The 3DO Experience - Episode 43: Toys For Bob: An Underrated Legend!!

[00:00:00] Have you experienced the awesome power of the Panasonic Real 3DO System? Obviously. Presenting 3DO, the most advanced home gaming system in the universe. It's time to put away your toys. 3DO from Panasonic Gold Star and Creative Labs. A new low price and free games.

[00:00:23] Enjoying graphics of Panasonic Real 3DO. 3DO. Hello everybody and welcome back to the 3DO Experience, the 3DO Retrospective Podcast where we talk about all things 3DO, the company and everything in between. I'm Bill and this is Thrak. How are you doing Thrak? I'm fucking sore. How are you?

[00:00:50] My tooth still hurts, but that's just how it is. Did you get your little surgery thing? I got my appointment. It's not till next month. Gotta wait for that. It's not like in searing pain anymore. Now it's just kind of annoying pain. So I know what you mean.

[00:01:10] Yeah, it's funny. I went and got my prescription for antibiotics and then like the second after I got it, the pain went away. I was like great. Oh, there you go. So could have been worse, I guess. Yeah.

[00:01:23] Now I just have some drugs on my counter that I don't know what to do with. Hell yeah. You take them. That's what you do. They told me not to take if I don't need them and I'm not in pain. So. Fair enough.

[00:01:36] If you don't want to get addicted to prescription drugs, not really. Frankly, not not. That's okay. I mean when I got my wisdom teeth removed, they gave me the like the giant ibuprofen's like the like the massive horse pill ones.

[00:01:55] I still have them excited and use them all and then they gave me I forget what it was. I forget it was like an opiate or something.

[00:02:02] I never bothered taking it and I've always had this thought where it's like say I had a week off from work and I'm like, oh on the first day, let me just take one see what happens. I have yet to do that though.

[00:02:16] Yeah, I don't know about that. Just because I'm like, well, I have all this free time. So. Yeah, I had performed surgery on an original Xbox over the weekend. That was fun. Yeah, I saw that.

[00:02:29] Because my original one the disk drive completely shit the bed on me and I was like great. So I went to this retro store and they had two OG Xboxes sitting there and they were like 60 bucks a piece and I was like,

[00:02:43] that's really good for an original Xbox. So were they like, oh, they don't work. No, they said both of them worked and I was like, okay, that's fine. I'm like, did you guys open them up and pull out the capacitor and the guy's like, no, probably not.

[00:02:55] I'm like, okay gonna have to check that. So to be fair, it's super easy to do. Oh yeah. It well, it's super easy if you're good at taking apart stuff because I'm not gonna lie taking apart an original Xbox is kind of a pain in the ass.

[00:03:10] The only thing that sucks about it is you have to take you literally like the board is on the bottom. So you have to take the cover off, take off the disk drive, take out the hard drive all that crap.

[00:03:21] Yeah, you got to do the whole nine, which if you just follow a YouTube video, you'll be fine. It's not hard. It's just kind of a pain. It's very much it's the original Xbox. Yeah, it is very much a PC on the inside.

[00:03:34] So, oh yeah, but so I ended up getting it and I opened it up and I was like this thing is fucking disgusting. Like it was so much so much dust and I was just like I looked at the back and it was a 2003 model. So like, okay.

[00:03:50] Yeah, this thing's definitely got bad capacitors. So I'm sitting here and I had never actually checked what year my original one was. So I happened to go upstairs and just pull it out and I looked at the back and it's 2005.

[00:04:01] I'm like, this is one of the good ones. I'm like, I can't throw this away. So I can you replace the disk drive? That's what I found out.

[00:04:11] So what I did was because I opened it up and I there was two bulging capacitors in there and the ironically the clock one didn't bulge which was weird. Well, I know starting sometime in like 03 if your capacitor.

[00:04:24] Yeah, if it's past a certain firmware or if it's like it has like gold around it, you're good. You're fine. You don't have to worry about it. So I know I think my Xbox is like 2001. I think like the firmware on it was super old though.

[00:04:39] When I took it out, I found it and and they all said like well de-soldering is is the cleaner way to do it. But I don't know how to de-solder.

[00:04:47] So I just ripped it but then I cleaned it up and you know through the compressed air and see it was fucking dirty as shit because I bought mine off McCarrey. So like I got a deal on it, but it was in very rough shape.

[00:05:00] But I've cleaned it up and given it some love. So and that's saying the thing where this drive works the hard drive works like everything works perfectly fine. The only weird thing is the disk the disk drive needs a disk in it to work.

[00:05:15] Like if you don't have a disk in it, it won't eject which doesn't make any sense to me to be fair. He put that in the description.

[00:05:24] He's like as long as you have a disk in it and you're fine and I tested it and for some reason it'll it'll try to open it'll get jammed.

[00:05:32] If there's no disk in it that sounds a lot like what mine was doing like where the belt would slip. I don't know what the disk being in it has to do with that, but I don't know either.

[00:05:43] But to I mean to be fair the only times I've had disks not in it is when it wouldn't open. So I don't I don't know. So just to be safe. I just keep a disk in it and I don't worry about it.

[00:05:55] What was kind of crazy though? It's kind of funny. What was crazy though is like I opened it because I had never opened my original one the 2005 one I had and that thing I got in a flea market.

[00:06:07] So I was I had terrors of what was in this thing. Yes, I I'd never opened up. I never cleaned it. I opened it up. It was mint inside.

[00:06:14] I was like what the hell like this thing is like clean as can be well you took care of it.

[00:06:19] I guess I mean I do have it in like a case so it's not like out in the open but I was sure because this thing was a flea market Xbox. I had been a flea markets for a while.

[00:06:29] But yeah, so I once I realized that the thing was like I couldn't get rid of the original and I just like I googled them like are the disk drives interchangeable and it's like they're not the same but you can swap them.

[00:06:42] So I was like all right might as well try so I took the disk drive out of the disgusting one cleaned it up stuck it in the new one closed it back together booted it up worked like a charm. I was like hell yeah.

[00:06:54] So you got a nice minty one now. Yeah, and I also have a gross one for parts that I'm going to just hold on to for now. There you go.

[00:07:03] So I bought a extra s controller because the s controller it came with let me see if I can grab it like it's perfectly fine. But like the the sticks are like fucking awful.

[00:07:19] I don't know if you can see them but they're like they're like kind of chewed on the side and like they they drift just a little bit. So I so I bought another one and it works perfectly fine. No problem.

[00:07:32] But for some reason I think the where the the wire goes into the controller is loose. So there so more often than not it'll say like all your controller disconnected and I like open the thing up and tried to like reset it and make it tighter.

[00:07:49] But it's just it's not working. So I just fucking deal with it which it is more of a nuisance than anything else. But you know I'm trying to figure it out. Maybe I should ask that OG Xbox reddit maybe they know something.

[00:08:02] Yeah, that was the one upside to getting another OG Xbox. I now have two s controllers and a Duke. Oh, yeah, I got my Duke right here. That's the thing the Duke works perfectly fine. Like I bought this in a store for like 20 25 bucks. Perfect.

[00:08:18] Like it's minty like it feels like it was barely ever used. It probably wasn't. It's not a lot of people like the Duke in the day. I get it like I don't hate that. I don't hate that controller.

[00:08:29] But now that I've put more time in the S I prefer the S. Well, yeah, it's because it's a proto 360 controller basically. Yeah, it's not as good as that though. Well, they perfected it like I still get thrown off by the

[00:08:42] fact that the OG Xbox controller doesn't have bumpers. That's still throws me out a lot. Yeah, the black and white buttons are I'm not a fan of them at all. Like even on like I think this the placement of them

[00:08:54] is better on the Duke like having them at the top as opposed to off weirdly to the side same with like starting back, you know, like I hate I hate where they sit on the S. They're just way too out of the way for me.

[00:09:06] But everything else is fine. Like the D pads fine. I guess sticks are fine buttons feel good. The triggers I like the back triggers are really nice. It reminds me a lot of the Dreamcast controller in a lot of ways, which is interesting because Sega has

[00:09:22] the memory card slots. Yeah that are pretty sure I've never seen an original Xbox memory card. Me either. Sorry, which is insane because I'm sure I'm sure they're dirt cheap though. Probably it's funny because I've seen Xbox 360 memory cards, but I've never seen an original Xbox memory card.

[00:09:44] Let me see. Okay, there's the first one I see on eBay. It's 18 bucks. We're for an OEM one. I might buy one just to have one but I thought about it. They're a little more expensive than I expected but not terrible.

