Flashback | Cinematic Platformer Paradise

[00:00:03] In an ancient age known as the late 1900s, a video game subgenre took root that dared to be bolder, dreamed to be bigger, and reached for the stars.

[00:00:15] Did they wow us with expensive productions and advanced graphical techniques? They absolutely did.

[00:00:23] Were they any good?

[00:00:25] Uh, you know what? Don't worry about it. Let's just relax and revisit Cinematic Platformers of eons past. This is Cinematic Platformer Paradise.

[00:00:52] Hello, party people. Hello, cinematic people. Welcome back to Cinematic Platformer Paradise. I am your boy Dre. That is my boy Steve.

[00:01:03] Hey Andre, remember when we played Flashback?

[00:01:07] Yes, I'm flashing back to it right now. Any fucking way. Since Steve spoiled the surprise, we're talking about Flashback this week.

[00:01:16] What surprise? We label all the episodes.

[00:01:18] No, this is Fine Time episode 174. And then you have to dig three paragraphs deep to find out what we're talking about in the show description. Okay? That's how we do it around here.

[00:01:35] What show would be asinine enough to do? Okay, we don't need to.

[00:01:38] I have no idea. I have no idea who would do such a thing.

[00:01:44] Anyway, yeah, Flashback. Finally, Flashback time. I'm glad to be doing this one. I feel like I'm going to have a lot to say here.

[00:01:51] Sure. And if you haven't been listening along so far to the Cinematic Platformer Paradise episode, it's not that you have to, but if you've wanted to hear stuff we've already covered like Prince of Persia or Another World or Shadow of the Beast, check our show feed.

[00:02:04] They're all recent. We're doing them every week from now through the first week of January. January 2nd will be our last one.

[00:02:11] So, yeah, definitely check our show feed and check out the rest of the series. But if you would like to continue on with us right now to Flashback, we will get started.

[00:02:28] So, just like Another World, Flashback was again developed by Delphine Software, but this time it was published by US Gold.

[00:02:37] They are the publishers of Flashback. Steve, I haven't thought about US Gold in a hot minute.

[00:02:43] What, did they run out of California games to port at this time?

[00:02:47] To just stick on everything by this time?

[00:02:51] Oh, yeah, those are everywhere. And yes, those were popular in California. I can tell you this as a California kid.

[00:02:57] California games was very popular.

[00:02:59] Yeah, man, I think I heard of US Gold because of they published Strider here on Genesis.

[00:03:04] That's how I know US Gold.

[00:03:06] Did they?

[00:03:07] Yeah.

[00:03:08] I think Capcom published it themselves in Japan, but here it was just like, eh, whatever. You guys can have it. It's weird.

[00:03:15] Anyway, Flashback came out originally for Amiga in 1992. Again, another Amiga game.

[00:03:21] I didn't realize that this was the target platform for a lot of these early ones.

[00:03:25] It was originally developed for Genesis first, but that version was delayed.

[00:03:31] That version didn't come out until 1993, along with Super Nintendo and MS-DOS.

[00:03:37] So yeah, Steve, it also came out for Shruggy Shoulders Computer.

[00:03:44] Yeah, I've seen a computer or two.

[00:03:47] Maybe.

[00:03:48] No one had flashback on it, though.

[00:03:51] No.

[00:03:52] But yeah, there was also CD-ROM versions for Sega CD, 3DO, CD-i, and for Mac, and for FM Towns.

[00:04:01] There was flashback.

[00:04:02] Well, that's the version you played, right?

[00:04:05] Yes.

[00:04:05] FM Towns Marty flashback.

[00:04:07] Definitely for me.

[00:04:08] There was a Jaguar version in 1995.

[00:04:11] I've never even seen that version at all, so I wonder how that fares.

[00:04:15] Probably the best one.

[00:04:20] Well, it didn't say Jaguar CD, so maybe, probably not.

[00:04:25] Flashback was marketed as a CD-ROM game on a cartridge, which is funny because it came out for a bunch of CD-ROM systems.

[00:04:32] But that was the original marketing.

[00:04:34] Hey, you don't need one of those fancy systems to do that.

[00:04:36] You notice a lot of marketing was like that, though, right?

[00:04:39] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:40] It was like, oh, this has CD-quality sound in your cartridge.

