Region Free Gamers: The Podcast Fluent in Gaming!

Today's episode could alternatively be called, Honourable Mentions or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Hate Vagrant Story. What else didn't make the cut for the King of Games 2000? Paul, Kelly, and Chris and Shane from Retro Hangover have all the answers! Listen and find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Capcom vs. SNK - From K.O To Win

Today, Kelly, Mike, and Arnaldo are joined by special guest and obscure PlayStation game connoisseur, Sean Seanson! First we open up the show talking about Sean's YouTube channel, its growth and the ups and downs of creating a niche channel before moving on to our favourite licensed games, starting with Danger Girl for the PS1 (25:00) followed by The Lion King (SNES), The Simpsons Hit & Run, and Xena: Warrior Princess (PS1). But unfortunately (or fortunately!) we have some less stellar licensed games to balance things out with Batman Forever (SNES), Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadets (Game Boy), Way Of The Dogg (X360) and last but certainly not least, Sabrina The Teenage Witch: A Twitch In Time (PS1). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Simpsons Hit & Run - Bonestorm Storm Way Of The Dogg - Trailer

It's time for the semifinals in our tournament to determine the greatest video game of the year 2000! For such an important episode we've got Kelly, Anthony, Paul, and special guests Chris Coplien of the Retro Hangover podcast and sometimes nintendhost, LPTyger! Crazy Taxi has been something of a Cinderella story so far, but will it find its glass Vans in time to take down Tony Hawk? Listen to find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (GBC) - Skate's Theme

Today it's Mike, Kelly and Paul talking about the most disrespected genre in video games, Tower Defense! The crew starts out talking about recent video game and anime purchases because we're a bunch of nerds and we can't help ourselves (3:30) before moving on to how Tower Defense games even got started and evolved to the well oiled machine we see today (18:20). Next let's talk about straight Tower Defense games with no frills like Bloons, Kingdom Rush, and more (38:30). Following that we've got the hybrids where TD is combined with other genres like Castlestorm and Mindustry and more (1:11:30). And we wrap things up with what is probably the most popular TD subgenre, the TD/3rd person hybrid, featuring games like Orcs Must Die! and Dungeon Defenders (1:46:30). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Plants vs. Zombies - Day Stage Dungeon Of The Endless - Wrecking Bad Orcs Must Die! - Battle Theme 1

Another quarterfinals matchup today with Arnaldo, Paul, and special guest Chris Coplien of the Retro Hangover podcast determining whether Dreamcast darlings Skies of Arcadia or Marvel vs. Capcom 2 move on to the semifinals! Will the sky pirates be able to battle their way through or will they get taken for a ride? Listen to find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - Character Select Skies of Arcadia - Air Pirate Secret Base

Today Kelly, Mike, Arnaldo, and Paul are talking about what games we've been playing lately! Paul starts things off with Psyvariar Delta (8:00) and Dicey Dungeons (26:15). Arnie needs an entire segment to go over Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (44:30) followed by Mike with our second shmup of the day, Image Striker (1:16:30) and then our third one, the Mega Drive / Genesis classic, Forgotten Worlds (1:26:40). Then Kelly rescues the show with Soul Blazer (1:42:00) and Last Cloudia (1:59:50) Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Dicey Dungeons - Fighting Chance Xenoblade Chronicles - Engage The Enemy Soul Blazer - Intro

We're now into the quarterfinals of The King of Games 2000, and Arnaldo, Kelly, and special guest Shane Koski of the Retro Hangover podcast are here to see which of Final Fantasy IX or Crazy Taxi will make it through to the semifinals! Will one of Sega's reckless taxi drivers manage to run over Square's strangely proportioned fantasy heroes? Listen to find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Final Fantasy IX - The Place I'll Return To Some Day

Today Arnaldo, Kelly, and Paul are talking about one of our favourite 2D game developers, Vanillaware! The crew starts off talking about George Kamitani and the origins of the developer (5:00) and their first game, Princess Crown (12:50). Yes, we absolutely discuss the origin of the name 'Vanillaware' (22:30) followed by the first two games under the Vanillaware moniker, Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire (25:00). Another two simultaneously developed games are up with Kumatanchi on the Nintendo DS, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii and PS Vita (48:00). We wrap things up with another Japan only release in Grand Knights History on the PSP followed by fantasy beatemup tour de force, Dragon's Crown and insane visual novel / RTS, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. (1:07:30) Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Princess Crown - Lonely Village Odin Sphere - Town Of The Mysterious Pooka 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - VALINE