[00:10:04] Yeah, I mean, this is a guy who spent a lot of money on that Seagate 2 terabyte expansion for a series X. That's good thing you mentioned Sega because you know must play over here the combo but the game I've because I have my Xbox plugged into that old

[00:10:22] CRT. So that's what I've been testing stuff on and the game I've been playing is Star Wars Battlefront just because it's you know, it's I'm getting a bit of that nostalgia wave playing it on an old last TV. I'm like, oh, I remember this and the thing is

[00:10:38] I remember I played the PS2 version. So I remember those load times being awful but on Xbox they are fucking seamless. It's great. Yeah, it is very amazing actually kind of like playing Xbox stuff now and just realizing holy shit like this thing was really ahead of its

[00:10:56] time. Oh, yeah, the hard drive was really nice and a lot of games I think probably why they look and run best on here is because they're probably offloading stuff into the hard drive probably so things could run better. So there are some games or I've noticed like

[00:11:11] the load times are a little bit longer but you end up with like more seamless gameplay when you get to it. But then there are some games that load like pretty quick especially for games from this era. So speaking of load times and games you've

[00:11:27] been playing recently you guys have been enjoying the hell out of Sonic go six over on the game club. Yes, I have a physical not a family platinum hits copy because I have more available. This is a this is a genuine like first label

[00:11:42] print run or whatever the fuck they say. I don't know. I have a platinum hits version because I could I do not and it's got the manual in it. Oh the manual that has the list of power ups for knuckles that aren't in the fucking game.

[00:11:55] Oh, that's true. It's a black and white manual which is sad. Yeah. It's I mean the manual is okay. It could be worse. My favorite part of the game concept thing like that's like funny downstage mission bullshit like that doesn't make any sense.

[00:12:15] See all the power up items items objects pause menu. I mean there's that nice, you know looking at Soleanna or whatever the fuck the most soul soul Soleanna. No it ain't lifeless. There's life in there man. Yeah, you got guys going hey and that

[00:12:34] dude looks like and that dude who looks like Mario and he's like, like playing the accordion. Yeah. What about like like the game is so but ugly dude. Oh my God. They look worse than Sims characters. Like it is but what's weird is like

[00:12:51] the first guy at the shop like when you buy the light chip like that guy looks that guy looks fine. The one black guy in the game. He looks fine. Like his character model isn't bad. Well, he was actually designed the rest

[00:13:04] of all randomly generated look like PS 1 models. It's awful. My favorite part about you guys playing that is like I'm just sitting here like you guys are all talking about your grievances. I'm just like vicariously laughing in the background like I yes they're experiencing

[00:13:19] the wonders awful but I have a nice clean copy that I paid too much money for but I totally care. I don't care. I totally called it. I'm like crisis City is going to be the run under and then you were like fuck crisis City. I'm done.

[00:13:34] I say I was doing fine until I got to the mock speed section because then I learned oh in that if you jump whatever direction you're going is the direction you're going. So I flew off that thing so much and I would try to use the light

[00:13:51] chip to hang with the rings. But of course I would just naturally get hit. I did get past it. I did but then I got to the volcano section and flame core. Yeah, and the fuck it like like they give you like the two speed panels

[00:14:07] that go on the wall and like one of them just doesn't fucking work. The other one barely works. It's I got Ben like I gamed over on it and I was like fuck this. So I'm also playing doom 2016 because well last week they had a couple days ago.

[00:14:25] They had the Xbox showcase and it was a very good show. I think doing the Dark Ages looked really really fucking cool and I'm like, well, I haven't played those two yet as 2016 and eternal. So I have them both now. So I'm working a bit on 2016.

[00:14:42] It is a very very good game. So it's not as crazy fast-paced as I expected but it is still very very good. So a lot of glory kills. So I'm having a good time with I'll give you one hint for 06 for when you get to it.

[00:14:57] Eventually when you get back to the Soleanna town, you can go back to the store and the guy will sell you these gems and these gems give you different shoe powers because you did that mission early in the game to get the special shoes.

[00:15:13] There are most all of them are pretty much useless except for the red gem and the purple gem the red gem. Most people think does nothing. It actually slows down time. So it makes the game playable. No, it's it. So it doesn't slow Sonic down

[00:15:32] at all, but it slows everything around you down. See the problem is Sonic moves way too fucking fast. The reason I bring it up is there's some timed missions later on that it makes absolutely trivial because it slows down the timer and the

[00:15:47] best part is Sega forgot to program in the fucking meter in the corner. So they just unlimited. I like it and then the purple gem lets you it shrinks Sonic down really tiny makes him run really fast, but it also lets you jump infinitely.

[00:16:02] Probably wasn't supposed to do that, but that's what it does. Probably not most of this game when something weird happens. I'm like, yeah, there's no way that this was meant to be like like it's so weird the game. I think it has testers in the

[00:16:15] credits, but they probably weren't able to do much like I think so. I think I think the story with this game is that they just they rushed it out because they wanted to have, you know, the the big next gen Sonic game

[00:16:32] and this was meant to be like the reboot for it, you know, and it was what the 15th anniversary I believe so so they were trying to game came out on the 15th anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis on the GBA. Yep. And Sonic Riders and Sonic Rivals.

[00:16:49] What a great what a great anniversary. A lot of fucking games in that era. So and this was sort of meant to be the the crown jewel and it just yeah, and yeah, they rushed it out. So because when the fuck they start working on it's 2005

[00:17:07] maybe who knows? Let's see. Apparently they started working on it after they finished Billy Hatcher, which was that came out of three. So a different team must that's right because Billy Hatcher was made by Sonic Team Japan. Yeah, meanwhile the Sonic games that were coming out

[00:17:25] at that time were made by Sega Studio USA. So it was a different team that makes sense because I was trying to think if it started then made Shadow and I was right. It was the USA version of Sonic Team. Let's see development began in late 2004.

[00:17:45] So yeah, and the reason they called it the same as Sonic the Hedgehog was to be a major advance from the previous games. So people think it was a reboot. Oh, and it's in the Havok engine. That's right. The fun fact about the game

[00:17:59] not only does it use Havok it uses Havok on fucking everything in the game. That's why it runs like absolute shit because the Havok engine is trying to use everything. Yeah, like this game it's just so fucking weird like and that doesn't even look good.

[00:18:14] Like it looks gross. You know what I mean? Like the demo looked better but even that is just like like the color palettes that they choose are not great. Like Sonic is like his blue is just weirdly bad. Like the CGI cutscenes don't even look that good.

[00:18:30] Like the whole game just has this ugly realistic look to it but it's it just doesn't but it completely clashes with the the standard Sonic characters that we know. You know, like the whole thing is just just fucking wrong. It was it was clearly

[00:18:45] them trying to make the gritty reboot for Sonic and it just was not the way to go. They made all the characters like super realistic. Yeah, well, I mean all the human characters but then you got the Sonic characters running around they look like giant mascots running around

[00:19:00] everywhere. Yeah, seriously. They look like they're like you know, we're in we're in like, you know, Kings Island or some shit like it's ridiculous man. Yeah, there's so many things about this game. We could honestly do a whole podcast on it at some point but um, Well apparently,

[00:19:17] Yuji Naka was involved in it but then he left. After a while to form his own company. This is the game that made him quit our favorite convicted felon, Yuji Naka. Yes. I'm getting sentenced to do didn't he just get probation? I forget honestly.

[00:19:34] I know it was so stupid. Yeah, but like yeah, so they were working on that and then the team that was working on it split in half. So like the other half went to do Sonic and the Secret Rings. An arguably an arguably worse game for real.

[00:19:50] Like what the fucking hell? Yeah, and it took an amazing soundtrack. Got an amazing soundtrack. It's not even like one of the better ones to be honest. I don't know. That's a debate. That's a good debatable. I don't know. Basically as I'm playing this game, I'm just clamoring

[00:20:06] for Unleashed so fucking bad because Unleashed is so much better. Like I feel like I may need to play Unleashed when I finish this just to wash the taste out of my mouth because it is an absolute fucking dumpster fire. It is fucking crazy, awful, but it's an

[00:20:23] absolute must play like it's amazing because it never gets. There's always something new. Yeah, and it's and I'd still tell everybody like you need to play this game like you need to like it's it's kind of a requirement just to know because it's legendarily bad,

[00:20:45] but you don't know how bad it really is unless you sit down and play it. Yeah, but but but at the same time, it's an entertaining bad like I'm having a fucking fun time even though it's like fuck this bullshit, but it's fucking entertaining.

