac Man is way too mainstream 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.240 for today's show because we are on the hunt for 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.520 some deeper, weirder cuts, and to help us find them, 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.880 we brought along our good pal Gabe. Gabe, thanks for 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.480 joining us again. Hey, yeah, it's my pleasure. Thanks for 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.200 invite me back. Guys, Yeah, of course. So I I 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.720 am curious, like I haven't played games in forever, and 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.960 I think Will is the same, although both our sons 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.000 are obsessed. But Gabe, you play video games, right, Like, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.800 have you spent all your summer playing Animal Crossing like 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.400 everyone else? No? I have not. I'm the one person 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.880 who hasn't, I guess, but I did play a different 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:33.240 kind of simulator game this summer. It's called untitled Goose Game. Maybe, guy, 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.640 I have seen my son play it? Yes, actually, yes, right, 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.960 it's awesome. It's it's basically a goose simulator and uh yeah. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.359 You play as a goose wandering around this little English 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.000 village and all you can do is hawk flap, grab 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.159 things with your beak, run, you know, typical goose stuff, 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.200 and so the goal is really to just annoy the 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.719 townspeople and cause as much mischievous possible. It's it's kind 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.960 of amazing, and if you've ever wondered what it's like 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.440 to be a goose, this is probably as close to 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:09.239 the real thing as you're ever gonna get. I'm sold. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.000 I feel like this is a reason to play video 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.080 games again. But what I really like about that is, 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.359 like the concept kind of feels like a throwback to 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.040 the early days of video games when there just weren't 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.400 as many expectations and you could get away with making 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:23.920 a game just about anything. So, like, you know, my 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.120 first pick for today is actually a great example of that. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.640 It was released for the Tari back in and it's 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:34.520 called Sneaking Peak and it was basically Hide and Seek 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.560 the video game. So why didn't they just call it 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:42.400 hide and seek? I know, and sneaking peek sounds like 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:48.320 so dirty person, But I mean, branding is just one 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.440 of the game's many problems. You know, it's a two 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.640 player game. One player just has to look away from 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.279 the screen while the other player hides. And then the 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.800 player who's hiding doesn't do anything at all while the 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.280 other person looks for them on the screen. They just 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.800 like stay put and hope time runs out before the 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:09.000 other person finds them. It's it's kind of crazy. Yeah. Wait, 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.919 so this was a game that required one player to 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.320 not look at the screen at all and another player 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.160 to not touch the controller. I mean, are we even 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.040 sure this qualifies as a video game? But you know, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.520 it's kind of like, um, I don't know if we'll 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:26.400 remember this, but when we were like trying to brainstorm 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.360 board games, we came up with this idea for Tag 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.320 the board game. We're the only thing inside the like 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.200 the boxes, a cone for base and maybe maybe like 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.160 a pin that says it. You know, like, I feel 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.880 like this is almost as bad. But you know the 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:41.640 worst part of the game was there there weren't that 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.240 many hiding spots in the game. The games set in 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.360 the house, but you can only go to three rooms 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.280 plus the yard, so finding the hider isn't that much 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.560 of a challenge, and you'd actually be better off just 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.320 going outside and playing a real game of Hide and 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.520 go seek. Okay, so Sneak and Peek sounds like a 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.200 pretty weak substitute for the real thing, but my first 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.159 pick for today offers a gaming experience you'd be hard 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.920 pressed to find in real life, and in fact, I 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.880 do not recommend trying. The game's infamous now. It's called 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.520 Takeshi's Challenge, and it was only released in Japan back 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.240 in nine six. The title refers to a real life 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:22.000 comedian and actor named Takeshi Kitano, and he was a 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.880 pretty big star in Japan at the time from what 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.040 I understand. Yeah, he's actually um he was a director too, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.320 and he directed uh this movie Sono Teene and Fireworks, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.480 the really beautiful but like violent films. Oh awesome. Well, 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.880 according to legend, the video game company behind Space Invaders, 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.040 they wanted to meet with Takeshi, and so he agreed, 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.120 and they got together in a bar to see if 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.640 he'd be willing to make a game with them, and 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:51.120 Takeshi wasn't all that interested. He didn't even like video games, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.800 but the company was picking up the tab that night, 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.640 so he's stuck around, and over the course of a 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.640 few hours, Takeshi drank a ton of rice wine and 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.840 he gave the designers his stream of consciousness ideas for 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.920 a video game, and then with notes in hand, the 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.600 designers set to work creating what would become one of 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.680 the most bizarre adventure games ever made. That's going to 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.400 have to be pretty strange to top