WEBVTT - What's the World's Most Ridiculous Video Game? 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:12.520 Guess what, Mango? 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:13.520 What's that? Well? 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:15.720 All right, So I was looking up old video games 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.360 and video game systems this week, as we've talked about, 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.880 I know, both of our boys are obsessed with video 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.160 games these days, and William is trying to find every 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.120 game ever made on every system ever made. And they 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.800 of course make these like little computers where you can 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.920 go back and try these games from pretty much every system, 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.640 so it is kind of fun to get into it 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.360 with him. But there's one that he's not familiar with. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:39.960 So I don't know if you know this, but before 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.040 they were making graphing calculators, Texas Instruments used to make 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.280 a computer for kids. It was actually called the t 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:47.560 I ninety nine. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.840 So weirdly, I actually know this because I had one. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.680 No way, my dad was super into gadgets and early computers, 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:56.240 and so I had one in my room when I 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:57.800 was like four, which is crazy. 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:58.240 That's fun. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.000 But you know, the weirdest thing about the system is that, 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.360 like the TI definitely had the place for cartridges, but 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.960 it could also hook up to a cassette player and 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.760 it would play games through like tape cassettes essentially, so 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.559 like the cassettes would feed data into the computer, which 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.559 is which is nuts. And I actually like thought about 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.600 this like a few years ago and and had to 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:19.280 look it up because it felt like a dream, like 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.920 it didn't feel real. But but but the weird thing 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.280 about my t I ninety nine was I had none 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.440 of the fun games. Like everything my parents bought for 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.920 me was educational. So I think like the most fun 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.880 game I had was Chess. It's a little bit. 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.280 Of a relief because I thought I was going to 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.440 tell you everything I knew here and you're gonna be like, sorry, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.120 I already knew that. But uh So there's a T 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.640 I ninety nine game that's definitely not educational. It's called 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.320 garbage Belly, and it's why I brought the system up 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.760 in the first place. I was reading about it in 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.000 PC mag And this is what the back of the 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:55.120 Garbage Belly box said. It says, help garbage Belly gobble 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.720 up the ripe garbage in a field of garbage pails. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.320 But watch out if you make him eat raw garb garbage, 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:01.400 he will die. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.160 Garbage Belly. I feel like I've never heard anyone say 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.400 the word garbage so much to like sell a product. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.160 But isn't it weird that the character dies from raw garbage, 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.760 like he only feasts on the finest garbage, which is 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:14.760 cooked garbage. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.880 Yeah, I mean he's got to die from something. Plus, 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.200 you know, just because his name is garbage Belly, I 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.720 don't think we can assume like that he wouldn't have 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.600 discerning taste, like some garbage does have to taste better 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:26.440 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 --> 0:02:29.560 Any good? 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:29.880 No? 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:31.840 It's a terrible game. I mean, you're lucky your parents 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.960 brought you the educational games only. But Garbage Belly is 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.919 just the first of nine ridiculous video games that we're 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.600 going to talk about today. So blow the dust off 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.679 that old cartridge, enter the up down updown code, and 0:02:44.840 --> 0:03:08.959 let's hit start. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.480 Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as always I'm joined 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.840 by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer And on the 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.520 other side of the computer screen cleaning house and a 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.160 ferocious game of pac Man, that's our friend and producer 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.519 loll He is actually guys, he's sharing a screen right now, 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:25.960 and I Honestly, I wish our listeners could see this 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.520 because he is tearing through those ghosts, just one after another. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:31.959 It's a total blood bag. 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:33.480 Yeah, it's really impressive. 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.240 It actually reminds me of that scene from thirty Rock, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.040 just saying the word pac Men, like when someone tells 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.200 Tracy Morgan but that the guy who created pac Men 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.800 just passed away, and he says to put out a 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.280 bowl of cherries and some ghost meat in his honor. 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.440 So funny, pretty fitting tribute there, But unfortunately pac Man 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.600 is way too mainstream for today's show because we are 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.400 on the hunt for some deeper, weirder cuts, and to 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.600 help us find them, we brought along our good pal Gabe. Gabe, 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:04.680 thanks for joining us again. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.040 Hey, yeah, it's my pleasure. Thanks for inviting me back, guys. 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.400 Yeah, of course. So I am curious, like I haven't 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.880 played games in forever, and I think Will is the same, 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.120 although both our sons are obsessed. But Gabe, you play 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.560 video games, right, Like, have you spent all your summer 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.440 playing Animal Crossing like everyone else? 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:22.520 No? 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:23.400 I have not. 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.640 I'm the one person who hasn't, I guess, But I 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.400 did play a different kind of simulator game this summer. 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.600 It's called untitled Goose Game. Have you guys heard of it? 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.080 I have seen my son play it. 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:40.040 Yes, actually, yes, right, it's awesome. It's basically a goose simulator, 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.680 and yeah, you play as a goose wandering around this 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.560 little English village and all you can do is honk, flap, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.120 grab things with your beak, run, you know, typical goose stuff. 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.240 And so the goal is really to just annoy the 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.760 townspeople and cause as much mischievous possible. It's it's kind 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.040 of amazing, and if you've ever wondered what it's like 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.479 to be a goose, this is probably as close to 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.360 the real thing as you're ever gonna get. 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:10.440 Wait, I'm sold. I feel like this is the reason 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.560 to play video games again. But what I really like 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:15.600 about that is, like the concept kind of feels like 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.200 a throwback to the early days of video games, when 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.800 there just weren't as many expectations and you could get 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.120 away with making a game just about anything. So, like, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.320 you know, my first pick for today is actually a 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.560 great example of that. It was released for the Atari 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.640 twenty six hundred back in nineteen eighty two, and it's 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.200 called Sneak and Peak and it was basically Hide and 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:35.320 Seek the video game. 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.360 So why didn't they just call it hide and Seek? 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.599 I know, I mean sneak and peak sounds like so 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.200 dirty if I can person that does. But I mean, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.520 branding is just one of the game's many problems. You know, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.840 it's a two player game. One player just has to 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.480 look away from the screen while the other player hides. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.320 And then the player who's hiding doesn't do anything at 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.440 all while the other person looks for them on the screen. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.400 They just like stay put and hope time runs out 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:07.280 before the other person finds them. It's it's kind of crazy. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.320 Yeah. Wait, so this was a game that required one 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.400 player to not look at the screen at all and 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.840 another player to not touch the controller. I mean, are 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.880 we even sure this qualifies as a video game? I 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.279 know it's kind of like that. I don't know if 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:25.919 Will remembers this. But when we were like trying to 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:27.960 brainstorm board games, we came up with this idea for 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.800 Tag the board game where the only thing inside the 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.560 like the box is a cone for base and maybe 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.880 maybe like a pin that says it. You know, like, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.719 I feel like this is almost as bad, but you know, 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:41.600 the worst part of the game was 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 --> 0:06:46.400 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 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.599 of a challenge and you'd actually be better off just 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.359 going outside and playing a real game of hide and 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.520 go seek. Okay, so Sneak and Peek sounds like a 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.239 pretty weak substitute for the real thing, but my first 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.200 pick for today offers a gaming experience you'd be hard 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.880 pressed to find in real life, and in fact, I 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.920 do not recommend trying the game's infamous. Now. It's called 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.560 Takeshi's Challenge and it was only released in Japan back 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.000 in nineteen eighty six. The title refers to a real 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.680 life comedian and actor named Takeshi Kitano, and he was 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:23.800 a pretty big star in Japan at the time from 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:24.560 what I understand. 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.480 Yeah, he's actually he was a director too, and he 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.400 directed this movie Sonatine and Fireworks, the really beautiful but 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:32.840 like violent films. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.320 Oh awesome. Well, according to Legend, the video game company 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:41.040 behind Space Invaders, they wanted to meet with Takeshi, and 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.560 so he agreed and they got together in a bar 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.600 to see if he'd be willing to make a game 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.600 with them, and Takeshi wasn't all that interested. He didn't 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.680 even like video games, but the company was picking up 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.080 the tab that night, so he's stuck around, and over 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.920 the course of a few hours, Takeshi drank a ton 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.480 of rice wine and he gave the designers his stream 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.920 of consciousness ideas for a video game, and then with 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.640 notes in hand, the designer set to work creating what 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.240 would become one of the most bizarre adventure games ever made. 