[00:04:43] I swear to God, there was a Batman Returns ad for the Super Nintendo version, and it said you could crack open your cartridge and you could swear there'd be a CD inside.

[00:04:53] Like, this was always a big thing, so I'm not surprised flashback said that, too.

[00:04:59] Well, they were doing that even in 1996 where the Nintendo 64 box was saying, CD-quality sound.

[00:05:07] Even my nine-year-old was like, this sounds pretty good, but...

[00:05:15] Yeah, please.

[00:05:16] Come on.

[00:05:18] And in 1996, that was less true than ever.

[00:05:21] You know?

[00:05:21] And reviewers all said the same thing.

[00:05:23] Cool game, great concept, but you have to wrap your head around those controls first.

[00:05:28] Once you do, though, great game.

[00:05:30] I have to agree with them.

[00:05:31] That is exactly what flashback is.

[00:05:34] I guess I'm just going to need to go to video game jail because I never did quite wrap my head around the controls.

[00:05:43] Okay, well, we'll talk about how fucked up you are in a second.

[00:05:46] But so I had flashback on Genesis, or rather, I had it on, quote unquote, Nomad, if you will, because that was the only form of Genesis I had was a Nomad.

[00:05:57] In the late 90s, Toys R Us was clearing them out for like 50 bucks each, the Nomads.

[00:06:03] So I got one.

[00:06:03] Everyone I knew had a Genesis.

[00:06:05] It's not like I never played Genesis games, but to have one of their own, you know?

[00:06:08] This is really good.

[00:06:09] So I've always heard a flashback.

[00:06:11] I always wanted to play it.

[00:06:12] It was one of those games I always saw in the magazine.

[00:06:13] So when I saw it for $15 or whatever at Toys R Us, I jumped on it.

[00:06:17] And I really enjoyed myself, Steve.

[00:06:20] Yeah, I heard it in hushed tones, which means, you know, it was in a lot of magazines.

[00:06:24] Ooh, ah, flashback.

[00:06:25] Wow.

[00:06:27] But then, you know, I finally bought a Switch copy at a GameStop that was closing at a very, very deep discount.

[00:06:34] And I guess that should have been the hint of what was coming.

[00:06:38] What?

[00:06:38] You mean a great game on your Nintendo Switch platform?

[00:06:42] That's what was coming, right?

[00:06:45] We'll talk about what exactly I thought of the flashback game in a bit.

[00:06:49] But I was a little too dumb as a teenager to really understand this kind of gameplay again.

[00:06:56] I had never played anything like this before.

[00:06:58] So I liked adventure games.

[00:07:00] So I understood get the key, open the thing.

[00:07:02] Oh, this guy needs that thing.

[00:07:03] Let me go find it.

[00:07:04] I understood that level design stuff.

[00:07:07] But I never had a game ask me to do the kind of things that flashback was asking me to do.

[00:07:13] So I got decently far in that Genesis game, but I never did beat it.

[00:07:17] Because, again, at that time, it was just a bit over my head.

[00:07:22] Really?

[00:07:23] As a teenager, you didn't finish a video game?

[00:07:25] I thought you finished all the video games as a teenager.

[00:07:28] Yes.

[00:07:28] Every single last one of them.

[00:07:30] Every single one.

[00:07:31] Including Alien Soldier.

[00:07:33] Completed it.

[00:07:34] Didn't even get hit.

[00:07:35] I played it on Switch.

[00:07:36] I think you tried a bit on Switch, too.

[00:07:39] Yep.

[00:07:39] I also tried it on SNES and Sega CD for good measure.

[00:07:43] Just for, you know, reasons.

[00:07:45] I ended up trying the Super Nintendo version for other reasons that we'll get to in a bit.

[00:07:52] But how about some story time?

[00:07:54] Okay.

[00:07:55] Story time.

[00:07:55] Tell us the story and premise of Flashback.

[00:07:58] The year is 2142.

[00:08:05] Conrad Hart, an agent with the Galaxia Bureau of Investigation, was in great danger.

[00:08:11] While field testing his latest piece of equipment, the Molecular Density Analyzer, Conrad makes a startling discovery.

[00:08:18] Certain individuals have a molecular density so high, the only conclusion could be that they weren't human.

[00:08:25] This information proved to be dangerous for Conrad as he was tailed right away and shot in the back with a laser by his new captors.

[00:08:33] Would Conrad solve this mystery he stumbled into and save his girlfriend, Sonia?

