Here it is, our 2025 games of the year…..oh crap we forgot to play any video games! This year join Kyle, Jorge, and special guest Esper Quinn (wahoo!) as your esteemed judges presenting their picks for the backlog games of the year. With so many good games, why did so many must-plays just barely miss the mark for us? Enjoy such awards as “Best Game That Got Overhyped for Me and Now I’m Pushing Back on Principal”. In this extra long extravaganza we also share our actual games of the year and even a Christmas skit full of humor just for the gamers (tm). Happy holidays y’all!

This week on Brainlords we talk about our fascination with emulations from another nation. That's right, fan translations! Special guest Bowl of Lentils walks us through their work on the Sakura Wars 1&2 translation while we round robin our favorite games we could have never played without the fans doing it themselves. We talk the good the bad and the ugly, everything from selfless collaborations to petty disputes for clout in this Super Duper High School Level Episode.   Questions, Comments, Suggestions?CONTACT US: brainlordspod@gmail.com  Kyle - Cute Monster Props Jorge - JMV Special Guest - Bowl of Lentils THINGS DISCUSSED  Detective Instinct: Farewell My Beloved, Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity, Falcom (Developer), Genealogy of the Holy War, Private Idol, Clock Tower, The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Bowl of Lentils Game 1: Sakura Wars 1 & 2 (0:10:07) Translation lead by: NoahSteam, Sakura Wars Series, Mizzurna Falls,  Jorge’s Game 1: Mother 3 (0:27:53) Translation lead by Jeffman Chewy and Tomato, Mother 3, The Earthbound Anthology, Mother To Earth: The Untold Story of Earth Bound, Earthbound USA, Earthbound, Mother 1, Hobonichi Mother Merch, Kyle’s Game 1: Cave Story (0:47:22) Translation by Aeon Genisis, Dokutsu Monogatari, Yume Nikki, Jay is Games, Kero Blaster, Umihara Kawase, Blade Strangers, Daisuke Amaya Furry Art Game Ratings: Video Game Dubs (0:58:52)  Metal Gear Solid Master Collection, Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Star Fox Command, Final Fantasy X, Megaman X4, Devil May Cry, Yakuza Like A Dragon, Yakuza 1, Yakuza Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, Black Myth Wukong, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Brave Fencer Musashi, Kid Ikarus: Uprising Lentil’s Game 2: Famicom Detective Club Part II: The Girl Who Stands Behind (1:28:10) Translation Lead by Bongo, Demiforce, Tomato, Famicom Detective Club, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Tales of Fantasia, Ace Attourney Jorge’s Game 2: Princess Crown (1:37:56) Translation Lead by CyberWarriorX and SamIAm, Princess Crown, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, Dungeons and Dragons Shadows Over Mystara, Odin’s Sphere, Policenauts Kyle’s Game 2: Danganronpa (1:53:26) Translation done by Project Zetsubo, Danganronpa Screenshot LP, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havok, Siren, Virtues Last Reward, The House of Fata Morgana,  The Question Zone (2:09:17) What is the most formative game to you that was not in english when you played it? -LocalizerThunk   Fire Emlem: Mystery of the Emblem, SeGaGaGa, Moon Remix RPG   Are there any fan translations you are looking forward to? -Jerry Boy 3 Namco x Capcom, Project X Zone, Ex Troopers, Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy, Puyo Puyo, Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR!, Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest 3, Moonlight Syndrome, Otoirisou video by Dungeon Chill, Click Medic, Shadow Tower Abyss The Rec Room (2:22:51) The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Metaphor Refantazio, Angels Egg, Wordless, Consume Me. Bowl of Lentils History of Chunsoft Sound Novels