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:14.120 That's going to have to be pretty strange to top 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.240 a Goose simulator, because that sounded pretty random if you 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:17.720 asked me. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.600 Well, trust me, this was way weirder. The main character 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.520 was an ordinary business man, and while the game didn't 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.360 spell it out for you, the ultimate goal is to 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:29.600 make it to a distant island where a cave of 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.760 treasure awaits you, and the only way to get there 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.199 is basically to have the most extreme midlife crisis possible. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.520 So get this. You have to quit your job, divorce 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:48.079 your wife, get drunk, fight the yakuza, sing karaoke, learn 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.360 to hang glide, travel to the South Pacific, and of 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:55.640 course blow up some alien spaceships and sounds about right. Yeah. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.559 And because this was all dreampt up by a guy 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:03.200 who disliked video games, the tasks themselves were not designed 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:07.040 to 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 console's built in microphone, 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.400 and then your performance it has to be judged as 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.720 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 --> 0:09:23.680 singing is lousy, then you just have to do it 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.920 again until you get it right. Oh, if that wasn't yeah, 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.240 and if that wasn't infuriating enough. Once you actually beat 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:34.280 the challenge, the reward is a treasure map, but it's 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.440 written in invisible ink, so the player has to sit 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:43.280 there without touching the controller for an entire hour while 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.920 you wait for the map to appear, and if you 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.880 touch a button any sooner than that, you're thrown right 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.240 back to the karaoke challenge. It's sadistic. 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.760 It sounds like such a like big practical joke. 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:58.160 That's exactly what it is. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.640 Right, yeah. Some people think that, you know, the whole 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.040 thing was just Takeshi kind of thumbing his nose at 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.520 people who play video games, and the game's ending actually 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.880 lends some credence to that. You know, spoilers. But if 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.479 you managed to stick with it through all the frustration, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.120 the only reward is a little drawing of Takeshi's smiling 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.200 face and a message that says, why are you taking 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:20.520 this game so seriously? 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.920 All right, Well, if you're in the market for something 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.760 a little more relaxing and honestly a bit less soul crushing, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.600 I have a recommendation for you. It's a little puzzle 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.920 game and it's called Hattrus. And I know what you're thinking. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.120 You're like, this is just Tetris but with hats. But no, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.960 my friends, this is Tetris with hats and the severed 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.439 heads of Frankenstein and Abraham Lincoln himself. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.160 So what was this game? Also designed by a drunk 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:49.280 Japanese comedian. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.960 Now this is actually from the creator of the original Tetris. 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.439 So this was back in nineteen ninety. Yeah, this is true. 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.880 He went back to the drawing board and perfected his 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.079 original idea by swapping different shaped blocks for different kinds 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.079 of hats, so the hats would descend the screen two 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.640 at a time, and the goal was to place them 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.600 on one of six heads lined up at the bottom. 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.320 So stack five of the same hat on top of 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.280 one head and they would disappear, just like those lines 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:17.840 in Tetris. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.040 So I guess that kind of makes sense. Like how 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.160 does the head of Abe Lincoln fit into this stuff? 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.560 Yeah, that's the part I'm not quite so sure about. 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.120 I mean, I guess they wanted some recognizable heads to 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.600 stack hats on, and of course Lincoln fit the bill. 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.280 We always think of him with a hat on. But 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.200 you know, the better you do, the more new heads 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.400 you unlock. And so in addition to Lincoln and Frankenstein, 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.880 there's also of course Charlie Chaplin and Dracula. Yeah, the 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:44.640 usual crew. 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:45.800 Yeah. 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.920 I like that they picked notable hat wearers like Lincoln 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.920 and Chaplain, but then they just throw in a couple monsters, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.080 you know, makes sense. There's one thing Dracula is note 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.400 for you, it's his iconic hat. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.520 I mean, the whole concept is a little efusing to me. 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.360 But what type of hats are we talking about? Like 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.960 baseball caps, berets, Like what is in the mix? 