[00:21:00] You know what I mean? Like it's not dull at all. So I unironically kind of like the game just because of how fucking insane it is. Yeah, any love I have for would be ironic. No one irony from here like, you know me. I defend Sonic a lot.

[00:21:17] I don't I don't know if I can with this one. I've tried before, but I'm like, I don't know man. I don't know about that. I just love how fucking unhinged this game is like and yet the Mitsu gave it a 30 out of 40. Yeah, come on, man.

[00:21:35] Well, I remember all those fucking reviewers like we're like, oh my God, Secret Rings is so much better. Like no, it's not. No, I'd rather play this. Yeah, Secret Rings. At least this is playable even if the controls are a fucking nightmare. Secret Rings is like

[00:21:52] you're at the mercy of the fucking we mode. Yeah. Yeah, like it's Metacritic is a 46 and I think that's I think that's right. That feels right to me. Yeah, ironically, they've rated Black Knight lower and I think Black Knight is a much better game. Yeah, I don't like

[00:22:09] Black Knight much either, but they did face a lot of the issues with Secret Rings. At least it's playable. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, Play Magazine gave this an 85. Who the fuck is Play Magazine? I don't know, but they gave they gave hurdy-gurdy a 100. Do you know her?

[00:22:33] Do you know hurdy-gurdy? Yeah, it's one of course non Tomb Raider games. Yeah. Yeah. One of my work buddies that was his PS2 game. I was like the PS2 game he played the most. So he's told me all I need to know about that game. Fun.

[00:22:49] Oh, yeah, a nightmare. But yeah, so anyways, this is a 3DO podcast. We should probably move on to our topic for this episode. I think they'd rather just talk about Sonic. I don't know. I don't know about that. Some people really don't like Sonic. Fuck them.

[00:23:07] They're dumb asses. Too bad. They're either they're either pieces of shit or they're contrarian dicks or they've never played a Sonic game in their life. That, yeah. Or all the above or they're just a special case like say our good buddy Burger Champ who, you know,

[00:23:26] to be fair, I know he has given them a fair shake. He has like the history to like at least back it up. Yeah, like he said he played them when they weren't like fresh like even the Genesis ones and he just said they didn't click with him.

[00:23:41] That's fair. Yeah. Like like, you know, like, you know, Burger's opinions like he's not he doesn't fucking care what people think. He's not trying to say a specific opinion to get like engagement or clicks like he's not really a social media guy. Like his opinion is

[00:23:57] genuinely his opinion on something. Well, yeah, there's a difference between saying I don't like this because it didn't click with me versus her der Sonic was never good. Yeah, though. I think he leans into that just just just to piss people off. You know, well, I mean,

[00:24:12] if it's if you're doing it just as a joke, that's different than actually believing that which some people seriously do. Exactly. Yeah, those people are weird. But yeah, so after this I'm probably going to have to well playing Doom is a nice refresher so I can, you know,

[00:24:27] blow the heads off some some some demons and then I'll probably have to end up playing unleashed and then you can play colors and then generations I've played colors already. Well, if you're going down the list though, you play unleashed then you play colors and then generations Sonic

[00:24:42] X shadow, whatever the fuck it's called. Oh, yeah. You can replay that. See, I'm with that game. I am I am. I'm going to try to get Dre from fine time and Chris from a novel console to try to get those two to collab with me together

[00:24:58] on that game because I don't know why because those two don't know each other. But I feel like if they did, I feel like they become friends. I'm amazed they don't because they're in similar circles. They just probably don't and they have similar opinions.

[00:25:13] And they're both kind of old. Well, I think Dre is older, but you know. Yeah, yeah. But I'm again, I'm getting both and the three of us will talk about Shadow generations or whatever, because you know, you know, you know, I'm playing it. Sonic X Shadow,

[00:25:31] the most risky Google search you'll ever have. Yeah. And somebody asked Sega like, oh, what they were like, oh, do you guys want are you guys going to keep remastering old Sonic titles? Yeah. They need to do heroes like heroes is the one that I think needs it.

[00:25:48] I think heroes with a better engine would actually be a really good game. And it's not available. Outside of like the standard PS2 Xbox GameCube, like it never got a port ever. I even was on Steam. It was on PC, but it never got brought the steam. Yeah.

[00:26:07] So that game it was on Steam. It was on PC, but it never got brought the steam. Give that game a glow up. It's it's not bad. Like Adventure 1 and 2. If you do that, you kind of need to remake them. You know, Adventure 1. Yeah.

[00:26:25] One and two like they both need the glow up. I think. See what heroes I think if you just clean heroes up, you know, maybe put in a new engine. I think it would translate better as like a like a nice remaster. Yeah, honestly.

[00:26:41] Hey, some people watch Shadow remastered. Bucket, why not? That game's a comedy. I don't care what anyone says. It's really expensive. I don't know. I don't why that game is so pricey. I am shadow the hedgehog. This is who I I don't know. But anyway,

[00:27:03] you know Steve Jobs died a ligma. Who the hell is Steve Jobs? Ligma balls. Shout out. Shout out to Jet. What a great YouTuber. Love him. So. Going on to our topic now before this just becomes the sonic podcast. I mean, I'm here. You already it already is.

[00:27:27] I know. So for our topic for this episode, we decided because the game we're playing for 3DO this. Next is a bit on the longer side. We decided to do another filler episode. And yeah, I haven't ordered that one. Well, I haven't. I haven't touched it yet.

[00:27:45] I've been kind of busy. I mean same to be honest. Well, also I didn't mention that. I have a job interview the day that this comes up. So nice. Maybe maybe I'll actually get something. Who knows last one didn't go too well.

[00:27:59] So maybe this one will be better. Anyways, hoping for the best. But yeah, so like we've done with our previous episodes, we're doing another developer showcase because the 3DO had a few developers. That were pretty key to it. Some early years previously, we've talked about EA

[00:28:19] and we've talked about Crystal Dynamics. This time we're going to talk about a company that kind of gets overshadowed at least for their early years. Nowadays, they're kind of a household name in that studio is Toys for Bob. Toys for Bob Toys for Bob a to me.

[00:28:39] It feels like they were a dev team that didn't really get any sort of recognition or notoriety until like maybe 10 years ago. Yeah, maybe 15 years ago. Ironically creating a game that was incredibly polarizing at the time it came out. Oh yes, but we'll get to that.

[00:29:02] So little backstory on Toys for Bob. They're actually a lot older than you'd think. They were founded in 1989 35 years ago. by Paul Reach III and Fred Ford. And I didn't know this, but they were actually owned by Crystal Dynamics from 1993 to 2000. It kind of makes sense

[00:29:27] because their early gameography is closely tied to Crystal. And I was reading into it. Apparently at one point Crystal just kind of laid off the entire team and then the co-owners with Terry Falls basically reincorporated the studio as an independent studio

[00:29:48] in 2002, which is around the time the iconic Toys for Bob logo was first introduced. And they signed a publishing deal with Activision who would then later buy them in 2005 and the rest is kind of history from there. Yes, then they kind of gained their

[00:30:04] the reputation that they have today. Hmm. But before we get into that we should talk about their early years and they made a lot of games that a lot of people wouldn't know was actually them because in their early days they were never really credited for anything.

[00:30:23] Yeah, very much a ghost dev. Is that the term we would use? I mean, I know there's like ghost writers in music, but I don't know if that term would apply to the games like a ghost studio. I don't really know.

[00:30:38] I guess so because they're kind of like Toze like because Toze develops a ton of games, but they're never credited. But Toze still does that like Toys for Bob isn't that anymore. True. I mean Toys for Bob has stepped on their own these days.

[00:30:54] Oh, yeah, we'll get to that. But yeah, Toze like their list of credits are long and wide and it's so weird that they like don't get much credit for anything they do, which I don't quite understand why. But you know, their most recent thing Toze did as far

[00:31:14] as I know is that Dragon Quest Monsters game on Switch. So which I heard was fine, but I haven't played it yet. Yeah. So going back now to Toys for Bob, their first game was a little game called Star Control. Yes.

[00:31:34] A series of games because there will there's a sequel that have quite a bit of a following. People really like these games, mainly Star Control 2. Like Star Control 2 is considered like one of the the better games, say on the 3DO, because it has a 3DO version.

[00:31:54] I don't think Star Control 1 has a 3DO port. No, that was mostly... I think it came out before. It's got a Sega Genesis port. Hell yeah. Alright. Yeah, baby. Yes, Star Control 2 though. That's where that's where the 3DO connection comes from.