[00:08:37] His journey begins in Flashback.

[00:08:40] Ak.

[00:08:41] Ak.

[00:08:42] Ak.

[00:08:42] Ak.

[00:08:46] Oh, boy.

[00:08:48] Yes, that's Flashback.

[00:08:49] All right.

[00:08:50] Steve, I really like Flashback.

[00:08:52] I'm sorry.

[00:08:53] You're just wrong on this one.

[00:08:54] I understand the way you felt about Another World.

[00:08:56] I get it.

[00:08:57] I don't understand your beef with Flashback.

[00:09:00] This game is really good.

[00:09:03] Look, I think I'm going to have to be bad cop for this game in particular today because earlier you said you were too dumb as a teenager to, you know, get a grip on the whole thing and the gameplay.

[00:09:15] I think you need to give yourself a little credit because of everything we played so far.

[00:09:20] I feel like this is the least intuitive on how to play.

[00:09:24] I don't think that's...

[00:09:26] Is that true?

[00:09:28] I feel...

[00:09:29] Okay.

[00:09:29] As someone who didn't play this on his Sega Nomad that he got for $50.

[00:09:34] Okay, but it's not like I remembered what I did on my Sega Nomad for $50.

[00:09:38] That was so fucking long ago.

[00:09:39] I'm old, okay?

[00:09:41] It's not like I remembered how to play the game.

[00:09:43] As someone who is also old and playing these one after another after another, I just feel like everything that scares people away from cinematic platformers is at its most exaggerated here.

[00:09:54] Sure.

[00:09:56] There's that one part in the jungle where you have to recharge that cartridge to, you know, build a bridge, which, you know, good luck finding.

[00:10:04] It's right there.

[00:10:05] Yeah, but sometimes there's that guy's crotch dangling over it most of the time.

[00:10:10] Like, you couldn't...

[00:10:12] You couldn't, like, have, like, a little shing, like, prompt to go over it to, like, tell you, oh, that's a thing you need to pick up.

[00:10:19] We wouldn't start doing that until PS1.

[00:10:20] I know, but...

[00:10:22] No, I feel like other games were doing...

[00:10:25] Anyway, where you need to move elevators around and you need to jump just so and you just can't.

[00:10:33] And this is when I got the Super Nintendo version because I'm like, look, maybe this port is terrible.

[00:10:38] I will try another one.

[00:10:41] No, it's all the same.

[00:10:43] You're so wrong right now.

[00:10:45] I can't...

[00:10:45] I'm basking in your wrongness, okay?

[00:10:47] I'm going to sing this game's phrases.

[00:10:48] And I want to start with a comparison point.

[00:10:52] I want to compare Flashback to Another World because Flashback is a true adventure game.

[00:10:58] Another World is not an adventure game so much as, again, like you said last episode, a movie-paced cinematic experience like a Dragon's Lair or something like that.

[00:11:07] Flashback is really an adventure game.

[00:11:10] It's like you said, jump here, shoot there, get the key, bring the guy this thing so he can give you the other things so you can get some money so you can go to the next place or whatever.

[00:11:18] And it's all designed really well and it's really fun.

[00:11:22] This is a really fun action adventure game.

[00:11:26] Should I even say action?

[00:11:28] I mean, there's action.

[00:11:29] But I feel like the action in this game is just like you have a gun and you need to, like, figure out how to get the jump on these guys, which is fun.

[00:11:40] It almost feels like a puzzle, right?

[00:11:42] It doesn't really feel like...

[00:11:44] It's definitely not Contra or whatever.

[00:11:45] And I think that was my problem with a teenager.

[00:11:47] I kept thinking, like, oh, I have a gun.

[00:11:49] I can just shoot these guys.

[00:11:50] Well, not always.

[00:11:51] They can shoot you too and pretty harshly and fast and faster than you.

[00:11:57] And that's fun.

[00:11:58] I think that's really fun.

[00:11:59] It's like, okay, I can adventure around.

[00:12:01] I can take this head.

[00:12:02] Okay, don't really know how to do this one.

[00:12:04] Again, it's not like another rule where you just get zapped and you get put back on a checkpoint.

[00:12:08] This is like a true adventure.

[00:12:10] And I really appreciate that about Flashback.

[00:12:13] Like, okay, you start the game.

[00:12:17] I got a cube.

