The Video Game Hall of Fame

It's spreadsheet time, lads. Lots of things to do in this episode and, as always, that means lots of new inductees into the Hall of Fame. Each host gets one free hit - a previous losing pick from episodes 61-69 they can put straight into the HOF. A fifth inductee can be chosen from any previous nomination by the winner of Simon's quiz. We also pick a bunch of awesome new categories - you'll be picking one of them, dear listener - and chat about what we've been playing recently because we were so damn efficient with the admin. Go vote for the category @vg_hof on Twitter, @vghof on BlueSky and @tvghof on Instagram. The outro music in this episode is Boomer Kuwanger Stage from the soundtrack 'Capcom Music Generation - Rockman X1~6' and is composed by Yuko Takehara.

Sure, some games are so hard they make you lob your controller through a window or insult some poor American teenager's mother, but that doesn't mean that difficult games can't be incredible, Hall of Fame-worthy classics. We've got four such examples for you here, and you can vote your favourite of them into via one (or all) of the polls @vg_hof on Twitter, @vghof on BlueSky or @tvghof on Instagram. Send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com

Perm your hair and run from the Terminator, or something else equally '80s, as we're going back to the time when the video game industry crashed and then sorted itself back out again - the 1980s. There are some arcade and early home console classics for you to vote on here. Also there's the game Steve picks. Whatever you decide, you can go and vote in the polls at the following places: Twitter: @vg_hof BlueSky: @vghof Instagram: @tvghof

Woof. Vote for the best woof via @vg_hof on Twitter, @vghof on BlueSky and @tvghof on Instagram Send us a woof to videogamehof@gmail.com Woof.

Mate, you got any 50ps I can borrow? We're talking about arcade games on this episode, y'see, so I've definitely got next. Who doesn't love a good arcade game, eh? A cornerstone of the gaming industry since its inception - we all miss the heyday of arcades dearly. Well, miss it no more (kinda) as we've got four bangin' arcade classics to nominate for the Hall of Fame. Go to @vg_hof on Twitter, @vghof on BlueSky, or @vghof on Instagram to vote for your chosen game in the polls and/or send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com to chat any old bollocks.

Welcome to year four of the Video Game Hall of Fame! As is tradition, we begin the new year by talking about games from last year. It's your de facto game of the year episode! Four excellent games to choose from on this one, so make sure you vote for your favourite over @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky to determine the winner and the first inductee of the class of 2026. Send emails to videogamehof@gmail.com and we'll see you next episode for Arcade Games.

Merry Christmas! To celebrate, we've got four games set during this festive period for you to vote on. It's the last pod and poll of the year, so make it count! Thanks for listening to us in 2025. We hope you have a great holiday and a happy new year, and we'll see you in 2026 for our GOTY special. Go vote on the Christmas games @vg_hof on Twitter and/or @vghof on BlueSky. Oh, and tell us your game of the year and we'll read it out next episode. Emails welcome, as always, to videogamehof@gmail.com

Let's get niche, baby! We're dipping out of our (and most people's, really) comfort zones to nominate some games outside of the 'Big Four' console manufacturers. Think SNK, NEC/Hudson Soft, Atari, Philips, 3DO Company... you get it. There's a huge number of bangers still available for their machines, some that defined the entire industry (and some that crashed it). The only rule is no home computers. Amiga (except the CD32), Spectrum and Commodore 64 (sorry, Steve), that means you're out. Vote for your favourite nominated game over @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky and send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com

We're back! After a brief hiatus (albeit one where we've recorded three pods and Alex just needs to get his arse in gear and edit them faster), we return to celebrate the golden era of gaming. That's right, it's time to dust off your SNES or Mega Drive (or Mega CD, TurboGrafx-16 or Neo Geo) and get 16-bits of glory in ya. So many classics to choose from, and we've got four bangin' nominees for you on this one. Go vote for the one you want in the Hall of Fame @VG_HOF on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky. Send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com

It's Halloween again, and you know what that means! Yes, it means nobody on the podcast aside from Alex will nominate anything even remotely spooky on our spooky special episode. Other things happen: Go now to @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky to vote in the poll/like the post of the ghosty game you want in the HOF! Send emails to videogamehof@gmail.com but STOP BEING MEAN TO SIMON. First one to send us an email where they say something nice about Simon gets to nominate a 16-bit game for the next episode of the pod. I mean, it might not get in but you gotta shoot your shot.