[00:32:10] Star Control 2 had a 3DO and an MS-DOS port. Yes. Star Control is interesting because it's kind of like it was heavily inspired by like the extremely classic game Space War. Isn't that like the first video game ever made? That's debatable because some would say Tennis for Two

[00:32:30] was the first video game ever created. Oh, on the old radar equipment? Yeah, that's a debated topic, but it's one of the first games ever created. Like Space War, was that like the first commercially available game? I don't even know.

[00:32:46] I don't even think no, it wasn't even commercially available because it was on the radar equipment. The version that you're thinking of was probably Computer Space, which was Nolan Bushnell's Rip-Off. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, the games though themselves like Star Control. I can see the appeal.

[00:33:05] I'm not quite sure this is something I would play on my own. The thing is with the Star Control games is that they are very very like some other games we've talked about in the show. It's very influential. Like I've played a little bit of Star Control 2

[00:33:24] which is available for free on PC under the name. Was it the your Kwan Masters? Which is the source code for the 3DO version converted to PC. So it is very it is playable on there and it is a very interesting game.

[00:33:41] It's it's one of those games that has a lot of depth to it. Like there's there's a lot of shit you could do. It's very heavy on like the space exploration and and you could see games like Mass Effect being influenced by it.

[00:33:55] You know, I mean like this is arguably the Mass Effect of its day. Yeah, like kind in a similar way because I also I also thought Wing Commander was very Mass Effect and it had a lot of inspiration in Mass Effect as well.

[00:34:08] Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if Star Control had some influence on it as well because it is kind of more open-ended which is what people really like about it. It's a game that look I feel like I would sink

[00:34:21] a lot of time into but I'd have to like be like I'd have to have it like put in my face for me to really play it. It's not something I'd go out of my way to play. I could see that.

[00:34:30] I mean one of these days will play on the show. Oh, yeah, we have to eventually. There was a third game Star Control 3 but the the toys for Bob was not involved with that at all. Yeah, it was Legend Entertainment which I

[00:34:45] don't I've I've never heard of them before. Yeah, never they don't have a Wikipedia page. So that's oh no, they do. Yeah, I'm looking at their games right now. They did a lot of graphic adventure games. Like like a mission critical Deathgate Superhero League of Hoboken.

[00:35:06] That's a great name. Oh, they were Eric the Unready. I love that name. They were owned by Atari Grahams for a while there and the last game they are credited with is Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. It was that do you remember when the third

[00:35:24] Terminator movie came out and there was like three Terminator 3 games like at the around the same time. There was Rise of the Machines War of the Machines and the Redemption and they're all like slightly different. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I remember this game.

[00:35:39] I used to see this on the shelf all the time. Yeah, they're all published by Atari that weird era where Atari was really pushing for this kind of stuff. Atari Grahams. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I have I have Indigo Prophecy. Yes.

[00:35:56] Yeah, so and then of course following Star Control they went and made the horde which we've talked about previously quite an interesting game. I still think I still think about the horde it had potential. I just it was kind of one of those

[00:36:10] games that I feel like just time didn't do in any favors, you know night dive have been doing all these fucking ports and remasters of games, especially like greedy and killing time Pio and killing time. They should fucking do the horde man. Have they done non FPS's?

[00:36:31] Maybe I don't know. Let me check but that should be their first non FPS game. They haven't heard damn right. Let's see first person shooter. They've done a third person adventure game called Noctropolis. But but but but but but these are all these are all shooters.

[00:36:57] But is Shadow Man a shooter? Do you call Shadow Man one? Kinda kinda. I mean, isn't it first person? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a first person game. So it's there all day. Oh Blade Runner the point and click adventure Blade Runner game. Okay. That was them.

[00:37:15] So yeah, potential. Yeah, the potential for sure. So oh and they're doing the thing. The remaster of that game, which I always thought that game was bad. Oh, you're in the minority there because a lot of people love that game. Well, when I discovered that game,

[00:37:32] it was through the review that Spoonie did back in the day. So I was a big fan of Spoonie Noah and Twiler and his video is like this game's fucking dog shit. So I never played it and the footage she showed the game looks pretty rough.

[00:37:47] But with that, but them doing the remaster of it, I may check that out. It's considered a cult classic. So yeah, yeah. So I'll probably give it a try whenever it comes out because that's the thing with night dive stuff. They announce it and we're like,

[00:38:04] when is it coming? And they're like, it's coming. And you just kind of wait. At least they're not like like peoed supposed. Oh, yeah, they're better than that. Though they work closely with LGR. But like P.O. is it's slated for this year as far as I know.

[00:38:23] But I don't I don't know they haven't given a date as far as I know. It's that's only going to be 20 bucks and that's not bad. I'll pay 20 for that. Hopefully it's a play. Hopefully it's playable. I have to revisit that and then killing time like that.

[00:38:38] I'll probably when we finally do killing time. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, it's fucking out. I was the peoed version. Yeah, it's just right there. It came out in May. Shit, I didn't know. See, it's out of them. So eventually we will. This will be on the shortlist folks.

[00:38:59] Well, it's on Steam. I don't know if it's on consoles yet. It probably is on console. We'll probably do and 20 bucks is not a bad price for that. We'll probably do like some like a compilation episode at some point where we revisit a couple like games

[00:39:10] and just give like updates like we can throw a road Avenger or Road Redemption, whatever it's called in there. Oh yeah, that'll be a good one to do. Yeah, I will add this to the wish list my Xbox wish list. See, it's annoying.

[00:39:25] I don't know if PlayStation is better with this, but I wish I could go through like like publisher developer like I could click their name and be like, oh, here's all their games, you know, Xbox doesn't let me do that. I don't know if PlayStation lets

[00:39:40] you do that. And then it's not much better. Yeah, I think Steam lets you which I like steam. It had seems just a better at everything honestly. How true how true I mean heck heck if the next Xbox they they let you sideload Steam.

[00:39:55] Hell yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. So back to toys for Bob now moving on their next game. No, no worries. Their next game was an interesting game one that's very well known by a lot of old school platformer fans. Pandemonium. It's pandemonium. I've never played this game.

[00:40:16] I have a feeling I would like it though. It is very similar to. Clonola. Oh, then yeah, I'll be fine. Like it's a 2.5 D platformer, but it uses full 3D. There is my boy. Nice. Him. It's not as charming as clonola, but that's no hard to do.

[00:40:37] Yeah, it looks like like if like Harley Quinn was in a fucking platformer, but you know, that's fine. It's a solid game. It looks like shit. Where those games the Saturn ones with Clockwork night. I think it looks better than Clockwork night just because the world's actually kind

[00:40:53] of it's not stuck on a purely 2D plane. Like it kind of does like the clonola thing where it like wraps around at times and like yeah, yeah looking at some screenshots of it. Yeah, I could probably get down with this. This was actually one of the

[00:41:08] first real examples of a lot of people believing that Crystal Dynamics made this game, but in reality it was Toys for Bob. But this was published it though they did and this was during right at the height of their ownership of toys Bob and Crystal made the sequel

[00:41:23] which is where a lot of the confusion comes from weird weird weird and the sequel if you look at the cover for that is like way edgier and like sexified for no reason. I don't well, I'm seeing the looks like the PAL version of it and the power

[00:41:41] version looks fine. Yeah, the main the main character they like gave her like a massive fan service upgrade for no reason. Let's see is the NTSC version any different trying to see no it's the same one. Yes, same cover. They just I don't think it looks that bad.

[00:41:58] No, it doesn't look bad. I'm just saying they like went for the day. They gave her some boobs. They made her like fan service even no reason which I just find amusing. I mean to be fair. I think it looks a bit Tomb Raider. Yeah.

[00:42:13] But honestly, I wouldn't notice unless you told me so it's one of the things I just picked up on because I look at the two. I'm like wow, this was a very 90s thing. I mean it still exists now but you know true in different ways

[00:42:28] and then the next game they would make this game is one I've never played but I've seen everywhere the unholy war see this looks like an RPG but it's not no, it's a fighting game. Yeah. Yeah, it was this is a game that I've definitely seen and the

[00:42:50] stills I've seen of gameplay. It looks ridiculous. I'm not going to lie. I mean that cover like what is that? An unholy war. Yeah, but I see like hexagonal grids. So is this like this is like chess combat from Mortal Kombat Deception? I don't know.

