We all make snap judgments from time to time, and sometimes those quick decisions take us in the wrong direction.  On this week's podcast, we're discussing games that we immediately dismissed for one reason or another and then later tried only to discover that they are actually fantastic.  Would you believe that we initially passed on such classics as Mega Man, BioShock, and Sly Cooper?  There's plenty more where those came from in this supersized episode. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, 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, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

With the new Super Mario Bros. film from Nintendo and Universal on the horizon, it's the season for looking back at the original Super Mario Bros. film from 1993 starring Bob Hoskins that bombed at the box office and has been held up for decades as a terrible film.  The thing is, watching it as an adult with fresh eyes, it's not so bad.  Yes, it has problems and is very far from a faithful adaptation of the source material, but there's some fun stuff going on in it, and Joe Ramoni at Hats Off Entertainment is going to tell us why.  His latest look back at cult classic media focuses on the movie, outlines how it went wrong, and clues us in to the good parts still in the film and the good parts that were cut during editing.  Ramoni says in the video that the movie isn't currently streaming anywhere, but that's not quite true.  RiffTrax Friends has it with the riffing commentary baked right in.As I've said before, I saw the film on opening night when I was in the sixth grade with a group of my school pals, and while it wasn't the best movie ever, I had a good time with it and even now is a fun memory. 

I know that watching Family Guy has fallen out of the zeitgeist, but you're missing out on some prime Millennial-targeted humor if you're skipping it.  On this past Sunday's new episode, "Single White Dad", Peter Griffin gets his old Nintendo Entertainment System out of storage to share "the best video game of all time", Donkey Kong, with his son.  Chris is not impressed with it though, asking about the missing microtransactions that will slowly bankrupt the family and the lack of children screaming racist taunts into his earpiece.  This leads to some classic Griffin family hijinks when the two team up to build a live action Donkey Kong level on their house.  Oh, that Peter!  When will he learn?

As I said on our most recent podcast in which we tore into the re-release of GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo Switch and the Microsoft Xbox platform, replaying the classic Nintendo 64 game has sent me down the rabbit hole on all things GoldenEye.  I rewatched the movie, listened to the soundtrack, watched making-of videos both deep dive and high level, and much more, so I knew I had to put the best of these things together here to share. It's a collection of retrospective videos, re-orchestrated music, technical breakdowns, and alternate versions. Enjoy!

The first video above is a post-mortem of the game's development presented by Director Martin Hollis in which he spends an hour on a deep dive of the game's inception, initial planning, development, testing, and release. There's some fun stories in there including how the game was initially reported to be a Super NES title, how the game was too ambitious for its own good, its Virtua Cop origins, and a last-ditch attempt to fix a critical bug during lot check. The second is a short documentary produced but cut from the original release of the Rare Replay compilation, but was leaked online some time ago after GoldenEye was cut from that package. It's only appropriate that it lives on now that the game has been included after all these years.

Nintendo, Microsoft, EON Productions, and who knows who else finally made a deal to bring the 1997 shooter GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 back for a re-release on Nintendo Switch and the modern Microsoft Xbox platform.  On this week's podcast, we're shooting in and out through post-Cold War Russia to explore which version of the game plays better today, which cheats are still available to the skilled player, how much fun we're still having with this game more than twenty-years later, and so much more.  Join us for 0075 minutes of discussion.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, 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, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

After teasing the release late last year, Nintendo is ready to put the classic shooter GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 on its Switch Online service.  Releasing Friday, January 27, 2023 the famous game will return for old fans to enjoy and new audiences to discover.  As a new trailer from Nintendo points out (and someone had a lot of fun making that trailer, I bet), widescreen mode is enabled on this release and you'll be able to enjoy online multiplayer through the NSO N64 app.  Remember that if you're new to GoldenEye or just can't get your old muscle memory moving again, dip into the game's options to test out the multiple control options.  There's a control scheme for everyone including some that require two controllers with one in each hand.  I rented GoldenEye many times in the late 1990s and it was a favorite when friends came over, but I never owned a copy of my own.  I look forward to finally having all the time in the world to fully explore the single player missions and take on friends online in multiplayer.  No items, Fox only, Final Destination!  No, wait, that's not right...

Meanwhile, the game is also coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X consoles the same day with local multiplayer, achievements, additional control options, and widescreen 4K resolution. It's available free to anyone who owns Rare Replay and will also be featured on Xbox Game Pass. Enjoy this one, gang. Heaven and Earth had to move to get it back out there.

As we do every January, it's time to take a look back at our picks for Game of the Year.  2022 brought us a number of fantastic titles that we're still raving about including Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Stray, Sonic Origins, and many more.  Which game will take the coveted slot of our number one pick?  Join us for a supersized two hour discussion and find out!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, 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, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

For those of you who weren't there in 1989, let me explain that when Mario and Luigi came to syndicated cartoons, it was a very big deal.  Our favorite characters were starting to prove that they were more than just pixels and beeps, and as the money machine took notice, they started to appear on school supplies and snack foods and cheaply-made clothing.  While Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 were the big stars of the day, Nintendo was also focusing attention on The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.  Remember that this was pre-SNES.  There was no Super Mario World or A Link to the Past yet.  Hell, in North America there wasn't even a Super Mario Bros. 3 yet!  The Super Mario Bros. Super Show featured cartoon tales of Link and Zelda each Friday in stories inspired by little elements of the two video games and, well, just about anything else the creators could come up with, as this was an era in which the creative folks did not analyze individual moments of the games for inspiration.  We were lucky if Link wore the correct colors and maybe you heard a familiar sound effect sometimes.  Nicole Carpenter at Polygon has interviewed some of the writers and voice actors from the old Zelda cartoon and given us a look into how the show was made, and I don't think you'll be surprised that much of it was not inspired by the games.

Rather than simply recreating the video game, The Legend of Zelda’s writers positioned the show more as a mix of action, comedy, and drama, taking specific inspiration from Cybill Shepherd’s and Bruce Willis’ ’80s show Moonlighting. Writers wanted Zelda and Link’s relationship to mirror Shepherd’s and Willis’ rapport as Maddie and David on the detective show — the same angry sexual tension, but goofier and lighter for the kid-friendly cartoon TV show.

As an adult I appreciate this show for what it was and am glad it's still available, but my inner eight-year-old who watched it in 1989 is still screaming into the void about how it didn't follow the "rules" of the games of the day. Don't worry though. I keep him hushed up.

New year, new news recap!  The end of 2022 means it's time for us to look back on the biggest video gaming news of the year and put it all in context one last time.  We have everything from Embracer embracing everyone to Sony relaunching PlayStation Plus with new tiers to FIFA and Electronic Arts parting ways and much, much more.  Join us for a supersized episode.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, 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, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Longtime PTB readers will remember how much I love the two Aero the Acro-bat games for the Super NES, and even though the Game Boy Advance port of the first game isn't quite up to the original's level of quality (particularly the amazing music), it has enough going for it that it's worth a play (especially for the bit of new material).  I missed this news when it was new, but Forest of Illusion has recovered a very early version of that GBA port which apparently represents only a few days of work.  The Aero character's sprite set in use comes from the first game, while the final GBA port would use Aero's sequel sprites, for instance.  Hard4Games has created a playthrough video on YouTube so we can see the early progress and it's an interesting watch for those of us familiar with the game.