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:09.199 Well, there's Lincoln stove pipe, and of course Chaplain's famous. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.800 Bowler, which which makes sense. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.360 But but you're right, there is a baseball cap along 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.400 with a cowboy hat. Let's see what else, a top 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.320 hat and one of those pointy cone hats that like 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.439 wizards wear, and so it's a pretty good mix. But 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.200 the game never actually explains where this endless stream of 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.360 hats is coming from, or of course the severed heads 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:29.239 for that matter. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.400 Which I guess is why you've got to have a 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.200 sequel to this, right, But speaking of sequels, my next 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.800 pick is kind of a spiritual sequel to that game. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.679 Gabe talked about forever ago, about David and Goliath. It 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.000 was we talked about in our Philistine's episode, and I've 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.240 kind of been obsessed with it ever since. It was 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.400 Bible Adventures, right, Gabe, that's what, Oh, that's the one. Yeah, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.439 So I was, you know, fascinated by it. So I 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.439 looked into other Biblical games and a few years after 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:00.000 that came out, the same developers released another Bible based 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:05.320 game called Super three D Noah's Arc. Wow. This one 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.120 was actually for the Super Nintendo and it was built 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.680 using the same game engine as the first person shooter 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.200 game Wolfenstein three D. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.280 Well, he said, first person shooting, Like, was this actually 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:16.000 a shooting game? 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:16.080 Like? 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.280 Does is Noah running around through the arc like gunning 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:19.440 down animals or something? 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:20.200 Yeah? 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.080 Pretty much, except obviously they didn't have guns back then, 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.880 so instead Noah's got this trusty slingshot and an endless 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.160 supply of fruit, and the game storyline is that the 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:32.920 animals are sick and tired of being cooped up in 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.679 a crowded boat. I guess it kind of feels like quarantine, 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.400 and eventually all the animals go rogue, so Noah has 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.840 to protect his family by launching fruit at the animals 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.760 until they all get full enough to slip into a 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.520 food coma. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:48.520 So, I mean, I think it's safe to say the 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.520 designers took a few liberties there. I mean, I don't know, 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.120 maybe it was just my translation, but I don't remember 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.240 an animal ran page and a shooting spree being part 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.000 of the original story. 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.280 Again, Gabe, you just think you forget that part. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.160 Yeah, it's some punch, But when I looked it up, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.599 it feels like the Bible doesn't say anything about what 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.800 actually went down on the arc, Like it covers what 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.920 happened before and it covers what happens after. The Arcs Voyage. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.680 But you know, maybe this is exactly what happened. 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:20.680 Yeah, I mean, you know, you just you never know. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:22.400 But I feel like we need to take a quick 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.320 break so we can all look this up. This game 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.640 just seems too weird to be true. But we do 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.880 have four more weird games to talk about, so we'll 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:45.160 be right back. Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.600 we're talking about some of the strangest video games you've 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.320 probably never played before. I think it is your turn 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.320 next game, So what's your second pick? 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.560 Okay, So, if you thought Noah's Ark was a strange 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.800 idea for a game, then brace yourself for nineteen ninety 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:05.480 four Rex Ronan Experimental Surgeon off to a great start. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.600 So this was a Super Nintendo game as well, and 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.960 weirdly enough, it was designed as an educational game, or 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.880 you know, at least in theory. The game was meant 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.880 to teach kids about the real world danger of smoking, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.280 and to help deliver this message, the developers came up 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.600 with a pretty out there storyline. So here's the pitch. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.200 A wealthy tobacco salesman is dying and it's up to 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.920 you Rex Ronan to save his life. Through the miracle 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:39.280 of experimental surgery. So by shrinking yourself to microscopic size, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.320 you're able to enter the salesman's body and blast away 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.720 his sickness with a high powered leader. 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.320 Like, I love the detail here. So you basically shrink 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.160 yourself down and then you what do you do, you like, 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:51.680 clean out the guy's lungs or something. 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.000 Yeah, and not just his lungs either, Like another level 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.480 has you blasting fatty deposits in his heart. And there's 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.360 even a part we have to enter the guy's brain 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.880 to quote remove the nicotine addiction. That's sounds works, right, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:06.680 that's exciting. 