This is an absolutely mad episode. Loads of fun was had, and we're sure you'll have fun too. Alex does maths. Steve does sailors (again). Rob really wants to stroke a dog. Simon celebrates a birthday. We also induct four previous poll losers directly into the Hall of Fame, set up all the categories for the next 9 episodes, and answer an email from a new listener. You can email us too! videogamehof@gmail.com To help select the category we nominate games from in a couple of episodes time, all you need to do is go to @vg_hof on Twitter and/or @vghof on BlueSky and vote for it. See you next time for our Halloween special!

This should be right in our wheelhouse, eh? Well, to make sure we definitely hit our nominations out of the park, we enlisted Sega Mania Magazine creator, Tim Hugall, as a special guest! Because he's so good at making our words into amazing pages, we let Tim nominate three Sega games, with the rest of us voting one directly into the Hall of Fame. There's the usual four nominees for you to vote on as well, though. Just head over to @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky and vote in the poll/like the post of your desired winner respectively. Send emails over to videogamehof@gmail.com as we'd love to have some nonsense to read in next episode's bonus induction special. Head to www.sega-mania.com to pre-order your copy of Sega Mania Magazine issue 9. We wrote it!

It's time to put up or shmup up, as we're nominating shoot 'em ups for the Hall of Fame. We decided to include games from the sub genres of horizontal and veritcal-scrolling shooters, twin stick shooters and run and gun games. When you've heard the pod, go to @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky to vote for the game you want in the HOF! Thanks to ol' Jeff Bra for his questions! You can send your own questions for the pod to our social accounts, or email them to videogamehof@gmail.com

Fear not, haters of Smash and/or Nintendo (alright, Steve?), Smash Bros. has become a veritable video game museum. There are hundreds of games represented in the Big N's party fighter, so we had a huge range of wildly different games to nominate for the HOF in this one. When you've heard the episode, head on over to @vghof on BlueSky to like the post of the game you want, or vote in the poll @vg_hof on Twitter. Don't forget we love reading out your emails - send 'em over to videogamehof@gmail.com

Let's go back in time to a wonderful era in gaming. An era where the first person shooter was perfected, where the RTS was king, where Mario and Sonic never dared to tread. Where PC gaming was magnificent. We've got four classics for you to vote for in this episode, so go to @VG_HOF on Twitter and vote in the poll, or like the post of the game you want in on @vghof on BlueSky. Send emails to vifdeogamehof@gmail.com

In the midst of this irritatingly annual heatwave, we bring you a podcast featuring sweaty lads with melting brains. You'll see what we mean. Bear with us, it's hot innit. We've got four PlayStation 1 games for you to vote on this time, and with classics like FFVII, Resident Evil 1 and 2, THPS and... er... Die Hard Trilogy already in the Hall of Fame, the lads had to delve a little deeper for nominations. Once you've heard our nominations, head over to @VG_HOF on Twitter (sorry, BlueSky polls are broken and useless atm) to vote. Please do say hi to us @vghof on BlueSky too, though. Send an email to videogamehof@gmail.com. Do it!

The best things in life are three! An undeniable video game fact if this episode is anything to go by. Prepare yourselves for arguably the strongest lineup of games we've ever put to a vote. Also prepare for some Rob-related controversy around percentagegate (he's not happy). Who was right? Alex or Rob? Hit us up at @vg_hof on twitter or @vghof on BlueSky to chime in, and to vote for the threequel you want in the HOF. Send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com

You know how it is - you're great. People say you're great. Yet, somehow, you never quite make it big. Just like cult classic video games. Here we are to nominate four games that deserved more than cult status, and you can give them more by voting one into the Hall of Fame! Go to @vg_hof on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky to vote in the poll for your favourite cult classic. Also, send an email to videogamehof@gmail.com

This episode's category caused a bit of consternation amongst the lads. Maybe that's to be expected, what with Steve ‘I don’t create characters - just make sure the hedgehog is blue’ Andrews, and Rob ‘I don’t understand any categories anymore. Why can’t we have games with bikes instead of this woke nonsense?’ Kirkup on the show. But hey, we've got Simon ‘I’ll pick a category only slightly more vague and mysterious than the game I’ve planned to pick for it’ Pike to blame (or thank) for that! Don't forget to go and vote for the game you want in the Hall of Fame over @VG_HOF on Twitter or @vghof on BlueSky. Send us an email to videogamehof@gmail.com.

Get your wallet out, you cheap bastards, because in this episode we're nominating games that are rare and/or expensive. You can choose your voting choice for the Hall of Fame based on the rarest, most expensive or just the best game (probably do that). In an explosive pod, Rob nominates something fucking ridiculous and we try to track down and live call an old Spectrum developer. Say hi @vg_hof on X or @vghof on BlueSky, and email videogamehof@gmail.com