On today's episode of the King of Games 2000 we've got Geoff, Kelly, and special guest Chris Coplien of the Retro Hangover podcast breaking down whether it's Grandia II or Skies of Arcadia moving on to the next round of our tournament to crown the greatest game of the year 2000. Somehow, by sheer luck, all four Dreamcast games in this tourney got matched up with each other in round one, and somehow the system's two most notable RPGs are in the same matchup together. Glass half empty - at least one gets eliminated. Glass half full - at least one goes ahead! But which? Listen and find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Grandia II - Fight!! ver.1

Today Arnaldo and Paul conclude a trilogy four years in the making with their final (or is it?....) look at Intelligent Systems, this time through their sometimes beloved Paper Mario series! The show starts off with the first proof of concept for the Mario RPG, uh.. Super Mario RPG! (6:00) The N64's RPG magnum opus Paper Mario is next (27:00) followed by a detailed look at our favourite Paper Mario video game, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (42:30). The road diverges a bit from the RPG formula with Super Paper Mario on the Wii (1:26:00) and the wheels start falling off with Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the 3DS (1:42:30) but Paper Mario Colour Splash and Origami king try valiantly to get back things back on track (1:51:00). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Paper Mario - Battle Theme Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - Rogueport Paper Mario: The Origami King - Main Theme

On this episode of the King of Games 2000, we've got Arnaldo, Kelly, and special guest Shane Koski of the Retro Hangover Podcast breaking down which of Diablo 2 or Deux Ex will move on to the next round of this tournament to crown the greatest game of the year 2000. Will the Illuminati push Deus Ex over ultra polished heroin simulator Diablo 2? Listen to find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Diablo 2 - Roger And Me

Today it's Arnaldo, Mike, and Paul having a casual chat about Werthers Originals, Tom Brady, and, of course, what video games we've been playing lately! Arnaldo starts us off comparing Dr. Lautrec And The Forgetten Knights to Nicolas Cage (8:00) followed by Paul gushing over what Technocop should have been: Huntdown (25:00). Mike is up next with the better version of Pokemon Snap, Umarangi Generation (43:00) followed by Paul with an homage to speedy tofu delivery in Inertial Drift (1:02:30). Mike takes us through a game that could be all too real in Going Under (1:22:00) while Arnie takes us home with Metroid: Zero Mission (1:40:30). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Huntdown - Main Theme

Although we said goodbye to Geoff late last year, he'll always be in our hearts, and also on mp3s of King of Games 2000 episodes we recorded months ago and are finally releasing now. Including this one, co-hosted by Anthony and Chris Coplien of the Retro Hangover podcast - a Dreamcast only battle featuring Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio! If you're wondering where Jet Grind Radio is, please understand that here at RFG, we don't believe Jet Grind Radio ever existed. Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Jet Set Radio - Sweet Soul Brother

Today, Arnaldo, Kelly, Mike, and Paul are here to talk about the year we all thought would be great, but in fact, was not: 2021! Except when it comes to video games, where we had a lot to celebrate! The show starts off on a bizarre tangent with tales of hypothermia and river survival before moving on to our first GOTY category, our favourite non-2021 video game of the year, aka: The Backlog Award (16:30). Our most pleasant gaming surprise of 2021 is up next (44:00) followed by our biggest gaming disappointment of 2021 (1:13:30). Finally we wrap things up with our very, extremely, official 2021 Video Game Of The Year awards (1:49:30). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Sayonara Wild Hearts - Wild Hearts Never Die Pyre - Surviving Exile Persona 5 Scramble - Sophia's Shop

The King Of Games is back, baby! This time we're holding a no holds barred tournament to determine the best video game of the year 2000! And we're doing it as a collaborative effort with the Retro Hangover podcast! So today, please join Arnaldo, Paul, and special guest Shane Koski of Retro Hangover as we determine which game gets the boot in this first matchup of the round of 16. Will Arnie cry when Pokemon loses? Or will Paul quit video games altogether when Pokemon wins? Listen to find out! Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Pokemon Gold/Silver - Come On