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:07.120 Yeah. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.760 Well, the weirdest part, you know, which is saying something, 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.640 is that the game has a side story where the 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.960 tobacco company finds out about your plan, and then in 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.040 order to keep the salesman from talking bad about the company, 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.120 they send a bunch of tiny evil robots into his 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.680 body to kind of finish him off. So, so not 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.280 only are you fighting disease, you've also got hoords of 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:28.920 tiny robots to kentuckt with. 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.560 I feel like that's that's what experimental surgery is, right, Like, 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.200 it's what they teach in med school. It's so good. 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.560 Yeah, that does sound pretty well, but I feel like 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:41.360 it does kind of work. Like I don't think I 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.320 feel like smoking after that. But all right, well, from 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.440 the exhilarating world of experimental surgery, let's go to my 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.600 next game. This is the equally riveting Sensible Train Spotting. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.760 That's actually the name Sensible Train Spotting, and it was 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:58.080 released for Amiga computers in nineteen ninety five, and it 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.720 delivered exactly what it a detailed simulation of what it's 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.919 like to be a man with a thermos sitting on 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.120 a bench and marking down the engine numbers of trains 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.080 that pass him by. Doesn't it sound exciting? 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.919 Wait, that's what train spotting is. Like, I've heard the 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.640 term before, but I honestly never knew what it meant. 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:19.399 I'm actually more interested in the fact that there were 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.639 Amiga computers in nineteen ninety five. Yeah, but I guess 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:25.160 you can tackle Gibb's question for. 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.400 Yeah, I'll tackle that one first. Then we'll talk about 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.240 my Tandy from back in the early nineties. But yeah, so, 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.720 train spotting is a real hobby for some people. So 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.200 what you do is you go to the different stations 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.560 and you write down the numbers on the trains as 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.479 they pass by, and so people would create lists of 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.400 all different engines that operated in a city and then 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.000 you try to see them all in person. It was 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.520 big in the UK during the mid twentieth century, and 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.520 some devoted fans have carried on the tradition ever since then. 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.639 I mean, it reminds me of those families who used 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:56.920 to drive out to airports to see planes take off, 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.480 like back in the glamorous era of like air or 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:01.159 air travel. 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.200 Yeah, and you know, and train spotting is still a thing, 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.960 but sometimes you just can't make it down to the 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.640 rail yard, you know. So for days like that, there's 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.639 this game Sensible Train Spotting all of the fun of 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.040 watching trains and marking off numbers from the comfort of 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:16.960 your own living room. 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.560 Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's more surprising to 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.760 me really, like that this is an activity people actually enjoy, 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.080 or that someone made a video game about it, Like 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.200 both are kind of baffling, to be honest. 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.720 Yeah, I mean, it's not an action packed hobby and 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.080 that's true of the game too, but there's still some 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.359 challenge to it, Like, for example, the longer you play 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.879 the faster the trains move and the more there are 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:40.399 on the screen, so it does make it tougher to 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:42.840 cross off all the numbers on your list before the 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.520 time runs out. And so weirdly, the game is actually 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.200 hyper aware of the fact that train spotting is super dull, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.639 and so if you run out of time before you 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.399 clear a train spotting card, a message pops up that 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.359 says time's up. Sad man, go back one card, which 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.000 you know, of course is pretty depressing, but somehow less 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.200 depressing than the message you get for winning that one 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.920 just says, well done, my sad friend, onto the next card. 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:12.760 I love that it knows what a sad man you are. 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.120 Either way, that's really what you want for a game. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.840 Yeah, it's kind of like Tikeshi's Challenge. Really like it 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:21.760 mocks you just for wanting to play it. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.080 Well, it is funny because the last game on my 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.080 list also mocks you for just playing it. And this 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.200 one was released in nineteen ninety nine for the sake 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.440 of Dreamcast. It's about raising a digital pet and it's 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:34.360 called Seamen. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.439 Okay, and what kind of pet are you raising? 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.520 So in this game Seaman, you're you're basically the caretaker 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.919 of a bizarre fish human hybrid. He basically looks like 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.480