[00:43:10] I kind of want to buy a copy of this now because I need to know. Yeah. Well maybe we'll morph this into the PS1 experience and then we can talk about this random shit. Maybe at some point. Yeah, they also made in Japan only this weird

[00:43:29] anime looking game. Let me see if I can say this. Majoko Daisasuken Little Witching Mischiefs. That's really weird to me because Hoist for Bob's an American company too. It's an odd choice. It was published by Bandai. So there's so maybe maybe my guess is

[00:43:52] is it based on an anime? It is. Yes. It features Magical Girl characters from the anime television series produced by Toei Animation from 1966 to 1981. So maybe Bandai had the rights to it and we're like, you know, hey, we need somebody to make this game for us

[00:44:13] and I mean Bandai was making games at that point, weren't they? Yeah, they did the Dragon Ball Final Belt game. Okay. So I don't know. Plus the Digimon World Games. Yeah. So I don't know. This is like anime girl. This is Magical Girl Smash Brothers.

[00:44:35] It's a bunch of Turb. So it's fucking up. So it's up your alley, you fucking weeb. No, this doesn't look like something I'd actually play. I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, you wouldn't admit it in public. No, I don't know any of these shows. Literally,

[00:44:48] but these I haven't seen any of that. That's that's funny though. Oh, they also made Disney's 102 Dalmatians Puppies to the Rescue a game that me and Alex had as kids. How how is that game? It's a really solid platformer. That's about all I can say about it.

[00:45:08] I mean, that seems to be a running theme with Toys for Bob. Yeah, because going from here, this is right around the point where we get into their more forgotten period where they just made a bunch of licensed games. Well, I think this was like the turning point

[00:45:23] when they realized what their specialty was. Yeah, really at this point, it's mostly platformers, though there are exceptions like one game that they made that I played the shit out of as a kid. I don't know about you was a Disney's extreme skate adventure. This was them

[00:45:41] where they took the engine that was that was running Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4. Probably the best of the Pro Skater games don't at me and they remade it so that you could be Buzz Lightyear fucking grinding in Andy's bedroom like hell yeah, man like you'd be Simba

[00:45:59] young Tarzan the maps were very accurate to the IPs that they were going for and they had real kids like the the human kid skaters in the game are like real like they're based on like real people because when you select them, they actually show the kids

[00:46:18] like doing the skating like they had some kind of contest. I think they're like a casting call for the game and so it's like oh do you want to be Buzz Lightyear Simba or like Bill? Do you want to be like Dave or some or some shit?

[00:46:33] You know what I mean? And I mean, I'm curious to see where these kids are now. I'm surprised none of them have been interviewed about this yet. So because that's thing I mean unless they're all fucking dead because they're skaters. So it's possible they're probably not though.

[00:46:50] I bet there's got to be a few of them still kicking around. It amazes me how much like skateboarding was such a thing in the mid 2000s and now it's like it's still a thing but not nearly to the extent. Tony Hawk really was the the tipping point

[00:47:05] of like making it a mainstream thing. You know, but then but if you if you notice as the Tony Hawk games stopped being as good is kind of when people stopped caring. Yeah, I mean right around when they put Neversoft into Guitar Hero Purgatory. Yeah, basically.

[00:47:25] So like once you like American Skate Land I think is the last one people or American Wasteland is the one the last one that people in general are like yeah, that's a good one because I remember project I remember Project 8 was okay but I think the issue

[00:47:41] with Project 8 was it came out when Skate was out and Skate did a good job of evolving the formula and Project 8 really it felt behind the times at that point. Well, Skate was like just a better skateboarding simulator at the time. Yeah. And this is around

[00:47:56] the time when the Tony Hawk series started adding like Grand Theft Auto elements for no reason. I mean it was fine in American Wasteland. I mean they did a good job with it. It was just such a weird addition to a skateboarding game. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:48:09] And then I never played Proving Ground, but I haven't heard great things about it. Speaking of Tony Hawk Toys for Bob made the Wii version of Downhill Jam. That they did. I have the GBA version of Downhill Jam and it is rough like

[00:48:27] I think I have all the Tony Hawk games for GBA and it says a lot it says a lot that on the on the Wikipedia page the only two versions that have anything listed for them are the DS and Wii version. Though it does say

[00:48:43] them who did the the PS2 and GBA versions which were more ports which makes sense. Okay, like like the like the PS2 version is probably just the Wii game ported over and the GBA version is probably the DS version ported over. So yeah. Yeah. So Toys for Bob

[00:48:58] did the main console version which I've seen footage of and looks like interesting idea but not like that's not a whole game. That's just like a mode, you know and the GBA version it's surprisingly impressive like from a technical perspective but it's not a very good game.

[00:49:21] Yeah, I mean Vicarious Visions were masters of stuff like that even if the games weren't always great. Yeah. Or is there no now Blizzard Albany RIP Vicarious they also need to Madagascar games that are I'm assuming just okay platformers. I did play the Madagascar game

[00:49:46] based on the first movie. I was quite a fan of the original Madagascar movie. I haven't seen it in a very long time. I don't think I've ever seen the sequels and yeah that that that game. I think I ran it on my GameCube a couple times.

[00:50:00] I remember enjoying it. Yeah, it's like a movie tie-in game. It's it's very much a seven. You know, yeah, it's nothing amazing but you'll have a good time with it if you're the right audience. I think Caddicker has played it at one point and he said like

[00:50:16] it was fine like it wasn't yeah amazing but it was fine. Yeah, like like if you have a soft spot for licensed people to play licensed games from that era, you'll be like, oh, okay, cool. Now following that we get to quite possibly Toys for Bob's most iconic

[00:50:36] moment and that was 2011 with the introduction of Skylanders. Yeah fucking Skylander. Did you ever play Skylanders? I played a bit of it not I've never played like a bit of this like I have never played the games. I remember those toys being everywhere and I just

[00:50:57] it might have just been when it came out. It was like I think I was still in high school. So I was in that like oh like who gives a shit about this kitty crap, you know what I mean? Like I just wasn't in the mind to really

[00:51:09] give it a proper shot. I have not I don't own Skylanders I should say but I have played it because I was over a friend's house and his little brother had the full setup and he wanted us to play with him. So we played with him we played

[00:51:21] Skylanders and you know for what it is it's fine. It's it's I understand why it blew up. There's I think it was Scott I think Scott the Was did like a whole retrospective on Skylanders which like he's the guy to do that. So I learned a lot

[00:51:39] from watching his video on it, you know not not enough to make me go out of my way and actually give it a shot. It's just enough to be like shit that you have to buy to fucking do it. Yeah. Yeah because I remember like it like Lego

[00:51:53] Dimensions started happening at the same time Disney infinity Disney infinity which Disney infinity was the one that probably should have blown up but it didn't because they kind of fucked themselves on it. But you know you can you can read into that if you want

[00:52:10] but then weirdly enough what came out of all this was Amiibo like Amiibo was kind of born out of this and Amiibo still kind of exists like they've never completely gotten rid of it. Though I think the last Amiibo sets they did were for

[00:52:30] what was the last Amiibo sets they did they do ones for Mario Wonder? Maybe I haven't bought an Amiibo and the last Amiibo I bought was the cloud strife ones for when you got into Smash. Okay because I have I have a hero from Dragon Quest

[00:52:47] I have Bayonetta 2. Speaking of Amiibo's What's up? All my Amiibo's are back there. Nice nice. I don't know if you could see him but hero's right there right there and then behind me behind my head I have I have a few more but not that many I bought

[00:53:06] a couple of them I bought like sealed in the box and I just fucking ripped that shit open get that shit out of there. Like I have Bayonetta I have oh I have I have Chibi Robo I have the Chibi Robo Oh really? Yeah

[00:53:18] I went on my way to grab that one. Yeah that wonderful game. That's probably the best thing to come from. That GameCube game yeah the game is a fucking amazing game dude what are you talking about? Yeah that's one of the best games I've ever played.

