PPR 151

t’s raining diss tracks y’all, and ain’t nobody safe from the rhyming raids of character assault up in this BEE-yotch that we call LYFE…

Alright, that’s enough cringe—with all of the harrowing news we’ve seen out of 2024, we’ve decided to try our hand at some levity with a brainstorm-fueled feature topic that we think can bring out the sort of trademark fun the video games are iconic for. In the same vein of fantasy booking your favorite sport, we’ve decided to come together and choose one intellectual property to revive for a modern-day release from twelve different companies who have either dabbled in publishing or development for that property and make a case for why that given franchise is worthy of a new game over any other dormant franchises that have also been left in the gaming past.

It’s the type of “think-tank” discussion that we haven’t had on the show in some time! Join Andrew, George, and special guest, Joie of Super RPG Friends and Cerulean Skies as we wax nostalgia in the future tense as we plead the importance of a ninth-generation rally for dozens of cult-classic properties for y’all in episode 151 of Press Pause Radio!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Play Play: Rocket Knight Adventures

ey all! We’re finally returning to consistent Play Play videos again, and we cannot wait to highlight one of the most slept-on, overlooked franchises in all of gaming, the Rocket Knight Adventures franchise. Arguably, people who are familiar with the series claim that the property ultimately peaked where it began with the original, but we disagree, as we take the time to explore the series as a whole starting with this first entry. In this video, we’ll be asking ourselves the important questions like is it a Run ‘n Gun, or a Platformer, and does Bacon taste crispier when it’s on SEGA.

Join George and Ser on this fiery, yet furry romp into Konami’s first full-fledged Mascot title for the Sega Genesis—without any “Only 90’s kids will remember’ memes for your viewing pleasure!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

PPR 126

hit is scary right now y’all, so believe us when we express just how grateful we are that our director of creative content, Serraxor is alive and well among his Press Pause Radio family!

We have plenty of catching up to do with our friend, along with a butt-load of vidjya games to hash out & talk about in this quick get-together of “what’s in your console?” The conversation covers a bunch of different topics ranging from the giant Nintendo leak that was covered by Kotaku and other outlets the last two weeks, George discovering the sheer depth of the MSX library, and everyone contemplating on whether or not they should sign back up for Final Fantasy XIV with the huge trial Square-Enix is putting on for the game right now.

Other topics include Fantasy Zone for the NES, Airgrave, Sessions, Skater XL, Desperate Housewives ASMR, Ghost of Tsushima, Maneater, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Trials of Mana, SD Snatcher, and more! Be sure to keep six feet apart from one another as tune in and give us a couple of hours of your day here on episode 126 of Press Pause Radio.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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QCF: The TurboGrafx-16 Mini

or all the times you heard the arguments on the school playground of who did it better, there was always that weird kid who managed to sneak an underdog into the conversation. Pepsi versus Coke-Cola had RC Cola, DC Comics versus Marvel Comics had Image, and The Super NES versus the Sega Genesis had the unassuming TurboGrafx-16; an upstart machine with a unique design and library that was unlike anything else available on the market in the early nineties.

Nowadays the console has earned a cult following that’s elevated the resale value of the hardware and games into the upper hundreds, but in doing so, the platform had deterred any interest from the casual retro gaming spectator market that has ballooned over the past decade. Nevertheless, thanks to the growing popularity of miniaturized versions past gaming platforms running on modern emulation technology, the trend has motivated Konami to join the tiny ranks with the release of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.

Developed in part by the luminary studio of Japanese retro gaming, M2, The Pachinko giant has commissioned the production of three different models for the line that are respectively based on the console’s regional runs; the PC Engine Mini, PC Engine CORE Mini, and the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. This review will focus solely on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, as to center the assessment on the experience it promises within the context of the 16-bit generation from an American perspective—specifically in terms how made the system a brand in the west, along with the choice of imports included to cater to the sensibilities of the western market, and more.