[00:12:19] Oh, boy.

[00:12:24] To be fair.

[00:12:27] Yeah.

[00:12:28] To be fair.

[00:12:28] And I figured out how to do that because the game showed us with it.

[00:12:31] So credit where credit is due.

[00:12:33] But after that, I start getting maimed by everything and missing jumps because it's not clear what's hitting what or where timing is.

[00:12:40] Like, I'm trying to shoot the knee-high robot.

[00:12:42] I'm like, well, I guess I'm not hitting that.

[00:12:44] So I get, I mean, and to be fair, I don't need to kill everything.

[00:12:47] I figured that out fairly early on.

[00:12:49] If I can, like, run past something and move on to the next screen, oh, fucking K.

[00:12:55] But I guess you just sort of get used to falling down ledges instead of climbing down them in other games in this series.

[00:13:02] I guess, again, another product to play in all these in a row.

[00:13:05] But it just feels weird that this guy is like, well, I guess I'll fall down here instead of climbing down here.

[00:13:12] But it just feels kind of weird.

[00:13:15] Are you just bad at flashback?

[00:13:17] Is that what's happening here?

[00:13:19] Do you just need to get good, bro?

[00:13:20] Is that really the mitigating factor?

[00:13:23] I don't know.

[00:13:24] Maybe.

[00:13:25] But you say it's an adventure and it's fun to explore.

[00:13:27] But I just feel like this is the least compelling of the games we had on the docket, too.

[00:13:31] Like, let's look at everything else we played so far.

[00:13:36] Prince of Persia has a time limit.

[00:13:38] Shadow of the Beast has the funky tunes and the monsters.

[00:13:42] And Another World had a story, you know, so compelling and so on rails and keeping you going that I couldn't help but stick to the end, even if it fucking killed me.

[00:13:52] And as we went over, it did fucking kill me a lot.

[00:13:55] Here we got a cube.

[00:13:58] And you can listen to that cube again and again.

[00:14:02] But, you know, after a while, you're not going to do that.

[00:14:04] So what's your main goal?

[00:14:06] Go to the jungle where things that are green may or may not kill you until you may or may not reach a city?

[00:14:12] You need to stop.

[00:14:13] Yes.

[00:14:14] First of all.

[00:14:14] Yes.

[00:14:15] Secondly, you need to stop mentioning the cube without telling the nerd ass shit that happens in the cube.

[00:14:21] Because you open that holocube.

[00:14:23] It's a holocube.

[00:14:24] Okay.

[00:14:25] It's not just a cube.

[00:14:26] Dun-dun.

[00:14:27] You open holocube.

[00:14:29] And then it's your future self telling you to go to New Washington so you can, like, escape whatever the hell you're in.

[00:14:38] And it's like, New Washington?

[00:14:40] Why is there a New Washington?

[00:14:41] And why are we going to it?

[00:14:43] This is some real nerd shit.

[00:14:45] I mean, yes, but it's also the only crumb they give you for however long bad flashback players are going to stay in the jungle.

[00:14:56] And there are a lot of us.

[00:15:00] I mean, I don't care.

[00:15:01] Y'all are wrong.

[00:15:02] I don't know what to tell you.

[00:15:03] You're wrong.

[00:15:04] I mean, it's just, yes.

[00:15:07] Millions of people can be wrong.

[00:15:09] Maybe if I had a bit more to go on than the cube telling me, Conrad, you must go to the Dagobah system.

[00:15:18] To deal with that, you know, to keep me another, a few more crumbs than that to, you know, keep me going with, to deal with these guys in hoods and the guys with the little robots with the forks, you know, something like, hey, it's that asshole Conrad.

[00:15:32] Like something.

[00:15:34] Okay.

[00:15:34] So by the way.

[00:15:36] Some cinematics.

[00:15:37] Shut up.

[00:15:38] That's how you kill the robots.

[00:15:41] Okay.

[00:15:41] When it takes out this little tuning fork and it's about to zap you with it, you shoot that.

[00:15:45] You're not supposed to shoot the robot.

[00:15:46] You shoot the little fork and then it blows up.

[00:15:50] Okay.

[00:15:50] But again, it doesn't really show you whether you're making a hit or not.

[00:15:55] So again, we're.

[00:15:56] The fucking thing blows up when you fire at the fork.

[00:15:59] I don't know what else.