[00:53:33] Yeah Skylanders is the best way I describe them is they're basically like the Lego games where they're just very simple platformers that are really fun for kids to play. Yeah. But they do the whole like you know any NFC and like a little toy figure thing

[00:53:52] which I do remember blowing up and being a very very big thing and they had to kind of kill Spyro for it which is sad. We should talk about that where fucking the when this game was first announced because the first one was Skylanders Spyro's Adventure. Yeah

[00:54:08] and that that hurts man that fucking hurts. It was clearly they were they because I believe there is concept art of the Spyro character in game before he became Spyro because originally this was an unrelated project apparently. Yeah but I think it wasn't Activision it was like

[00:54:25] eh just no Spyro in there. Well because Spyro had been dead since 2008 I want to say whenever the third Legends game came out. That was yeah it was 2008 and then this was 2011 so it was only a couple of years. Yeah they needed something to do with Spyro

[00:54:43] and this was their idea. I remember the Spyro fans were not happy with this at all. They were there was quote unquote boycotts but let's be real they weren't going to buy this anyways. No no though to be fair of all the designs Spyro's had over the

[00:54:58] years the Skylander one is easily the worst one. Because it wasn't supposed to be Spyro. Yeah just it looks wrong like like we could argue about if the the legend of Spyro redesign is any good or not you know like I think it's perfectly fine like it's different

[00:55:14] but I but I vibe to it you know I mean the original is king but but the I mean what I think one of these days we should you know one of these days I will play the three legends games and cover them properly.

[00:55:27] I'll do it for the super pod network because I feel like those games get more hate than they deserve but that'll be for something different. But yeah original Spyro's king so and and it's and I get why they were mad at the time but it's like Skylanders

[00:55:45] wasn't happening because they were like oh here's like the the perfect Spyro game everybody wants and they're like crushing it to do this like that obviously wasn't happening so yes what's funny too is though like because Skylanders ended up being a massive success like way farther than anyone

[00:56:04] imagined because honestly this was kids eat this shit up like oh yeah oh yeah like I've never introduced my kid to Skylanders but I I I I wouldn't be shocked if he kind of liked it but you know we're going to avoid that it's not even

[00:56:24] that it's bad it's just it's so much plastic just piled up because yeah yeah he has enough hot wheels he doesn't need any more like plastic crap yeah but hot wheels are cool that being said though Skylanders is this doesn't like my complaints with the concept have nothing

[00:56:43] against the actual game itself because I actually do think the games are actually serviceable for what they are and they've expand they expanded into all sorts of different expansions and like sequels and all sorts of there were only four Skylanders games so which is surprising you

[00:57:03] think there were there would have been more I think there was actually six never mind like their spires adventure giants swap force trap team super chargers and imaginators and imaginators was the last one fuck there was a Skylanders TV show god damn it so Toys for Bob only

[00:57:18] made four though because I believe Vicarious made the other two I think you're correct on that and Beenox oh yeah Beenox another legendary yeah good ol' fucking Beenox they made the B-movie game and that I guarantee they only got the job because of their name

[00:57:36] hey that's all that matters man you know that game is a decent job especially when like yeah the B-movie game was 07 and the only game they did before that was a game called The Scholars of Garandall which is like a fucking PC RPG they made up for it

[00:57:51] making this crash Nitro Kart remake I mean crash team racing remake so yeah good for them and now they just they're stuck in Call of Duty purgatory god fucking damn yeah yeah but I will mention though Skylanders Imaginators is a bit of an important game

[00:58:11] before we move on to what they did after because it was the release of Crash Bandicoot to gaming after his last appearance real appearance had been Mind Over Mutant which bombed yeah which I think Mind Over Mutant is considered the better of the two reboots

[00:58:36] it is the better game because it actually tries to be a platformer the problem is and the like taking over enemies was like much more refined than the Crash of the Titans the story and character designs were just better yeah I mean I still think Tattoo Crash

[00:58:57] but that's besides the point see I see I should also cover these two games for the they're fascinating pod yeah but yeah they brought back Crash and Cortex in Skylanders it's a mini Crash game like where you'd get like the two little figures and you get this

[00:59:19] unlock this whole little thing that played just like old Crash like with pretty decent designs like Skylanders Crash isn't a bad design did they make a Crash Skylander figure yes there was a Crash and Cortex holy shit they're expensive and they look they look okay like they're not

[00:59:39] bad designs like much better and then yeah and then but I mean yeah they're they look pretty good yeah and then yeah not all the stuff yes not all yeah yeah yeah yeah especially when like Xbox just had their big showcase and they didn't announce any

[01:00:10] like game pass drops, especially with the Activision stuff in it, which I feel like not to get too deep into that showcase. I did like it. But one thing I thought it needed was

[01:00:23] maybe it felt like it was focused a lot of more like dark kind of serious games, which is which is fine. A lot of the games they showed look really good, but I felt like it needed a

[01:00:32] little break to be like, oh, and launching in the game pass like today or this month or whatever. Here's here's the Crash trilogy, the Spyro trilogy, Crash four, you know that like just throw those

[01:00:42] in the game pass, you know, because those should be there right now. Like genuinely they should be. So maybe I mean, and I heard I think those games were added to the the PC launcher,

[01:00:53] the Xbox PC launcher. So they might be hitting game pass soon. So hopefully soon because I I've been wanting to replay both Crash and Spyro trilogies, and I've just been kind of waiting for game pass to go into them again. So yeah. And yeah,

[01:01:11] the N.Sane trilogy is fantastic. I played that on PS4. I had a really good time with it. And it was sort of like my first real exposure to Crash. Like I never

[01:01:24] outside of a little bit of twin sanity on my PS2 as a kid, I hadn't really touched Crash at all. Like I felt like I just kind of missed the boat on them. So so the N.Sane trilogy getting to that

[01:01:38] was it was a joy to play because when I got to it, I was like, yeah, I'm in a mindset where I can actually play this and enjoy it. So and ever since then, I've kind of been wanting

[01:01:48] to play the entire Crash series. Oh, yeah. Now, while they didn't make the Crash N.Sane trilogy, they did make the Spyro Reignited trilogy, which everyone kind of saw coming.

[01:02:00] Yeah. And I've never played the Switch port of the N.Sane trilogy. So I don't know how good or not good it is, but I imagine basically the same. It's the yeah. Yeah. They probably just

[01:02:11] did it because, oh, yeah, it came out on PS4 originally by itself. And then I think it was what like a year later it came to everything else. It had a timed exclusive thing because I mean, let's base it Crash PlayStation, even though they're not.

[01:02:27] It's just it made sense. It fits. Yeah. And what's weird is that, yeah, like Vicarious Visions did the PS4 version and then you had Toys for Bob did the Switch version. Iron Galaxy did the PC version, but they don't say who did the Xbox One version.

[01:02:41] So did Vicarious do that? Maybe. Maybe. I mean, it's a good port regardless. So it was either them or Iron Galaxy. It might have been Iron Galaxy because they did PC as well. I mean, PS4 and Xbox One are so close, like comparable that it probably

[01:02:57] wasn't that hard of a port. Yeah. So who knows? But anyways, yeah, N.Sane trilogy. Fantastic. It was cool to see Vicarious Visions do it. And my guess is Vicarious Visions probably would have done the Spyro trilogy had they were doing Tony Hawk at the time.

[01:03:17] Oh, yeah. One and two. Yeah. Which people fucking loved. I still haven't played it. Very, very good port. Yeah. All remake, I should say. But wasn't that the last thing they did? Yeah. Before they became Blizzard, whatever.

[01:03:31] Well, no, they got they were doing Call of Duty bullshit and then they got blizzarded. Yeah, which is a shame. So that kind of left Toys for Bob open to do the Spyro trilogy.

[01:03:43] Which very good job like bringing Tom they brought Tom Kenny back to do the voice, which was interesting because he didn't do Spyro's voice in the original game. It's a good fit, though. Well, he did Spyro in two and three.

[01:03:57] The first game he was voiced by the guy who played Rocko in Rocko's Modern Life. Nice, nice. Which is hilarious because Tom Kenny played Pepper in Rocko's Modern Life. That's right. He does. But they also got Stuart Copeland back. He didn't do the whole soundtrack,

[01:04:16] but he did a special he did the menu theme just as a callback. And I think they took his original versions. Yeah, they just rearrange them or something. Kind of like how they read Scott Mansell's original crash course for the Reignited.

[01:04:30] I mean, the N.C. and children, they basically took Stuart Copeland's amazing music from Spyro and just read read re-instrumentized it essentially. Yeah, it says here he's credited with original music, the main theme and assisted with remastered tracks. Yes, that's what it was. So yeah, and yeah,

[01:04:47] the Spyro Reignited trilogy, that was sort of my first real experience with Spyro as well. Trying to think a friend of mine gave me his copy of Spyro 2 for PS1 because he was really into it. And I tried playing it and it just didn't click with me.

[01:05:04] I had played Heroes Tale at one point and thought it was perfectly fine, but it wasn't until I got this for Switch that I just really got sucked into it and played the fucking shit out of it. Like I completely finished Spyro 1 and 2.