With that being said, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini hits the road impressively hard to catch up with likes of the SNES Classic and Sega Genesis Mini, but fumbles the landing from a slew of shortcomings that ultimately keep it from reaching beyond the same crowd that’s been cheering it on the machine from the start.

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PPR 120

ehind all of the larger-than-life voices, brands, streams, and memes, the video game industry is made of people—it seems more folks in high places are forgetting that.

In an effort to deliver better content, at a more consistent pace, we'll be continuing the format we introduced last episode, and it's one that’s going to be different from the one we’ve done for the last ten years. Instead of catching up on all the news and games that have happened between shows before the chosen featured topic, we have decided to release each of these segments as a dedicated episode in their own right, including the featured topic, with a projected weekly schedule in mind—so this week, it’s a featured topic.

One that we felt was important to discuss—the ever-growing toxicity of the game industry in terms of its operation, and the harmful culture that’s been unavoidably seeping from it as a result. Between Jason Schreier’s recent coverage of the work environment of Nicalis behind the scenes, to the Nathalie Lawhead’s harrowing account of her time with Smoking Gun Interactive, and the traumatizing experience of working with Jeremy Soule—the industry has just been so shitty lately…

We share our thoughts and ideas for what kind of solutions that we, as a community, and a force (however humble) in the industry can serve to fight back against the ugliness shown this past months or so in video games. Just a heads up; we get pro-union real quick, and could give a shit less if you disagree, so save that energy for something more productive than a stupid comment yeah? Oh, and also, on a lighter note, if you were hypothetically involved in a tragic accident that mutilated your genitals in attendance to a TV broadcast of a game show, how much of a settlement would the studio need to pay out to you to resolve the whole thing?

This is the question that we leave with you for the nest show…enjoy the show!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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Bullet Heaven #240 - Gradius III (SFC)

This review has been a very long time coming, but Game Boy Guru of the RF Generation Shmups Club spurred us on to finally check out Gradius III! In this episode, we're taking a look at the Super Famicom version of the game; how does it fare as an entry point to the series?

Missed an episode? 
Bullet Heaven 237: Stahlfeder
Bullet Heaven 238: 70's Robot Anime Geppy-X
Bullet Heaven 239: Super Tank Warfare: Adventia

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PPR 103

on’t have a cow man! We get that America’s favorite dysfunctional family may have hit a slump in the ratings as of late, but doesn’t mean that we’ve completely fallen out of love with the people of Springfield and their crazy misadventures. In fact, there hasn’t been a more noticeable void in gaming than the lack of Simpsons games—like, the only way you’re going to get your fill right now is through the expensive toy add-ons of Lego Dimensions, or the casual mobile app Tapped Out.

It’s a real bummer that we’re on the 28^th season of the show, and that there hasn’t been any plans from EA to do anything with the license, and even to this day, Video Games owe a lot to The Simpsons.

Join George, Andrew, and Ser as they talk about their experiences with the older Bart-centric games, and the various titles we’ve seen come out of the property, among other important gaming commentaries that the show has covered in its near thirty-year run on television. The gang also talks about the discontinuation of the NES Classic, the disaster of Fyre Festival, the 2DS XL, Jack Bros, Nintendo Switch Sales, Destiny 2, Flinthook, Yooka-Laylee, the disappointment of the Wii U, and more on 103^rd episode of Press Pause Radio!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR 5th Year Anniversary Special: The Podcast

t’s been five years, five years of playing, recording, writing, drinking, traveling, filming, and most importantly; loving. Join us for a super casual, navel-gazing edition of Press Pause Radio as we decide to just share some stories, and talk about video games in a completely different light. We’ll also discuss plans for the future of Press Pause Radio, and where we plan to take it, Thanks again guys, it means a lot.

Also, for those of you asking, my new jobs with RETRO Magazine and 148 Apps do not spell for the eventual end of PPR, All of us have plenty of steam left in this brand, and we have you guys to thank for it, so stay tuned, and keep coming back—we like your company. Also, here’s a 20% off voucher good till June 13^th, through Greenman Gaming because we’re awesome and stuff. (UK3A0U-YOVK88-88EMC8)

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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