Bonus Level - Your Three Cents

With just a week to go until the final episode of season three (and the bombshell revelation that we all, independent of one another, have placed the PlayStation's Japanese exclusive Pepsiman at the top of our lists), we've decided to celebrate YOU.

In this final week of edging before our lists conclude, we're diving into Your Three Cents, and picking over ten top ten sent in by ten top friends to give our thoughts on some of your very favourite video games of all-time! 

With all our love, 
The O3C Boys

www.ourthreecents.co.uk

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The Top 10 Top 10 Lists!

Andy Smith

1. XCOM 2

2. GoldenEye

3. DOTA

4. Civilisation 4

5. The Witness

6. Age of Empires 2

7. Command & Conquer: Red Alert

8. Halo: Combat Evolved

9. Don’t Starve

10. Final Fantasy VIII

Peyton (RNG Party)

1. Megaman X

2. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

3. Pokémon Red/Blue

4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

5. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

6. Stardew Valley

7. Fire Emblem Awakening

8. Kirby 64

9. Super Mario World

10. Civilisation 5

Kaspar (MetroidVaniac)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

3. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

5. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

6. Hollow Knight

7. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

8. Bloodborne

9. Fallout: New Vegas

10. Metroid Prime

Gene Limbrick

1. GTA IV

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (1-3 really…)

3. Counter Strike

4. Shadow of the Colossus (series)

5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (series)

6. Road Rash

7. Driver

8. Max Payne (series)

9. Quake 2

10. Mass Effect 2

Gethin Jones

1. Final Fantasy VII

2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

3. Tomb Raider

4. Final Fantasy VIII

5. Resident Evil 2

6. Batman: Arkham Asylum

7. Portal

8. Tomb Raider 2

9. Dead Space

10. Resident Evil 4

Ioan Gwyn

1. Resident Evil 2

2. Tomb Raider 2

3. Bioshock

4. Super Mario Kart

5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

6. Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2

7. Metal Gear Solid

8. Portal 2

9. Dead Space

10. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition

Ben (RNG Party)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

3. Final Fantasy XIII

4. Sin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

5. Mario Kart 8

6. Wipeout Omega Collection

7. Pokémon Red/Blue

8. Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

9. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

10. Attack of the Friday Monsters

Mike Williams

1. Banjo Kazoo

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

3. Metroid Prime

4. Bloodborne

5. Hollow Knight

6. Super Smash Bros Melee

7. Pokémon Red

8. Dark Souls 3

9. Super Metroid

10. Halo 3

Lewiss Norman

1. GoldenEye

2. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge

3. Metal Gear Solid

4. Sensible World of Soccer

5. Half-Life

6. Grand Theft Auto

7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

8. Red Dead Redemption 2

9. Battlefield Vietnam

10. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

David Boys-Layton

1. Dark Souls

2. Cannon Fodder

3. Warhammer: Dawn of War

4. Fallout: New Vegas

5. Tyranny

6. Speedball 2

7. PES 2010

8. Warframe

9. GoldenEye

10. Tetris

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Massive thanks to our Patreon subscribers Andy Smith, Gene Limbrick, CJ Anderson, Debbie Booth, Guy Lochhead, Jasper Blacketer, David Boys-Layton, Darren Hughes, Rob Wade, Nathan Bain, Chris Walker, Sam Roberts, Alex Dunn and Ross Ewing!

Connect with us via a selection of social media platforms:
Our Three Cents | Linktree

Reach out to us individually:
Jonathan - www.twitter.com/jonathandunn
Chris - www.twitter.com/Chas_Hodges
Minty - www.twitter.com/clement_boo

Bonus Level - Fisticuffs with Miyamoto!

Join O3C as we speak to genuine industry stalwart Giles Goddard!

Travelling through milestones in his varied career, find out how working with Argonaut led to the development of the Super FX Chip which would power the technical powerhouses Star Fox and Stunt Race FX; how taking residence in Japan led to a closer relationship with Nintendo and work on Super Mario 64 and 1080 Snowboarding (not Skiing!); why Steel Diver remains one of Giles’ favourite titles in his collective oeuvre; and how ‘going indie’ eventually led to returning to the cutting edge with the VR-exclusive Carve Snowboarding.

www.ourthreecents.co.uk

— — — — — — — — — — 

Massive thanks to our Patreon subscribers Andy Smith, Gene Limbrick, CJ Anderson, Debbie Booth, Guy Lochhead, Jasper Blacketer, David Boys-Layton, Darren Hughes, Rob Wade, Nathan Bain, Chris Walker, Sam Roberts and Alex Dunn!

Watch our video content on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3dZ2gmg

Subscribe to our Twitch channel: www.twitch.tv/o3cpodcast

Help support us in exchange for some incredible perks: www.patreon.com/ourthreecents

Browse the episodes from Season 1: www.ourthreecents.co.uk

Join in the conversation with us: www.facebook.com/ourthreecents

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/o3cpodcast

Reach out to us individually:
Jonathan - www.twitter.com/jonathandunn
Chris - www.twitter.com/Chas_Hodges
Minty - www.twitter.com/clement_boo

Number 4 (Chris Dow) - Tetris

It’s only ruddy video games again! We honestly can’t get enough of them! 