[00:16:00] I don't know what other cue you need.

[00:16:01] It literally explodes.

[00:16:04] Okay.

[00:16:04] Again, I thought I had to be closer.

[00:16:06] I didn't realize we needed to shoot the fork.

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:08] You shoot the fork and it won't come out if you're shooting.

[00:16:12] So you can't stand there and shoot, shoot, shoot.

[00:16:14] It'll, it'll come out when it feels like it.

[00:16:16] When, and when there's no danger and then you shoot the fork.

[00:16:19] Wow.

[00:16:21] Okay.

[00:16:21] I'm sorry.

[00:16:22] I'm sorry.

[00:16:22] You have to actually think about shit.

[00:16:24] Again, this isn't contrary.

[00:16:25] You can't just go through each, each enemy and how to approach stuff is a puzzle box within itself.

[00:16:31] That's how that's flashback.

[00:16:32] I think some of it's that.

[00:16:34] And I think some of this is Andre liked this game when he had it on his nomad for 50 times.

[00:16:39] Oh my God.

[00:16:40] I don't even, I didn't even remember how to play the game when I got the re-release.

[00:16:44] Jesus Christ.

[00:16:46] Um, anyway, I really enjoy the level design in this game.

[00:16:50] I think is what I'm getting at here because you get to explore this big area, but not like too big.

[00:16:56] Where traversal becomes a chore and it's like, oh, I got to walk all the way over there or something.

[00:17:00] You're like sick of it.

[00:17:01] You have a clear goal.

[00:17:02] You know, you're supposed to escape.

[00:17:04] You know, you're supposed to go to new Washington and the, and the people you meet along the way.

[00:17:09] It's like, Hey, if you go down here, by the way, that makes no fucking sense.

[00:17:12] The guy where you have to find a jet pack, give them 500 credits for a jet pack and fall down that hole.

[00:17:18] And then you go to new Washington.

[00:17:19] Why is it down a hole in the jungle to go to a cyber city?

[00:17:23] I don't know.

[00:17:24] Oh, I thought that made sense.

[00:17:26] I thought you were going to tell me why that made sense.

[00:17:28] Actually.

[00:17:28] No, that doesn't make any fucking sense.

[00:17:30] Okay.

[00:17:31] We're on the same page for one thing, at least, you know, you know what it does to you though.

[00:17:35] Cause like, so when you get the jet pack, I love how it makes the same falling animation as if you're

[00:17:39] going to die, but then it cuts right to the jet pack animation after that falling animation.

[00:17:43] So you think you died at first, but then it's like, no, you didn't.

[00:17:47] Or a way to gaslight the player and they're thinking, ah, geez, I fucked up again.

[00:17:52] Basically the world of flashback, I think is like, I enjoy the vibes more of another world, but the

[00:17:59] world building a flashback I think is, is better.

[00:18:03] And it gets so much more interesting when you get out of that jungle.

[00:18:06] And like I said, into that indoor network of like cyber elevators and you're visiting cyber bars to

[00:18:12] meet your cyber informants.

[00:18:14] Right.

[00:18:14] And you can go to the cyber arena to get some more credits, some more cyber money.

[00:18:18] It's fucking great.

[00:18:20] The, did you see the subway where it's like, you get on the subway and it's like, you're

[00:18:24] going to Asia, the stop called Asia.

[00:18:27] You're going to the stop called Africa.

[00:18:29] Now Europe.

[00:18:31] Now America.

[00:18:31] I don't know why they're named after continents.

[00:18:33] That's like, why do I need to go to cyber Africa to get a job or whatever, to get some

[00:18:38] more credits?

[00:18:38] I don't know.

[00:18:39] But I love, I love that.

[00:18:41] It gives you that like, of course, flashbacks, biggest inspiration is blade runner.

[00:18:45] Gee, could you tell?

[00:18:46] I don't know how it really doesn't.

[00:18:49] It gives you that dingy, dirty future.

[00:18:51] Not like the clean utopia, especially when you get into that subway system and like series

[00:18:57] of elevators and other doors and getting a job to get credits.

[00:19:01] And you just see people scraping by or dead or worse.

[00:19:05] Right.

[00:19:06] Like I just, I don't know, man.

[00:19:08] The world of flashback is very, very, very cool to me.

[00:19:12] And I think the game delivers that.

