A Winner Is You

We're in celebratory mood, as September '23 marks the 25th birthday of one of the seminal works in video games - the classic Kojima masterpiece Metal Gear Solid. We both love the game, but there's definitely plenty of opportunity to poke fun at its eccentricities and nonsense. Alex also played Twin Snakes for comparison between the two, so we also chat about why that game is a bit of a black sheep (perhaps harshly). Please rate/review on your pod platform of choice, check out our YouTube if you want to see the video version, and come say hi to us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod

Chuck on your jersey, pad up your shins, take your energy drinks, make sure the laces are out (Dan) and get ready to kick off - it's the AWIY Sports Video Game Draft! David and Alex each draft 10 sports games across a variety of categories ranging from arcade to motorsport, and you get to vote on whose list of 10 is better! Head on over to @winnerisyoupod on Twitter/X to cast your vote on who is the draft winner!

This year's Summer of Resi rounds out with the game that started it all, the original Resident Evil for PlayStation. Regular bros of the podcast will know we ranked this game 7th out of all the Resident Evils we've covered on the pod so far, but that doesn't mean we don't love it. Don't forget to rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, check out the YouTube channel for video versions of the pods, and hit us up on X @WinnerIsYouPod

We needed a bit more time to bring you Resident Evil 1 so to fill the gap we decided to go through all 10 Resident Evil games we've covered so far on the podcast. Including Resident Evil 1 because Alex knows it well and David was right near the end of the game. And Resident Evil 6 because we started playing it for the podcast and had enough. And Dino Crisis because we say so. The 10 games being ranked for now - until we get through another couple of years when we'll come back to it - are: Resident Evil, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil 4 Remake. Let us know how you'd rank those games over @winnerisyoupod or via email to awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com and sorry about the audio issues. Alex had his input set to his cocking iPhone earphones mic and it was like having your ears turned into a Jill sandwich. We had to scrape the audio from the Discord video feed (where he had set it to the correct mic) but it was a proper patch-up. Next episode will sound beautiful. Promise! Please rate/review the show on your pod platform of choice, you lovely people who are lovely to us.

We keep rollin' through Raccoon City for Summer of Resi 2023, this time with a big ol' bugger on our tail. Join us as we dive deep into the spinoff-turned-full-game (kinda), 1999's PS1 classic, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. As usual, we talk at length about the story, development, gameplay, legacy, and our own thoughts, with the obligatory dose of irreverent banter you expect from AWIY. If you want to experience Resi 3 in the beautiful seamless HD the way we did when playing for this episode, you can download everything you need here: https://www.reshdp.com/re3/ Rate/review us on your pod platform of choice, please! Check out the YouTube version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@awinnerisyoupodcast1501 Say hi on Twitter to @winnerisyoupod, @davidsmillie1 and @superthrillex

Summer of Resi returns for Season Two! For the rest of the summer, we're focusing on nothing but Capcom's Resident Evil series - starting with the incredible 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2! We chat about the game's development and release, dish out some trivia, a tonne of opinions, and go through the major moments in the campaigns of Leon and Claire. See you next episode for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis! Like/review/rate us on your pod app of choice. Please! Twitter: https://twitter.com/WinnerIsYouPod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@awinnerisyoupodcast1501 TikTok: https://t.co/ZZLpcSz1Fn

We got one hell of a package for you this episode, pals! Yes, it really is 30 sodding years since we were able to gorge ourselves silly on four SNES-ified remakes of classic Super Mario Bros. We take you through the development of the game, the key changes between the NES originals and the remakes, our feelings on each individual game and, of course, a music tier list! Get in touch with us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod! Please rate/review/subscribe (and check us on YouTube if you want to look at beards)

We ride again, drafters! KDB joins us once more to pick 10 games each, this time from the year 2006, and total up their Metacritic scores to see who wins. Will Kelsi retain his crown from 2005? Will David overtake Alex in the overall league table? Will Alex do something stupid like picking only games from Nintendo consoles? Oh, the suspense! Don't forget to leave a rating/review on your pod platform of choice, and hit us up on Twitter (if you're still on there) @VG_HOF. We'll be on Threads and more soon when we can be arsed to make the accounts!

