Some video games are better the second time around when you know the plot twists and most effective strategies.  On this week's episode we're discussing games so nice, we played them twice (or three times, or four, or ten...). 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 social media like Bluesky and Mastodon. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way.

We're back after an extended medical hiatus!  Join us as we discuss what we've played during our time away such as Little Kitty, Big City, the re-released Aero the Acro-bat, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, and much more.  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 social media like Bluesky and Mastodon. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way.

Thanks to some new legal requirements from the European Union, Apple is now required to allow emulators in its walled garden of an App Store worldwide.  This opened the door for retro console emulation to the masses spanning the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 through Nintendo's iconic hardware and beyond up to the Sony PlayStation Portable.  On this week's podcast we're discussing what this means, what your options are, and why it'll be a long time before you can fire up a PlayStation 3 game natively on your iPad.  Please emulate responsibly! 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 social media like Bluesky and Mastodon. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

Capcom took Mega Man back to his 8-bit roots for Mega Man 9, structuring the game based on the features and abilities seen in Mega Man 2.  By the time Mega Man 10 was in development, the team at Inti Creates had a little more freedom to experiment and iterate upon some interesting concepts.  While the finished game has some new material including adding Bass as a playable character, a series of recently recovered early versions of the game for Microsoft Xbox 360 shows that there was a lot more planned for the game that was cut from the final release.  Most interestingly, a co-op mode allowed two players to team up and tackle the game together!  Rockman Corner has the full breakdown on the abandoned mode and several other cut features.

Each prototype build includes demonstration videos featuring the "Assist Co-Op Mode" and a set of "How to Play" instruction screens. From the footage and instructions, it appears that players had the option to assume the role of either Mega Man or Proto Man to tackle stages together and face obstacles not seen in the final game.

For example, in Commando Man and Pump Man's stage, as well as the first screen following the Weapons Archive fight in Wily stage 1, players encounter a blockade that impedes their progress. To dismantle it, both players must "Sync Up" to unleash a powerful Buster Shot. Players enter a "sync" state when they are in close proximity to each other, marked by a sparkling effect. 

It's interesting to think that for all of the Mega Man sequels that aren't unusual novelty titles like racing or sports games, only two games included any sort of co-op mode, and those were the two arcade games, Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man: The Power Fighters.  Being able to tackle an entire traditional Mega Man game with a friend is one of those things I never knew I wanted, but now really need.  I wonder why it along with the other abilities and modes seen in these prototypes were removed.  They seem to work just fine.  While the Mega Man franchise is now under the administration of a different studio within Capcom, maybe someday the new team will revisit some of these ideas.  There's interesting potential here and I'd like to see it explored.  Want to try the prototypes for yourself?  Hidden Palace has them available for download.

Another year done, so it's time for us to look back for our annual Game Of The Year episode.  There are some surprises on this year's list as we each have a Top 6 that we're counting down, plus there's honorable mentions and a separate list for best remastered releases of the year.  Join us for a supersized show!  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.