[00:19:13] And before you accuse me of reading some fucking comic book or whatever that came with my Sega

[00:19:18] Nomad for $50, no, I did not.

[00:19:20] Okay.

[00:19:20] I got this from the game, the game.

[00:19:23] Okay.

[00:19:24] I'm not going to accuse you of that, but I am going to say they make you put a lot of

[00:19:28] work in for that unless you, uh, some, you're some kind of flashback savant.

[00:19:33] I'm not a flashback savant.

[00:19:35] You just have to like, okay.

[00:19:37] I spent a couple hours coming to grips with the controls.

[00:19:40] I'm not going to lie.

[00:19:42] Okay.

[00:19:42] It's a tough controlling game, but I think while it doesn't always.

[00:19:48] It doesn't make the most logistical sense.

[00:19:50] It works.

[00:19:52] Once you get used to it, you have to give it the chance.

[00:19:55] I don't think you gave it the chance.

[00:19:57] Clearly.

[00:19:58] You know what, Andre?

[00:19:59] Maybe you're right.

[00:20:00] I know we were trying to play the authentic versions for this thing, but maybe on my own

[00:20:05] time, I need to just fire up the remaster version on, on my switch game card.

[00:20:11] Yes, I know.

[00:20:12] Let's just keep laughing at things Steve does because that's always funny.

[00:20:15] It is.

[00:20:17] And, and, and I'll, I'll play the modern version where they actually do drop off hints on what

[00:20:22] to do instead of me playing the classic version where I have to guess like some guy who has

[00:20:29] to guess at things.

[00:20:30] Well, the reason why I guess, and yeah, I got the full like flashback game new from Toys

[00:20:35] Arrest with a manual and everything, but it's like, as you can imagine reading those controls

[00:20:39] in a manual manual doesn't do shit for you.

[00:20:42] You just have to play it.

[00:20:44] That's the only way to do it, man.

[00:20:46] I don't know.

[00:20:47] Once you get used to it though, you can do some cool shit.

[00:20:49] I love when you have like the gun out, right?

[00:20:51] There's a guy down on a ledge below you.

[00:20:53] So you kind of just combat roll off the ledge and it's like, boom, you're in perfect firing

[00:20:57] position.

[00:20:58] You take him out.

[00:21:05] It's going to be fun because I always felt like I rolled too fast or well, not too fast,

[00:21:09] but you know, too far or not far enough.

[00:21:11] And when you give up and you hit the game over screen, there's like this blue ass Looney

[00:21:15] Tunes screen that pops up for whatever reason.

[00:21:18] Yeah.

[00:21:19] It's weird.

[00:21:20] To me, that felt more appropriate than anything else because I'm like, I'm goofy as shit

[00:21:25] with no matter what the fuck I'm doing.

[00:21:26] This is some real Looney Tunes shit.

[00:21:28] I'm falling over here.

[00:21:29] I'm getting a fork up on my ass over here.

[00:21:33] This is real ass Looney Tunes shit.

[00:21:36] I'm getting over here with Conrad Hart or whatever his name is.

[00:21:40] Freddy Flashback.

[00:21:41] Freddy Flashback.

[00:21:46] It's really funny that the game over screen is very Looney Tunes.

[00:21:50] It literally should have just said, that's all folks.

[00:21:52] I don't know why they, well, I mean, besides getting sued.

[00:21:55] I mean, it's just, it's ridiculous.

[00:21:57] Where did they come up with that for this Blade Runner ass game?

[00:22:01] I don't know.

[00:22:02] I don't know why it's so Porky Pig.

[00:22:05] It's, it's bizarre.

[00:22:07] Um, shit.

[00:22:08] I don't know what else to say about Flashback.

[00:22:10] I mean, just, just, just incredible vibe.

[00:22:13] 70s and 80s sci-fi pastiche to the nines.

[00:22:16] It's fucking awesome.

[00:22:18] And you're wrong.

[00:22:21] Um, here.

[00:22:22] Okay.

[00:22:22] Let me ask you this.

[00:22:23] Let me ask you this serious question.

[00:22:25] What do you think these reviewers?

[00:22:28] Cause I don't think they're bullshitting.

[00:22:29] I think these, this game got good reviews for a reason.

[00:22:33] They all do mention the controls as a learning curve.

[00:22:35] You're, you're mentioning it as an ultimate hindrance.