Today it's Arnaldo, Mike, and Paul diving deep into the weird world of Alternate Reality Games! After reminiscing about the previous Christmas, the crew starts off talking about what exactly Alternate Reality Games are (19:15) followed by what is considered the first ARG, Majestic, and arguably the most famous one, the Halo 2 ARG, ilovebees (33:50). The insanity that is Portal 2's ARG is up next (1:07:30) followed by the dedicated ARG you can play today, The Black Watchmen (1:23:30). We wrap up the show talking about what makes for a successful ARG and whether we would play one today (1:40:30). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Halo 2 - Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix) Portal - 4000 Degrees Kelvin The Black Watchmen - Power And Influence

Today it's Kelly, Arnaldo, Mike, and Paul talking about the roller coaster that is collecting video games over the last ten years. We start off talking about how we became game collectors and what kind of video games we collect (3:30), before moving on to a discussion about the past and future of the collector's edition video game (30:00). Next up we talk about how collecting video games has changed over the years, from the retro store itself to garage sales, flea markets and everything in between (1:12:00) and wrap things up with with talk about why retro video game prices have skyrocketed and whether we think this trend will continue (1:42:30). Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: .hack Infection - Forest Field - Battle Vambrace: Cold Soul - Cold Soul Battle Out Run - Boss 1 Pursuit - Capture

Today it's Arnaldo, Kelly, Mike, and Paul talking about the meteoric rise and fall of the rhythm video game; most notably, Rock Band. After spending some time praising the existence of the private karaoke room, we start off with the most important question: Rock Band or Guitar Hero? (8:00) With some answers in tow we talk about the creation of the company most responsible for the rhythm game wave, Harmonix (21:00) and their PS2 games, Frequency and Amplitude (27:00). The publisher Red Octane and their role in the DDR mat market and their plastic guitar dreams are up next (36:30) followed by the creation of the phenomenon, Guitar Hero (44:00). Next we talk Rock Band itself (57:00) and our own band names (1:11:00) and wrap things up with the sad list of reasons the genre has fallen off a cliff (1:30:00) Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: All music by the Arnaldo Perez Experience

The Hall Of Fame Games and Movies Podcast host Matt Levy joins Arnaldo, Kelly, and Paul to talk about what video games we've been playing lately! Arnie starts us off with the announcement that ends an era (5:00) before talking about Yuppie Psycho (21:30) and paying tribute to Mara with Shin Megami Tensei V (25:00). Matt is dodging E.M.M.I.s in Metroid Dread (43:30) and figuring out how to load the PS5 enhanced Ghost Of Tsushima (1:00:30). Kelly takes a trip back to the future with Final Fantasy IV: Pixel Perfect Remaster (1:16:30) and prepares some tissue for Imposter Factory (1:32:00). Paul wraps things up with a callback to our Compile episode and GG Aleste 3 (1:47:00) followed by the unique pain of For The King (1:57:00). Links! Hall Of Fame Video Games and Movies Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4itnRYUlzHUOrRBiPAhvyz Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: Shin Megami Tensei V - Tokyo (Daybreak) FFIV Pixel Remaster - Mt. Ordeals Aleste Collection - Menu

Today it's Arnaldo, Kelly, Paul, and special return guest, Stephan Reese of Art Of Nintendo Power (Twitter @ArtofNP) picking up our frying pans and baseball bats while we talk about the Super Nintendo's quirky classic, EarthBound! We start off the show catching up with Stephan and talking about his nonprofit, The Interactive Art Collection before moving on to the video game du jour and its creator, the world's most interesting man, Shigesato Itoi (14:00). EarthBound's Famicom predecessor Mother gets a mention (36:00) before moving on to EarthBound itself and its infamous ad campaign (48:00). Our first experiences with EarthBound are up next, including how we reacted to its underwhelming graphics (54:00) followed by the story and our favourite parts and characters (1:08:30). And we wrap things up talking about the legacy EarthBound left behind (1:51:00) Links! Art Of Nintendo Power - https://twitter.com/ArtofNP The Interactive Art Collection - https://twitter.com/GameArtCollect Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/regionfreegamers Talk to us! https://linktr.ee/regionfreegamers Email regionfreegamers@gmail.com Music: EarthBound - What A Great Picture! EarthBound - Sunrise and Onett Theme EarthBound - Sanctuary Guardians EarthBound - The Sky Runner