a Goose simulator, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.600 because that sounded sounding pretty random. If he asked me, well, 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.760 trust me, this was way weirder. The main character was 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.960 an ordinary businessman, and while the game didn't spell it 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.640 out for you, the ultimate goal is to make it 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.680 to a distant island where a cave of treasure awaits you, 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.800 and the only way to get there is basically to 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:39.520 have the most extreme midlife crisis possible. To get this, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:44.079 you have to quit your job, divorce your wife, get drunk, 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:49.640 fight the yakuza, sing karaoke, learned to hang glide, travel 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.360 to the South Pacific, and of course blow up some 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.280 alien space ships. It sounds about right, Yeah, and uh, 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:58.839 because this was all jumped up by a guy who 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.280 dislike video games. The tasks themselves were not designed to 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.079 be enjoyable. So, for instance, to beat the karaoke section, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.120 you have to actually sing into the consoles built in microphone, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.400 and then your performance it has to be judged as 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.760 good by the computer. And here's the thing, there's no 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.000 criteria for the performance. So if the game says you're 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.640 singing is lousy, then you just have to do it 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:27.120 again until you get it right. If that wasn't and 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.880 if that wasn't infuriating enough. Once you actually beat the challenge, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.679 the reward is a treasure map, but it's written an 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:39.600 invisible ink, so the player has to sit there without 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.640 touching the controller for an entire hour while you wait 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.320 for the map to appear, and if you touch a 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.160 button any sooner than that, you're thrown right back to 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:54.080 the karaoke challenge. It's sadistic. It sounds like such a 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.800 like big practical joke. That's exactly what it is, right, Yeah, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.000 some people think that, you know, the whole thing was 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.480 just Takeshi kind of thumbing his nose at people who 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.880 play video games, and and the game's ending actually lends 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.920 some credence to that, you know, spoilers, But if you 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.920 managed to stick with it through all the frustration, the 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.480 only reward is a little drawing of Takeshi's smiling face 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.320 and a message that says, why are you taking this 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.960 game so seriously? All right, Well, if you're in the 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.280 market for something a little more relaxing and honestly a 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.400 bit less soul crushing, I have a recommendation for you. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.239 It's it's it's a little puzzle game, and it's called Hattriss. 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.680 And I know what you're thinking. You're like, this is 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.840 just Tetris but with hats. But no, my friends, this 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:42.040 is Tetris with hats and the severed heads of Frankenstein 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:47.160 and Abraham Lincoln himself. So what was this game? Also 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.040 designed by a drunk Japanese comedian? Now this this is 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.200 actually from the creator of the original Tetris. So this 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.160 was back in Yeah, this is true. He went back 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.920 to the drawing board and perfected his original idea by 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.280 swapping different shaped blocks for different kinds of hats, so 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.600 the hats would descend the screen two at a time, 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.360 and the goal was to place them on one of 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.000 six heads lined up at the bottom, So stack five 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:14.960 of the same hat on top of one head and 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.040 they would disappear, just like those lines in Tetris. So 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.199 I guess that kind of makes sense. Like how does 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.600 the head of a b Lincoln fit into this stuff? Yeah, 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:25.920 that's the part I'm not quite so sure about. I mean, like, 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.960 I guess they wanted some recognizable heads to stack hats on, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.200 and of course Lincoln fit the bill. We always think 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.240 of him with a hat on. But you know, the 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.000 better you do, the more new heads you unlock. And 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.480 so in addition to Lincoln and Frankenstein, there's also of 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:46.080 course Charlie Chaplin and Dracula, the usual crew. Yeah. I 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.680 like that they picked notable hat wears like Lincoln and Chaplin, 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.600 but they're just throwing a couple of monsters. Makes sense. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.520 There's there's one thing Jacula is known for you, It's 0:11:55.520 --> 0:12:00.000 it's iconic. I mean, the whole concept is a little 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.800 effusing to me. But what type of hats are we 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.400 talking about, like baseball caps, berets, Like what what is 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.360 in the mix? Well, there there's Lincoln stove pipe, and 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.760 of course Chaplain's famous bowler, which which which makes sense. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.320 But but you're right, there is a baseball cap along 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.360 with a cowboy hat. Let's see what else, the top 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.280 hat and one of those pointy cone hats that like 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.439 wizards wear, and so it's a pretty good mix. But 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.160 the game never actually explains where this endless stream of 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.320 hats is coming from, or of course the severed heads 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.080 for that matter, which I guess is why you've got 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.239 to have a sequel to this. But speaking of sequels, 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.080 my next pick is kind of a spiritual sequel to 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.840 that game Gabe talked about forever ago about David and Goliath. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.800 It was we talked about in our Philistines episode, and 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.040 I've kind of been obsessed with it ever since. It 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:51.400 was Bible Adventures, right game, that's yeah, So I was, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.120 you know, fascinated by it. So I looked into other 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.120 Biblical games and a few years after that came out, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.480 the same developers released another Bible based game called Super 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.920 three D Noah's Ark. This one was actually for the 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.080 Super Nintendo and it was built using the same game 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.199 engine as the first person shooter game Wolfenstein three D. 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.360 He said, first person shooting, Like was this actually a 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.600 shooting game? Like? This is Noah running around through the 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.719 arc like gunning down animals or something. Yeah, pretty much, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.840 except obviously they didn't have guns back then, so instead, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:28.240 Noah's got this trusty slingshot and uh an endless supply 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.480 of fruit, and the game storyline is that the animals 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.000 are sick and tired of being cooped up in a 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.640 crowded boat. I guess it kind of feels like quarantine 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.920 and uh, and eventually all the animals go rogue, so 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.360 Noah has to protect his family by launching fruit at 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:43.480 the animals until they all get full enough to slip 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.920 into a food coma. So, I mean, I think it's 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.000 safe to say the designers took a few liberties there, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.040 or I mean, I don't know, Maybe it was just 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.439 my translation, but I don't remember an animal ram page 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.280 and a shooting spree being part of the original story 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.640 it again, game you just think that part. Yeah, that's 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.120 some punch. But when I looked it up, it feels 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.160 like the Bible doesn't say anything about what actually went 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.920 down onto arc, Like it covers what happened before, and 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.440 it covers what happens after the arcs boyage. But you know, 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.440 maybe this is exactly what happened. Yeah, I mean, you know, 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:21.640 you just you never know. But I feel like we 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.160 need to take a quick break so we can all 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.480 look this up. This game just seems too weird to 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.880 be true. But we do have four more weird games 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:44.200 to talk about, so we'll be right back. Welcome back 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:45.880 to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about some of 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.120 the strangest video games you've probably never played before. I 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.560 think it is your turn, next game, So what's your 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.920 second pick? Okay, So if you thought Noah's Ark was 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.880 a strange idea for a game, then brace yourself for 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:05.760 Wars Rex Ronan, Experimental Surgeon off to a great start, right. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.400 So this was a Supernintendo game as well, and weirdly enough, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.400 it was designed as an educational game, or you know, 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.280 at least in theory. The game was meant to teach 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.600 kids about the real world danger of smoking, and to 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.560 help deliver this message, the developers came up with a 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:27.480 pretty out there storyline. So here's the pitch. A wealthy 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.360 tobacco salesman is dying and it's up to you, Rex Ronan, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.000 to save his life through the miracle of experimental surgery. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:40.400 So by shrinking yourself to microscopic size, you're able to 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.400 enter the salesman's body and blast away his sickness with 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.360 a high powered blazer, Like I love the detail here. 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.520 So you basically shrink yourself down and then you what 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.200 do you do? You like, clean out the guy's lungs 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.080 or something. Yeah, and not just his lungs either, Like 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.560 another level has you blasting fatty deposits in his heart, 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:00.640 And there's even a part you have to enter the 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:05.880 guy's brain to quote remove the nicotine addiction. Sounds works, right, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.080 that's exciting. The weirdest s part, you know, which is 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.840 saying something, uh, is that the game has a side 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.040 story where the tobacco company finds out about your plan, 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:17.880 and then in order to keep the salesman from talking 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.480 bad about the company, they send a bunch of tiny 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.800 evil robots into his body to kind of finish him off. 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.560 So so, not only are you fighting disease, you've also 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.360 got hords of tiny robots to contact with. I feel 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.480 like that's, uh, that's what experimental surgery is, right, Like 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.480 it's what they teach in bed school. It's so good. Yeah, 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:39.560 that does sound pretty well, but but I feel like 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:41.360 it does kind of work, Like I don't think I 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.360 feel like smoking after that. But all right, well, from 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.400 the exhilarating world of experimental surgery, let's go to my 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.600 next game. This is the equally riveting Sensible Train Spotting. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.720 That's actually the name Sensible Train Spotting, and it was 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:59.240 released for Amiga computers in nine and it delivered exactly 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.880 what it promised, a detailed simulation of what it's like 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.000 to be a man with a thermos sitting on a 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.320 bench and marking down the engine numbers of trains that 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.160 pass him by. Doesn't it sound exciting? Wait? Is that 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.480 that's what train spotting is? Like? I've heard the term before, 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.080 but I honestly never knew what it meant. I'm actually 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.320 more interested in the fact that there were Amiga computers. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.800 But I guess you can tackle gives questions. Yeah, I'll 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.960 tackle that one first, and we'll talk about my Tandy 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.480 from back in the early nineties. But yeah, so train 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.879 spotting is a real hobby for some people. So what 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.320 you do is you go to the different stations and 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.720 you write down the numbers on the trains as they 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.640 pass by, and so people would create lists of all 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.480 different engines that operated in a city, and then you 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:46.200 try to see them all in person. It was big 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.760 in the UK during the mid twentieth century, and some 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.520 devoted fans have carried on the tradition ever since then. 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.600 I mean it reminds me like of those families used 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.920 to drive out to airports to see planes take off, 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.280 like back in the glamorous era of like air flight 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.360 or air travel. Yeah, and you know, train spotting is 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.200 is still a thing, but sometimes you just can't make 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.199 it down to the rail yard, you know, So for 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.920 days like that, there's this game Sensible Train Spotting all 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.159 of the fun of watching trains and marking off numbers 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.680 from the comfort of your own living room. Yeah, I mean, 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.080 I don't know what's more surprising to me, really, like 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.280 that this is an activity people actually enjoy or that 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.719 someone made a video game about it, Like both are 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.080 kind of baffling, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, it's 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.480 not an action packed hobby and that's true of the 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.159 game too, But there's still some challenge to it, Like, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.560 for example, the longer you play, the faster the trains 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:38.880 move and the more there are on the screen, So 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.240 it does make it tougher to cross off all the 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:43.840 numbers on your list before the time runs out, and 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.600 so weirdly, the game is actually hyper aware of the 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.280 fact that train spotting is super dull, and so if 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.280 you run out of time before you clear a train 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.760 spotting card, a message pops up that says time's up. 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.679 Sad man, go back one card, which you know, of 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.879 course is pretty depressing, but somehow less depressing than the 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.760 message you get for winning that one just says, well done, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:11.080 my sad friend, onto the next card. I love that 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.400 it knows what a sad man you are. Either way, 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.120 that's really it's really what you want for a game. Yeah, 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.800 it's it's kind of like Takeshi's Challenge. Really like it 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.280 mocks you just for wanting to play. Well, it is 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.040 funny because the last game on my list also mocks 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.720 you for just playing it. And this one was released 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.680 for the sake of Dreamcast. It's about raising a digital 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.399 pet and it's called Seamen. Okay, and and what kind 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.040 of pet are you raising? So in this game Seaman, 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:44.120 you're you're basically the caretaker of a bizarre fish human hybrid. 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.480 He basically looks like this bass with a human face 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:49.600 slapped on the front, and the object of the game 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.600 is to raise this creature through like all of its 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.040 upsetting developmental faces, and until he eventually grows legs and 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:57.880 leaves the water to start a life of his own. 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.480 But the game does not make this easy. For one thing, 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.639 the only way you can interact with Seaman is by 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.919 giving him voice commands, and because the voice detection was 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.240 pretty spotty, it was hard to get him to do 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.800 what you want. The other downside to the game is 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.919 that Semen is kind of a jerk. Like you're supposed 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:17.920 to form a bond with him by talking to him 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:19.840 more and more, but most of the time he just 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.879 insults you, so you're never really rooting for him to 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.239 make it to adulthood. Wow. So, so what we have 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:30.240 here is basically a bad parents simulator where you neglectfully 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.120 look after a fish monster. Does that sound about right? 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:38.800 I mean, it's basically my experience of parenting like familiar, 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.200 except I forgot to mention that Leonard Nimoy also chimes 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:45.160 in sometimes to give advice and cheer you on. That's 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:50.240 the best part. I feel like, actually this is getting better. Okay, 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.399 So we've talked about a lot of weird games today, 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:56.920 most most of which probably don't qualify as good games, 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.440 but the last one I want to talk about fits 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.160 perfectly and both categories. It is a decidedly weird game, 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:08.080 but it's also a good one. It's called Katamari Demashi, 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:12.720 which roughly means soul clump in Japanese. Uh. This game 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.200 came out in two thousand four on the PlayStation two, 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.080 and it's one of the most joyously wacky games I've 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.919 ever seen. The backstory is that the magnificent King of 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.199 all Cosmos goes on a bender one night, drunk on 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.280 the beauty of creation, and during his revelry, he accidentally 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:33.760 destroys every star in the night sky. As you do, yeah, 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:36.720 uh huh and uh. That's where the player comes in. So, 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.719