[00:22:39] And I don't think it's totally fair to criticize it in that fashion, because I feel like that's a little too modern of you.

[00:22:47] I think we're like, since we're exploring the life and times of the game from that time, not just how we feel about it now.

[00:22:53] I don't know why we're complaining about it so much when they really didn't.

[00:22:59] And that wasn't a control scheme at the time that was normal at any point in history.

[00:23:04] I guess maybe people were just, you know, they were looking forward to the future.

[00:23:12] We sure were.

[00:23:13] I know they weren't necessarily commercial successes, but when you showed off FMV games at, you know, electronics conventions and things, they were, you know, crowd pleasers.

[00:23:22] They didn't show off, but it's like, you know, it gave people an idea of what to look forward to.

[00:23:27] So, you know, even if flashback isn't this 100% perfect all timer of a game, it's something different than what everyone else was doing.

[00:23:37] I get why this was going to review positive at the time.

[00:23:41] I get it.

[00:23:43] Yeah.

[00:23:43] And I also, I'm going to backpedal slightly on what I said last episode about another world, about that being the quintessential cinematic platformer,

[00:23:52] because I don't want to, I still believe that.

[00:23:55] And I still believe another world is a better game, but I think flashback might be the platonic idea of what the genre is to people who might think of it.

[00:24:05] Like another world is like, okay, that's like, consider the Titan flashback will be like for the people, you know, that's what people will think of.

[00:24:13] Again, it's very artistically incredible.

[00:24:17] It's very nineties, even though it takes from the seventies and eighties sci-fi, as I said, it's still that very nineties idea of cyberpunk.

[00:24:24] And it also represents a time where we wanted to advance technology as fast as possible.

[00:24:30] It's the thing I always say about the 16 bit era.

[00:24:32] We were trying to end it as soon as it began.

[00:24:34] We were just doing more here.

[00:24:37] CD attachments.

[00:24:38] Here's a three DO.

[00:24:39] Here's a Jaguar.

[00:24:40] Here's everything like, okay, get to the next thing, get to the next thing.

[00:24:43] That's how it felt like to me.

[00:24:45] And at that point in history, a lot of people were real tired of the same old hop and bop platformers or running guns.

[00:24:54] Like we were just reaching our limit.

[00:24:57] Look, I'll always love that stuff.

[00:24:59] But I think Steve, it's like you said, where people were wanting the future.

[00:25:03] I really do think that's true.

[00:25:05] We kept looking for what's next and flashback in a way felt like what's next.

[00:25:12] And even though, you know, that was just a moment in time, it's not like games on PlayStation and Nintendo 64 played a whole lot like that outside of a few exceptions.

[00:25:21] Flashback felt like the future, even though it wasn't.

[00:25:24] And I don't know, as far as far as like solving the problem of like the same old type of games, flashback felt like the antidote to that.

[00:25:32] And I think that statement lives bigger than like its quality as a game, no matter what you and I think of it.

[00:25:39] I feel like we can agree on that.

[00:25:42] Okay, Andre, you know what?

[00:25:44] In the spirit of the holidays and because you're technically right in this situation.

[00:25:50] Yes, I can agree.

[00:25:51] That is more important.

[00:25:54] I feel like, I mean, I don't have any wild horses around here, but I felt like something was dragging that out of you.

[00:26:00] I don't know what.

[00:26:01] Look, you know me.

[00:26:03] Maybe I'm just being an asshole.

[00:26:05] And you know, you're already right.

[00:26:07] Video games are still in their infancy at this point and everyone's still feeling their way around, right?

[00:26:12] Or maybe the best is still yet to come on our little program.

[00:26:16] Who's to really say, right?

[00:26:18] I mean, are there better games in these?

[00:26:21] Yeah, I guess there is.

[00:26:22] Well, according to you, we're going to have a rankings fight later, I think.

[00:26:27] Okay, Andre, you know what?

[00:26:28] Objectively, you're right.

[00:26:29] But I'm still having a hard time thinking of you as a teenager playing flashback on your nomad because...

[00:26:37] I did.

[00:26:39] I know, I know.

[00:26:40] But think of me, you know, slightly younger, you know?

[00:26:44] Because I am slightly younger than you.

[00:26:46] And I'm going to keep rubbing that in as long as I can.

[00:26:49] And I rented a lot of video games.

[00:26:53] And I'm really, really trying to imagine how much time I would have given to flashback in particular if it was in my possession.