This week on Brainlords special guest Bobvids helps us on Part Two of our P.T. series discussing the current era of liminal spaces in games. Even Baby Steps and 1000xResist have looping hallways, so are the lessons learned from this ludonarrative only limited to scares? We discuss our hopes for the future of spooky games in this raucous conclusion to our horror retrospective.    Questions, Comments, Suggestions?CONTACT US: brainlordspod@gmail.com Kyle - Cute Monster Props Jorge - JMV Special guest - BobVids THINGS DISCUSSED  Lasagna Cat, The Spiritual Successor to Simpson’s Hit and Run, Item Label - Papupi, Silent Hill 2, Devotion, Outer Wilds, Outer Worlds, Undertale, Higurashi: When They Cry, Look Back, Crow Country Despite being a non-existent game, how has PT influenced gaming since its release? (0:17:27) P.T., Amnesia: Dark Descent, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Baby Steps, MiSide, The Blair Witch Project, Nexpo, Chilling Scares, Lethal Company, R.E.P.O, Phasmophobia, Allison Road,  What is the difference between a game influenced by PT and a game influenced by Amnesia? (0:33:57) Alien Isolation, Deltarune, Glittermitten Grove, Frog Fractions 2,   How has the influence of PT become a positive and when/how does it become a negative? (0:44:52) Dreams, PT Trailer, Earthbound, Layers of Fear, Devotion, Silent Hill F, Silent Hill 1, 1000 X Resist, The Stanley Parable,  Game Ratings: Human characters in Silent Hill (1:16:21) Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4, Silent Hill: Homecoming Why do Liminal Spaces work so well in video games? (1:33:39) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Bullet Storm, Call of Duty, Shenmu, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, MyHouse.WAD, Doom, House of Leaves,  What do we hope for the future of horror games post PT? (1:46:49) The Question Zone (1:56:19) Bober Da Bober asks Do you think if you play PT in reverse it would be called TP, and climbing out of the drain of creativity symbolizes Kojima's time with Konami? The Witness, The Looker Gryphoneer, the Universally Beloved Online Icon asks Imagine Jovial Bob himself called you and offered to put you in charge of developing a video game adaptation of any of his properties. What would you pick to adapt and how would you adapt it?   The Park, Fatal Frame, MADiSON,    Dial (The Dude) asks isn't it a bit funny how Resident Evil re-invented itself in a P.T.-like fashion with the original demo for Resident Evil 7, and then the final game was *anything* but that anyways, I personally think it'd be really funny if Norman Reedus played Ethan Winters   Resident Evil: Village, Hereditary   LiminalLongJohnSilvers asks What is the cardinal sin of horror games who attempt to capture that PT and/or liminal aesthetic The Rec Room (2:14:30) Split Fiction, Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, Frankenstein: An Anatomy Lesson, Good Boy, Bring Her Back, Talk 2 Me, Stray Children, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, Super Mario RPG, Eraserhead, Poltergeist, Cave Crave VR

This week on Brain Lords we Present: Talking. In this Podcastable Teaser we bring on guest Super Bunnyhop to Parse the Terror still seen in P.T. For a game that doesn’t technically exist, Silent Hills completely reshaped the Playable Trauma of modern horror games. But was that always the case or does this Polished Take on Amnesia exist beyond its creators and controversy?

This week on Brainlords we have a Halloween episode about drowning, being hunted, the dark, and the undead, all the hallmarks of our favorite…children’s platformers? Special guest Shannon Strucci scares us silly with stories of Spyro and Sonic being just as spooky as Silent Hill! How scary can a game be before it’s considered horror and why do so many games from our childhood leave us so traumatized?

On the eve of the release of Pokemon ZA, fresh off a major leak, the Brianlords ask the question: does Game Freak deserve it? Your ire, your pity, and alllll of your sorrow, this company was once a shining example of an early Japanese indie and is now burning out its staff on an endless stream of Pokemon. We talk about the non-Pokemon Gamefreak games, the company’s history, and what it means to have a highly polished action game in the works. Plus a bonus mailbag sharing your Pokemon memories!

This week on Brainlords we complain about the price of games nowadays. But then why did the games of yesteryear feel like a better deal despite being $80 well before Mario Kart 8? Is there anything you can do to appreciate an artform that seems so designed to take most of your paycheck? And yet somehow indie games should honestly cost more! Find out why as we release this episode for the same price as some of the best video games ever, free!

This week on Brainlords we look back on the 8 years we’ve had the Nintendo Switch to determine what we’ll be looking back on even later! We take a ~nostalgic~ tour through the final days of the WiiU, even getting the console in its early years, the peak years of its greatest hits, playing during the pandemic, and the twilight years that preceded the Switch 2. Are these just rose (and blue) tinted glasses or was there truly something special about the merger of Nintendo’s first merger of handheld and console that truly can’t be replicated again?

This week on Brainlords we celebrate the final moments before Silksong can no longer be delayed. Jorge doesn’t get what the deal is with Silkposting while Kyle is removing the clown makeup as we speak. We go over the humble origins of Hollow Knight to discuss if it really is that good (yes) and how we got here with eight years of hype and memes. How has the Metroidvania genre fared since then and what do we do now that Silksong, a game made with the opposite of crunch is finally out?

This Week on Brainlords special guest Voidburger takes us on a scenic tour through Silent Hill. Some game theories seem to have a life of their own but what happens when that becomes the death of your enjoyment? Jorge discusses being secretly dead the whole time while Kyle explains why Pokemon is actually dark and twisted. Will this episode be a dream all along or a nightmare of fan theories?!