25 years of one of the greatest Rare games, nae, N64 games, nae, 3D platformers, nae, video games of all time - Banjo-Kazooie! We've been so excited to finally discuss a game beloved by us for such a large part of our lives, and this episode is a real corker. We've got trivia, we've got info on the game's development, we've got some critiquing of magazine reviews from the time, we've got a music tier list, and more! Banjo fans don't want to miss this one. Don't forget to leave us a rating/review on your pod platform of choice, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Tell the girls you're off to do something manly and cool, because we're actually all off to the Games Workshop together to purge some scum in Warhammer 40k: Boltgun. An unabashed homage to Doom (just look at the box art) set in the Warhammer universe, this isn't Roy Hodgson's Warhammer. No, sir, this is a blood-soaked, viscera-splattered gore-fest of glorious, righteous violence. With gameplay and visuals straight out of the late '90s, these games can often become a bit of a slog once you get sick of traipsing round for 20 minutes looking for the COCK-SHITTING BLUE KEY... but does Boltgun fall into that same trap? Does it have bollocks AI? A terrible soundtrack? Is it better than Doom? Does it have the best guns in the boomer shooter game? Listen to find out! Don't forget to check out and sub to David's SubStack over at https://supersmillie.substack.com/ and follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod. Rate, review, subscribe, love.

Three men. Ten games each to draft. 30 Metacritic scores. One winner. The year is 2005, and Xbox 360 has just hit the shelves, while the Nintendo DS further finds its groove in the handheld space alongside the PSP. As we begin to say goodbye to the sixth generation of consoles the decisions get even tougher, but our handsome and intrepid podcasters aren't fazed. Alex currently leads the league with two wins and two 2nd places, but the more important question is just when will KDB get himself off the mark with a win? Is 2005 his year? Tune in to find out! The list of games we drafted from, as always, the Wikipedia 2005 category, so hit this up if you want to see what we were working with: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2005_video_games⁠ Don't forget to give us a review/rating on your pod apps, follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod, and sub to David's new blog here: ⁠https://supersmillie.substack.com/

Three men. Ten games each to draft. 30 Metacritic scores. One winner. The year is 2005, and Xbox 360 has just hit the shelves, while the Nintendo DS further finds its groove in the handheld space alongside the PSP. As we begin to say goodbye to the sixth generation of consoles the decisions get even tougher, but our handsome and intrepid podcasters aren't fazed. Alex currently leads the league with two wins and two 2nd places, but the more important question is just when will KDB get himself off the mark with a win? Is 2005 his year? Tune in to find out! The list of games we drafted from, as always, the Wikipedia 2005 category, so hit this up if you want to see what we were working with: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2005_video_games Don't forget to give us a review/rating on your pod apps, follow us on Twitter @winnerisyoupod, and sub to David's new blog here: https://supersmillie.substack.com/

MAYtroidvania concludes with the 2009 award-winner from Epic Games, Shadow Complex. We discuss the game's hilariously terrible story, its map design, upgrade system, controls and combat, development and more! Don't forget to leave us a review/rating and subscribe, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Arise, yourself and your shadow, it's time for MAYtroidvania! You know we love a themed period of pods on this show, so for the month of May we've been (slowly) playing through some of the best Metroidvania (or 'search action' if you're a hipster) games to bring to you yet more pod goodness. First up is the Kickstarter phenomenon, the game they totally made not shite after the first trailer, the return of Igavania - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Y'all may remember that last year David fell in love with Igarashi's masterpiece, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, so this was an easy sell to get him playing. Does it live up to that lofty predecessor, or indeed anything else in the Igavania catalogue? Is the map too big? Is the voice acting too terrible? Is the game absolutely awesome? Listen and find out. Don't forget to leave a review, tweet us @winnerisyoupod or email awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