[00:27:05] Because if I rented this game, once I figured out how jumping worked, like once I figured out it was with up and not with a button,

[00:27:14] even though the Super Nintendo had all these buttons, I may well have said, well, this was a bummer of a weekend.

[00:27:21] And put it back in the box and returned it to the store.

[00:27:25] Now, I might have given it more time if it got saddled the game for my birthday.

[00:27:32] But in the end, I don't think I could have ever really considered this an all-time.

[00:27:36] And, you know, the young kid tactic of, let's take turns, we'll pass the controller, we'll get through this thing eventually.

[00:27:45] That's not going to work out a game this deliberate, so...

[00:27:48] Are you sure?

[00:27:49] I mean, I feel like I would have definitely done that.

[00:27:52] I mean, look, I've done that with, like, Echo the Dolphin.

[00:27:55] I remember there was, like, a group of, like, seven of us or something.

[00:27:59] Huddle around the city of Genesis.

[00:28:00] Okay, you make the dolphin drown now.

[00:28:02] Okay, but Flashback wants you to do some very exact things.

[00:28:08] Okay, I'm not sure what everyone else in my young childhood is doing right now,

[00:28:12] but I'm the one that grew up to do a video game podcast.

[00:28:15] We weren't all whiz kids at the controller.

[00:28:18] I don't know if we were all going to beat a Flashback by passing around the controller

[00:28:22] because we were barely beating a Mega Man by passing around the controller.

[00:28:27] I don't know.

[00:28:28] This feels like out of the depth of the children.

[00:28:31] So, who was the 750,000 people buying Flashback for their video game systems and computers?

[00:28:39] Me in 1998 from Toys R Us, apparently, like, years later.

[00:28:44] I don't know, man.

[00:28:45] Like, I feel like if I were, like, in my 30s or something

[00:28:48] and I grew up loving Blade Runner or something,

[00:28:51] like, yeah, this would be, like, the best game of all time.

[00:28:53] I would have had it on Sega CD, though, if I had the discretionary and some income to do so.

[00:28:58] And that's the best version, by the way.

[00:29:00] Definitely play Flashback on Sega CD.

[00:29:03] If you're going to, quote-unquote, archive this, the re-release version doesn't have those touches,

[00:29:07] and I think it makes the game way better, such as, like, voice acting and other Red Book fun stuff.

[00:29:12] So, definitely Sega CD if you're going to archive, quote-unquote, the game.

[00:29:17] Yeah.

[00:29:18] I don't know.

[00:29:18] Fine.

[00:29:20] You've beat it out of me.

[00:29:21] Fine.

[00:29:22] You've changed my mind.

[00:29:23] Flashback sucks.

[00:29:24] I think it sucks now.

[00:29:26] Come on, Andre.

[00:29:28] It's terrible.

[00:29:29] I think we're allowed to have differing opinions and still be friends.

[00:29:34] Well, we're going to have a very differing opinion now because where are we going to rank this?

[00:29:38] Because I want to put it above – well, I don't know.

[00:29:40] I don't think we will.

[00:29:42] Are we going to put it between another world and Shadow of the Beast?

[00:29:46] So, Prince of Persia and another world above it.

[00:29:48] Shadow of the Beast, Heart of the Alien below it.

[00:29:51] Yeah, that's where it goes.

[00:29:52] I mean, if I had my draw, there's Prince of Persia, it would be third.

[00:29:56] But, you know, I don't think I'm going to talk you off that perch.

[00:29:58] But I'm acquiescing for now, and I'm going to put Flashback down here, even though it feels wrong.

[00:30:04] Oh, you do have some holiday spirit in you, after all.

[00:30:10] Well, what are they called in this game?

[00:30:13] Morphs?

[00:30:13] What do they call the aliens?

[00:30:16] Oh.

[00:30:16] Morphics?

[00:30:18] It's something sci-fi-y that was definitely in the back of someone's notebook forever.

[00:30:25] It was probably one of those holocubes, and I wasn't paying attention.

[00:30:28] Anyway, next week on Cinematic Platformer Paradise, here's your hint.

[00:30:34] Next time you explore an alien planet, be sure to keep your strength up, or else your vision might fade to black.

[00:30:46] You haven't been trying anymore.

[00:30:47] No. See you next time on Cinematic Platformer Paradise.