This week on Brainlords we’re upping the difficulty to Legendary! Why do we keep coming back to the only medium that you might not even be good enough to experience? We share our histories with Gamer Rage (tm) and discuss some games that are better for having all the hardest parts in the beginning in order to conclude which game is *perfectly* difficult.

This week on Brainlords we are living in a Nightmare…Bart’s Nightmare! Or is it Buster’s Bad Dream? We discuss the wonderful world of Licensed games, advertisement games, and video game product placements to ask the question: Are they even art? Kyle compares a good Disney game that has nothing to do with its license to a bad Simpsons game that gave him an emotional response. Jorge discusses how to find validation as a working class artist when you don’t get to choose what you work on. The one thing we can agree on? The amazing taste of Nissan Cup Noodles. *smiles at camera*

This week on Brainlords, we discuss our favorite genre of music, SOUNDTRACK: VIDEO GAME. Kyle and Jorge each pick their OSTs of the year from 2015 to 2024 and guess each other's lists for some friendly competition. Is game music less memorable than the squarewaves of yesteryear or are we actually in a golden age? Spoiler warning: Extremely mild spoilers for Death Stranding 2, Undertale, Deltarune, and Signs of the Sojourner. (Mostly just minor moments and describing the context around interesting songs.) Questions, Comments, Suggestions?CONTACT US: brainlordspod@gmail.com Kyle - Cute Monster Props Jorge - JMV   THINGS DISCUSSED: Death Stranding 2, Super Mario Bros, 10 Years 10 Soundtracks - What makes video game music more effective than music in other mediums? (0:04:15)  2015 (0:15:06) Axiom Verge, Splatoon, Undertale, FF Brave Exvius 2016 (0:25:54) Redout, Aram Shahbazians, Orientalism: Desert Level Music vs Actual Middle-Eastern Music, Hyper Light Drifter, Death’s Door, Va11 Hall-A, FFXV 2017 (0:34:59) Sonic Mania, Nier Automata, Nier Replicant, Stellar Blade, Pyre, Breath of the Wild, Rivals of Aether,  2018 (0:43:03) Into the Breach, Celeste, Lena Rain, Xenoblade, The Tetris Effect, Deltarune, Radiant Historia 2019 (0:50:47) Sayonara Wild Hearts, Disco Elysium, 13 Sentinels, Hypnospace Outlaw Game Ratings - Overrated, underrated, and accurately rated licensed tracks in a video game. (1:00:35) Lollipop Chainsaw, Gears of War, FFXV, MGSV, Rock and Roll Racing, Saints Row 3 2020 (1:10:10) FFVII Reamake, 13 Sentinels, Paper Mario: Origami King, Signs of the Sojourner, Sakuna of Rice and Ruin, 2021 (1:20:03) Shin Megami Tensei V, Inscription, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Bravely Default 2, Cult of the Lamb 2022 (1:28:56) Neon White, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, TMNT Shredder's Revenge, Tunic, Live Alive 2023 (1:36:01) Alan Wake 2, Gravity Circuit, Octopath Traveler 2, Lies of P, Air Twister, Pizza Tower 2024 (1:43:46) 1000 x Resist, Unicorn Overlord, Nine Sols, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, Another Crabs Treasure What’s changed about video game music in the past 10 years? (1:53:02) What are we listening to in 2025? (1:57:47) Clair Obscure, Deltarune Ch3+4, Cave Story The Rec Room (2:04:48) To a T, 30XX, Rewatching Andor, Having very little trust and patience for the people selling you a house.

Just like FFX, our *Final* Final Fantasy Episode gets a sequel! Special guest Andrew Bluett fresh off writing a retrospective of FFIX helps keep us final-factual. How would we look back on each of the Final Fantasy games if 7, 8, 9, 10, and 10-2 were the last games in the series? Would Square just have turned into the FFVII machine? And is VIII really that much of a black sheep? Hear our hot takes on Blitzball as this triad triples down on our favorite minigames and more.

What if it really was the FINAL Fantasy? This week we ask the question, what would the legacy of each FF game be if it was the last game in the series? In this part 1 episode we go over the history of each of the pixel games up through VI. Would FFII be given a fair shot if it only got compared to FFI? We discover that FFIV may be the Citizen Kane of RPGs, and talk about FFV as the Mother 3 of FF games (I assure you this makes sense). Is FFVII just an enhanced version of FFVI? These Spoony Bards tell all in a theoretical retrospective of some Freakin’ Fantastic games.