[01:05:22] I would have completely finished Spyro 3, but I could not beat that Pigeon Race that was by like the ships. You know that one? I couldn't beat it. I couldn't get first place. So I eventually gave up on it. But yeah, it was fantastic. And that's another one that

[01:05:41] I've been thinking about, as I said with Crash, that I've been thinking about playing again, just because I think it'd be cool for especially Spyro to go back and try to get all the achievements. I don't know if I do with Crash because they're probably fucking

[01:05:53] You can play Spyro 1 through 3, you really see the early DNA of what would become like Insomniac games, like just trademark everything essentially. Yeah, and they aged so well. They're still super fucking fun to play. I had a blast with

[01:06:10] them. And it just and yeah, like I think it was right after this they went into a no, they didn't do that. Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet and Clank, which kind of makes sense.

[01:06:22] You see some DNA between the two of them. Well, the reason why they went to Ratchet and Clank was famously their reasoning why they moved on was mostly because Spyro didn't have arms and he couldn't hold guns. I mean, they could have figured that out.

[01:06:36] Well, they also didn't own the IP and they wanted to true move on, which is ironic, because they didn't even own Ratchet because they Sony owned it. But besides the point. Yeah, what can you do? And apparently this remake changed a couple things around.

[01:06:52] There was a lot of quality of life improvements. Well, apparently it was let's see some enemies in the first game. We had semi automatic weapons that shot bullets. Now they change what they shot out like a little substance or

[01:07:05] whatever. Ripto's rage had a genie that was named Bombo, but they changed his name to Bob the Flag Keeper. So it changes little things, little things. I get it. It's not a big deal. Yeah.

[01:07:20] Little things that if it came out now, people on Twitter would have fucking lost their shit over it. I mean, we can probably go back then and they probably lost their shit then too, but no one cared at that point. It's like, yeah, that's nothing.

[01:07:33] Like the games are still the games who fucking cares. And then the most surprising game they put out after the Reignited trilogy, Crash 4. It's about time. Yeah, Crash 4. I still have yet to play this game at this point.

[01:07:50] And at this point, I'll just wait till it hits game pass because it's going to at some point. Well, I played the first couple levels and then I put it down because I got sidetracked

[01:07:58] by something else. And like one of my buddies at work has played this game. I think he got the Platinum Trophy for it. When I played the levels, it plays really well.

[01:08:11] And I thought the level designs were really good. Well, what he said about it, and I think I've heard some other people say about this game. If you just kind of play it kind of casually

[01:08:24] go through the game and have a good time, it's great. But trying to 100% it is a fucking nightmare. I mean, to be fair, that's just kind of a Crash Bandicoot staple sometimes. I'm told it's worse here. Like it's worse than the original games.

[01:08:38] There's just certain fruits and certain collectibles and certain things you have to do that are just way too intense, like way too fucking far. They kind of leaned way too much into that from what I've been told. So just keep that in mind. Maybe somebody will

[01:08:55] let us know in the Discord. But from what I'm told, 100%ing the game is a fucking nightmare and don't do it. But if you play the game just to play the game, it's a good time. That's probably what I'll do. I'll just have fun.

[01:09:10] Yeah. And I think probably some people would say this is Toys for Bob's. Toys for Bob's, their crowning achievement is probably this game. Honestly, yeah, because after this they went through Call of Duty Hell. They did make Crash Team Rumble, which is fine.

[01:09:27] I haven't played it. I don't know if I have any interest, even though I think now the whole thing is free so I could just download and fuck around with it if I wanted to.

[01:09:35] I played a little bit of it. It's fine for what it is. It's a little fun, little party waste time kind of game. Is it a MOBA? Maybe. It's kind of like a Battle Royale-ish kind of game, sort of.

[01:09:50] And it has, I think Spyro is in it as well. I think so. I just mostly remember playing it and it played fine and it was fun for like an hour or I moved on to something else. Yeah. I mean, maybe one of these days we'll both

[01:10:03] download and mess around with it because if I remember correctly when Toys for Bob went independent, they basically like support got shut down for it but all the unlockable stuff was just made free. Like they just hit the switch that's like, oh, it's free. Just go in and

[01:10:17] have fun with it. They probably didn't tell Activision about that either. They probably just did it in the flesh. Yeah. And apparently going back to Crash 4, there's a little Easter egg in there in the dialogue where some characters are talking and

[01:10:33] they're like, oh, we got to like this is the fourth time we've had to deal with Cortex or whatever or something. Somebody's like, really? Only four? It feels like it's been more than that. They're like, no, no, this is the fourth time. Like, are you sure?

[01:10:48] I feel like we've done this more than four times. Well, because Rathacortex was famously known as Crash 4 in Japan. So well, the joke is it's called Crash 4, but there's been so many games. Yeah. Three. Come on, dude. Twin Sanity was Crash 5.

[01:11:06] Yeah. Way to kill the fucking joke. Anyways, yeah, Crash 4, cool. I'll play it one of these days and from what I hear, it didn't sell super well or according to Activision, it didn't sell. I'm sure it sold fine. Prototype didn't sell well either apparently.

[01:11:25] I looked at the numbers and it was pretty good. So let me see if I can get numbers for Crash 4 sales because for crazily enough, the Spyro trilogy, I think it sales are like over 10 million,

[01:11:39] which is fucking great for that. I don't know what the insane trilogy has sold. It has sold over 10 million as well. And the Crash 4 sales are five million. That's not bad. That's pretty good. That's pretty fucking good for Activision standards,

[01:11:57] though. That's probably unacceptable. Yeah. Which is kind of why Toys for Bob got sucked in. As you said, the Call of Duty hell, helping out on Warzone, helping out on the Modern Warfare 2 and 3 reboots, which feels like such a waste of Toys for Bob. Like that's not what

[01:12:13] they do, man. Like I'm sure whatever work they did on there was fine, but like that's not what they do, man. Like it's clear they had, you know, they have their little niche and they need to be properly filling that niche, which rolls into what they're doing now,

[01:12:33] which seems to be filling that niche where in the Activision Blizzard merger with Microsoft, they have decided to break free and become independent, which is interesting that they've done this, I think. I'm surprised only they did. Like it must have been a clause or something.

[01:12:56] Or maybe they were the only really team that kind of wanted to break away. Maybe because let's say when this happened, right? When the merger was happening, maybe Toys for Bob were thinking like, oh, maybe we can get out of this and get to say Spiro 4.

[01:13:15] And they were kind of hoping that they could talk to Phil and the Microsoft execs and maybe get them to do it while they're still within Activision. But if I remember correctly,

[01:13:24] Phil said that Activision would kind of just run as it was, that they weren't going to be too hands-on with it. I think they are. Other than getting rid of Bobby Kotech as soon

[01:13:33] as possible. Yeah, which I think he's out of there now. So who knows? Maybe him leaving will change how they operate. I don't know. I'm hoping Microsoft can influence them to do more than just Call of Duty. But maybe like Toys for Bob, maybe they couldn't promise

[01:13:54] they would do like say Spiro 4, because I think people think that's what they're working on now. So they're just like, oh, then can we go independent? And I think Microsoft, they asked to go independent after the merger. So I think they knew Activision wouldn't let them

[01:14:09] do it. But I'm sure they're like, oh, Microsoft will probably let us. And they're like, yeah, sure. So they have now gone independent. They are now their own company. And they have announced a partnership with Xbox Game Studios for their next project. Which again, I think

[01:14:26] people thought was weird. But I think the idea is they did that so they could remain doing 3D platformers. Because that seems to be the lane that they've found themselves in. They're comfortable in it. They've been cooking, especially with Crash 4 reviewing really well

[01:14:43] and people really liking it. So it just makes sense for them to stay in that lane. And from what I know, the posts that they've made about the new stuff that they're doing is hinting at it being Spyro 4, which makes sense. It feels like that's the next logical

[01:15:01] thing for them to do is Spyro 4. I think they've also said they're working on a new IP as well. That they have a brand new idea. I'd like them to do something original because the last

[01:15:11] original thing they did was the unholy war. Well, unless you count Skylanders' original, I think it basically is. But if they're the resident home for say the Crash and Spyro series right now, say Microsoft contracts them to do it

[01:15:34] in almost like an intelligence systems way. If that's what they do on the side while they work on other things, I think that's fine. That's good. Then making a new IP, you'll be curious to see what that is. And also the never ending rumor of them making Banjo-Kazooie

[01:15:56] because it makes too much goddamn sense. It makes too much sense. There's not as much traction for that one as there is for Spyro, but hey, you never know. Though I feel like Microsoft doesn't understand that say they said the Toys for Bob,

[01:16:15] let's remake the original Banjo-Kazooie, which apparently a remake of the original has been in the work or at least has been an idea since the 360 days. Say Toys for Bob wants to do it and Microsoft lets them do it. And then when they eventually

[01:16:30] unveil that at like an Xbox game showcase or whatever, I don't think they realize the very positive reception they will get for that because people still love Banjo to death. It's not a mainstream property at all, but it has its die-hard fans.