We're back with another roller-coaster, tension-filled, laugh-a-minute Video Game Draft! Joined, as is the tradition, by The Man of 1000 Podcasts, Mr KDB, to take on The Ice Man (because Scotland), David, and The People's Champ, Alex in a battle to the death over the best games of 2004. If you don't know the format by now, you suck, but as you should be aware, we each take turns to draft a game at time for 10 rounds and then total up the Metacritic scores to determine a winner. Alex is currently winning 2-1-0 over David and KDB respectively, but there's plenty of time for this tournament of kings to twist and turn. Can David win his second draft in a row? Will KDB finally get one over the line? Listen and find out! Don't forget to leave us a review on your pod platforms, or send us tweets over to @winnerisyoupod. We will see you next time for a special event for the month of May - don't miss it!

What a biggie this is, and it's not even the Summer of Resi yet! Pop a Plagas suppository in your anus and join us in full Ganado glory for a chat about the remake to one of the greatest video games of all time - the mighty Resident Evil 4. We discuss the history of the original game and its development, overall changes to the remake - like the new controls, voice actors, and mechanics - and dive deep going through the chapters of the game (with more discussions on what's changed from the OG). It's a huge pod for a huge game, and richly deserved it is too. Don't forget to leave us a lovely review on your pod platform and check us out on Twitter @winnerisyoupod

Get your drafting pens at the ready, because we're back on the clock for another Video Game Draft! KDB - of First Aid Spray, Gears Intel, and Tapes From The Wastes fame - joins us once again to take turns picking 10 games each, this time from the year 2003, and determine a winner based on the total Metacritic scores for said games. Will Alex make it a threepeat with his underhanded GBA game-picking tactics? Will David go mad and inexplicably keep picking American football games? Will KDB pick something that's actually terrible and kill his total score yet again? Tune in to find out, and play along if you want by hitting up the Wikipedia 'category: 2003 games' page and pick your own dream team. Don't forget to leave us a review if you liked what you heard, and come say hello over on Twitter @winnerisyoupod. See you next episode for Resident Evil 4 Remake!

Ook ook. Are you folks ready to go ape? That's right, we're in Kong country, and it's a pretty big country, so we've decided to cram in Rare's iconic SNES classics Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest into one podcast! We'll talk, as usual, about our own opinions and historical experiences with the game, the development, its reception, and we're picking out notable levels from each game to pour over. So get comfortable, check on your banana horde, dust off your mine cart and ready yourself for some monkey mayhem! In podcast form! Don't forget to leave us a review if you like what you hear, tweet us @winnerisyoupod, or email us via awinnerisyoupod@gmail.com

Let's just take a moment to pay respects to an incredible video game. Alex finally managed to convince David to drop everything (mostly Apex Legends) and play through the campaign of Respawn's marvellous 2016 shooter, Titanfall 2. We discuss the, ahem, story and the relationship between Cooper and BT, the gunplay and Titan loadouts, the movement mechanics and level gimmicks, the game's development, its critical and commercial reception, and loads more! Don't forget to give us a rating on your pod platform of choice, and come say hi over @winnerisyoupod

We couldn't help ourselves. Once you go full Necromorph, you never go back. Well, you do go back... to Dead Space. Specifically to its sequel, as we set virtual sail for Titan Station in 2011's blockbuster (except in terms of sales) Dead Space 2. A much more linear, action-heavy game than the original, it doesn't stop Visceral's efforts from still feeling as satisfying and scary as it did 11 years ago. We chat about the ongoing trials and tribulations of Isaac Clarke after he awakens in a mental hospital aboard a space station on one of Saturn's moons known as The Sprawl, and the endless nightmare he endures thereafter. How does the story hold up? Is the combat still great? Is the game scary or just relentlessly full-on? What weapons did we use this time? We answer these questions and many more in typical AWIY deep dive fashion. Don't forget to leave us a review on your pod platform of choice, and head over to @winnerisyoupod on Twitter to get in touch!