This week special guest George Weidman, aka Super Bunnyhop, helps us figure out our love hate relationship with Hideo Kojima. Do we sabotage our own enjoyment with hype cycles and marketing jargon? Jorge reveals some misinformation about the English translation of Nawa, a story that inspired Death Stranding. Kyle recounts The Postman, a story that definitely didn’t inspire Death Stranding (despite the authors claims). And George argues that the Hideo Kojima’s character names really aren’t that bad, especially Machine Gun Kid. Will we fall prey to the same hype for Death Stranding 2 or will we all just turn into Sticks?

On today’s episode of Brainlords we explain why games might be better if they were a little “worse”! Jorge gives a history lesson on The Flow State while Kyle explains how it recently became synonymous with the addiction loop of a slot machine. Is fun the only emotion gameplay should strive for or should we want a bit more friction in an interactive art form?   CONTACT US: brainlordspod@gmail.com Kyle - Cute Monster Props Jorge - JMV Edited by Kyle   THINGS DISCUSSED: Should games be fun? (0:04:04) Super Mario World What does friction mean? (0:06:39) Dragon’s Dogma 2, Signalis, Bravely Default What are some instances of a game that had friction that you didn’t like? (0:16:20) Stephanie Sterling, Breath of the Wild, Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing Wild World, Street Fighter 6, Blazeblue, FF1 Anniversary PSP What is the Flow State? (0:24:09) Flow: Beyond Boredom and Anxiety - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Jenova Chen: Flow in Games (2007), Journey, Flow, Sky: Children of the Light, Tears of the Kingdom, Addiction by Design - Natasha D. Schull, Simon’s Quest, Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne How do we tell the difference between deliberate design choices and bad controls? (0:43:20) Pathologic, Pathologic 2, Deadly Premonition, Windwaker, Darkest Dungeon, Pseudoregalia, Disco Elysium, Silent Hill 2, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy IX, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Game Ratings: What is the most overrated, underrated, and accurately rated game with Tank Controls? (1:09:31) Shadows of the Empire, Resident Evil 1, RE: Remake (Gamecube), Parasite Eve, World of Tanks, Tomb Raider, God Hand, Katamari Damacy Games as theater - Should games be Dramatic or Epic? (1:15:51) Lisa The Painful RPG, Undertale, 1000xResist, Look Back (NOTE: we said Your Name but we meant Look Back), Doom, Doom (2016), Astro Bot, Flinthook Should the goal of a remake be to eliminate friction? (1:03:17) Link’s Awakening Remake, Ocarina of Time, Nightdive Studios, System Shock 1 What are some more concrete examples of a remake that took away some friction and lost something? (1:37:11) Super Mario RPG Remake, Silent Hill 2 Remake, RE: 4 Remake Closing Thoughts (1:47:17) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island The Question Zone (1:53:35) What is the best objectively bad game? - Francis York Morgan Altered Beast, Harvester, Evil Zone, Dwarf Fortress. What is the point of preserving a game after it gets remade? - True Doom Murderhead Monkey Island, Smash Bros Melee, Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid Delta, MGS3/Subsistence/3DS, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wizardry The Rec Room (2:05:59) Magical Puzzle Popils, Dragon Crystal, Playing Games randomly for the Steam Nextfest, Angeline Era, Severance Season 2, Hydlide, Ys, Nativshark.

This week’s episode we attempt craft the perfect Paper Mario using elements from each game like it was some sort of ransom note. Our first ever guest, Oceanity, uses her expertise as one of the only people who actually played Color Splash to help us identify what is at the heart of the best Mario RPGs. Does the Paper theme even matter or are the ”good” games only that way because the partners are such funny little guys? We wrestle with Nintendos relationship with Paper Mario’s identity crisis and more in this page turner of an episode.

If we can’t talk about fighting games then we’ll just have to fight each other! Our first debate episode where we ask whether game collecting is preserving or hoarding? Kyle takes the role of defender for the more positive aspects of the retro game scene and how accessible collecting can still be (as long as you’re cool). Jorge on the other hand argues the more toxic aspects of game collecting and the game industry’s failings at correcting this. And the winner of this debate… is you, dear listener! Unless you’re the type to whine about selling your copy of Go! Go! Hypergrind. In which case this is an intervention, I’m sorry.

Say Fuzzy Pickles! This week Jorge shares his experience at the 30th Anniversary Mother 2 Exhibit in Japan. Kyle accounts some bewilderment when meeting a tween who’s favorite game in the world is Earthbound. Why does the Mother series keep attracting newer generations of kids and what do we think about the future of the Mother franchise? We share the history and *our* history with Mother because our favorite series isn’t dead, it’s complete!