[01:16:49] People who are still waiting for it. And if it happens, people will be very, very excited for that. I mean, hell, I'll probably play it. So it's something that they probably should be considering because if they have Toys for Bob,

[01:17:06] maybe not completely, but enough to where they can contract them to do, say, Crash and Spyro, that should be something that's on their whiteboard of ideas. Banjo-Kazooie remake. Why not? It doesn't have to be 3E. Let's not get crazy here.

[01:17:22] I mean, you think about it like out of all the big name platformer developers out there right now, most of them are kind of strangle held by Sony and Nintendo. How many platformer studios are there?

[01:17:39] There's not a lot left. I mean, there's like the internal Nintendo teams that do Mario. There's who's doing the Astro game? Team Asobi? Team Asobi. Insomniac is still technically. Insomniac kind of. I mean, they're going to do another Ratchet at some point.

[01:17:57] Oh, yeah, as they always do. Toys for Bob. And then outside of that, there's some indie studios, the team that did Penny's Big Breakaway, which was a great game. But, you know, but I don't know if I would put them

[01:18:12] with like the big boys as Sonic team. Technically, I mean, Sonic games are platformers. They are. They haven't made it. Well, I know they've got yours is good. They've been on a good track record lately. You're just too clouded by this guy.

[01:18:30] But yeah, there's I mean, I forgot Frontiers was a thing. I was thinking Forces. I mean, is there a platform team in Namco? Probably not. I mean, they did that Pac-Man World remake, but I don't know if that would count.

[01:18:47] I doubt they actually made that. I bet they far. No, I believe they probably did that. Let's find out real quick. You talk and I'll find out. Other than that, I mean, Microsoft technically has Rare, although Rare hasn't made a platformer in over a decade.

[01:19:06] What the hell is Everwild? Never heard of them. Well, that's the game they're working on. Oh, Rare. Yeah, Everwild. Oh, I thought you for some reason, I thought you meant that was the studio that made the Pac-Man remake. A company called Now Production. Never heard of them.

[01:19:29] They've been around since 1986. Good for them. No, I remember the trailer for Everwild. They did the Xbox port of Sonic Riders. Yay. Oh, they made a beautiful Katamari on 360. Oh, did they? Yeah, they made Mario Super Sluggers for Wii.

[01:19:52] They must be one of those random studios that just make shit. Yeah. Oh, they did We Love Katamari, the second one. Oh, and they also did the first three Katamari games. That was them. Oh, okay. The good ones. Who made the fourth one? I don't fucking know.

[01:20:09] The fourth one isn't bad. Katamari forever. Oh, well, there's me and my Katamari. I love Katamari. Oh, that was the mobile one. Yeah, me and my Katamari, the PSP one is just credited to Namco. Oh, forever. The PS3 one is Genki. Oh, Genki has a good studio.

[01:20:31] They made Genki. Yeah, their logo looks like I drew it. Hell yeah. Spectrobes origins. Oh, fucking God damn it. Yeah, honestly, the toys for Bob. One of them. We love them.

[01:20:52] They looking back at it like they made some really good games and they don't get the love that they deserve. I agree. They're almost an underrated legend of the industry. Yeah, though I think they've been really getting their just due now, especially with

[01:21:13] them sort of reviving the Crash and Spyro series and having them kind of like better than they've ever been. So that's really been good for them. So and with this them going independent, but probably still being allowed to work on those

[01:21:27] series and potentially revive some older ones or even make some new stuff. The future for them seems very bright. So as long as they're able to handle being independent, which can very well be a challenge, they should be good.

[01:21:45] Apparently Phil Spencer has expressed interest in wanting Toys for Bob to do more of this stuff. So even if they're independent, he can still talk to them about it. Right. And apparently Bobby Kotick wanted to revive Skylanders, which I feel like that's I don't

[01:22:03] think you get away with that now. I still hear people talk about maybe them reviving Guitar Hero. I think it could be done in a very specific way, but that's another podcast. And then, yeah, Toys for Bob did get some layoffs earlier this before they went independent.

[01:22:26] They did get some layoffs. You know, they're in a weird they're in a very interesting spot where they could be they could be cooking something really cool, something really fucking awesome. So we shall see what happens. Yeah. Yeah. But I look forward to it.

[01:22:48] It's definitely they're definitely in a better spot now than they possibly were a few years ago. And honestly, I think the future is bright for them. I mean, there is a chance a chance that we might see what they're working on at next year's Xbox showcase.

[01:23:09] Maybe it depends on how fast they work. And how big of a scope, say, a Spyro four would be. But I feel like that's a game they could probably turn around in a couple years. Yeah, you know, honestly, the same perfect dark or Metroid Prime four, which apparently

[01:23:32] does exist. So I will say perfect dark looks fucking awesome. It does like like I didn't expect it to look that fucking cool. So Crystal knows what they're doing. Not going to give the initiative any credit. I mean, they make decent games.

[01:23:50] Yes, but the initiative aren't this their first game. Oh, I know. I'm thinking of the coalition. Never mind. Yeah. No, no coalition. That Gears trailer, I kind of lost it. So because I did not expect a E day prequel. Yeah, that was interesting.

[01:24:09] I'm actually very I'm currently budgeting for an Xbox Series X. So well, I have a feeling Emergence Day like why they're doing this now instead of Gears six, like a direct sequel because Gears five ends on the cliffhanger

[01:24:24] is maybe they're doing this because something from Emergence Day story wise will play into your six. So they want to be like, let us know what happened so it can connect maybe. So who knows?

[01:24:38] And also it could be that the DLC for Gears five Gears high busters was very, very well received. And it is a fantastic little campaign that reminds you of kind of the earlier gears games. So maybe coalitions like bucket.

[01:24:52] Let's just make like let's do the Emergence Day game everybody's wanted. Like everybody's wanted to game about this. Like when the Locust properly show up. So fuck it. Let's do it. You know, so and for those listening, if you want to know my opinion,

[01:25:07] on the Gears of War series, if you check out our sister show and novel console, me and Chris did a little mini series where we co-opted the entire series. And you can hear our thoughts there. Let's forget we're a big family now. All in our super pod network.

[01:25:25] Yes. So go listen to those because my opinions on them still stand. My favorite Xbox franchise. Not totally. But yeah, so next time guys, barring that we get enough time to play them, we're going to be talking about psychic detective.

[01:25:44] If not, we might think of another filler in between. But potentially we'll see what happens. Yeah. The plan is psychic detective next. If not, then we'll we'll get to it. It's the next game for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even know how long the game is.

[01:26:00] So yeah, it's four discs, but I'm pretty sure that's mostly just because it's full motion video. So yeah. Oh, yeah. How long to beat is the thing? It has it at two hours. Oh, that's nothing. That's oh, yeah. We can knock this fucker out. Yeah.

[01:26:18] For some reason, the PlayStation version is super expensive and the 3D version is the cheaper one. Oh, yeah. I don't know how that happened, but you know, maybe a low print run. Potentially. But yeah, so once again, guys, thanks for joining us on the 3DO Experience.

[01:26:38] The 3DO Experience can be found on all the major podcasting platforms, particularly Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also find our episodes on YouTube with video versions. And with that, you can also find all of us at the Superpod Network, a growing community of podcasters.

[01:26:55] You find other great shows there like Superpod Saga, Retro Rehab, Superghost Radio, Fine Time, Gaming Together, Novel Console, just to name a few. Shout out to also the other guys I'm brain farting on at the moment. And shout out to the blog section, which I intend to

[01:27:13] write some more stuff in in the coming weeks. I have some ideas for some things I would like to cover in there. Maybe some more detailed game reviews or maybe just some side stuff that I'm thinking of.

[01:27:28] So I might be contributing a little bit more to the blog in the coming weeks. So stay tuned for that, kids. Yeah. And you can also find all of our links at linktree.com

[01:27:39] and you can also join the GNC Podcast Network Discord server if you want to just see information on like geek addicts, GNC, 3DO, stuff like that. And with that, everybody, we will see you all later. Bye bye. System playing with.