In our latest hour of podcasting you can hear our musings on a select selection of video games this week including:
- The most pointless round of the quiz so far - literally!
- The answer to a listener question that reveals which video games have given us real world wanderlust.
- Chris celebrates Zero Mission Accomplished as he finishes his first Metroid!
- Minty takes a trip down Digimemory Lane with Digimon Cyber Sleuth.
- Jonathan survives the Beneviento House and completes a spectacular and spooky adventure in Resident Evil Village!
- And Chris and Jonathan hit the Links to find out how Mario’s latest golfing effort shapes up on the Switch!

And if he hasn’t done this enough in the past, Chris waxes lyrical about Alexey Pajitnov’s industry behemoth, Tetris, as it qualifies as his 4th favourite video game of all-time!

www.ourthreecents.co.uk

— — — — — — — — — — 

Massive thanks to our Patreon subscribers Andy Smith, Gene Limbrick, CJ Anderson, Debbie Booth, Guy Lochhead, Jasper Blacketer, David Boys-Layton, Darren Hughes, Rob Wade, Dominic Kemp, Chris Walker and Alex Dunn!

Watch our video content on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3dZ2gmg

Subscribe to our Twitch channel: www.twitch.tv/o3cpodcast

Help support us in exchange for some incredible perks: www.patreon.com/ourthreecents

Browse the episodes from Season 1: www.ourthreecents.co.uk

Join in the conversation with us: www.facebook.com/ourthreecents

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/o3cpodcast

Reach out to us individually:
Jonathan - www.twitter.com/jonathandunn
Chris - www.twitter.com/Chas_Hodges
Minty - www.twitter.com/clement_boo

Number 5 (Jonathan Dunn) - Thief II: The Metal Age

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy - loosen your belts for this week’s BUMPER episode of Our Three Cents, folks!

Do you want to hear three non-gamers give their best descriptions of games they haven’t played, or, in most cases, even seen? It’s the ‘WAGs Opinion’ Quiz Round!

Do you want to hear three non-non-gamers give their best thoughts on the damp squib that was E3 2021?

Do you want to hear some updated thoughts on Sp!ng? Undermine? Dariusburst? Super Mario Odyssey? Abzu? Or brand new thoughts on Beat Saber? Or Metroid Zero Mission!?

Then, after all this succulent, gut-busting content, Jonathan Dunn presents a very ’Jonathan Dunn game’ via his thoughts on his 5th favourite of all time: Thief 2 - The Metal Age.

Why is Thief 2 better than Thief Gold and Thief Deadly Shadows, both of which have already appeared on J-Dog’s list? What makes Thief 2 feel so alive, setting it apart from the majority of first person games that preceded it in the 1990s? What exactly is a taffer?

..and, perhaps most pertinently in 2021, what exactly is a demo disc? 

Massive thanks to our Patreon subscribers Andy Smith, Gene Limbrick, CJ Anderson, Debbie Booth, Guy Lochhead, Jasper Blacketer, David Boys-Layton, Darren Hughes, Rob Wade, Dominic Kemp, Chris Walker and Alex Dunn!

www.ourthreecents.co.uk

— — — — — — — — — —

Watch our video content on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3dZ2gmg

Subscribe to our Twitch channel: www.twitch.tv/o3cpodcast

Help support us in exchange for some incredible perks: www.patreon.com/ourthreecents

Browse all previous episodes to date: www.ourthreecents.co.uk

Join in the conversation with us: Our Three Cents

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/o3cpodcast

Reach out to us individually:

Jonathan - www.twitter.com/jonathandunn
Chris - www.twitter.com/Chas_Hodges
Minty - www.twitter.com/clement_boo

Number 5 (Minty Booth) - Paper Mario

Minty is a big fan of role playing game. We know this.

But.. but... for why? What title started the RPG ball rolling for young Mr Booth?

It's Paper Mario. A pancake-thin Mario.

But outside of Minty's romantic, rolling reminiscence, what else have we got for you?

Ruminations on the games we wish we could forget and revisit. Minty's early thoughts on virtual reality. A nod to eShop puzzler Circuit Dude, a puzzle game both improved and worsened in equal measure by alcohol. Jonathan's fair and considered appraisal of Balan Wonderworld, and some mobile recommendations in the form of a trio of All of You, Sp!ng, and Infinity Pinball.

Bang for your buck.

A lot of bang, for absolutely none of your buck.

www.ourthreecents.co.uk

— — — — — — — — — —

Massive thanks to our Patreon subscribers Andy Smith, Gene Limbrick, CJ Anderson, Debbie Booth, Guy Lochhead, Jasper Blacketer, David Boys-Layton, Darren Hughes, Rob Wade, Dominic Kemp, Chris Walker and Alex Dunn!

Watch our video content on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3dZ2gmg

Subscribe to our Twitch channel: www.twitch.tv/o3cpodcast

Help support us in exchange for some incredible perks: www.patreon.com/ourthreecents

Browse the episodes from Season 1: www.ourthreecents.co.uk

Join in the conversation with us: www.facebook.com/ourthreecents

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/o3cpodcast

Reach out to us individually:

Jonathan - www.twitter.com/jonathandunn
Chris - www.twitter.com/Chas_Hodges
Minty - www.twitter.com/clement_boo

Number 5 (Chris Dow) - Super Mario Odyssey

Good morning / afternoon / evening! 
(delete as appropriate)

We gather here today, to listen the thoughts of three young men. The thoughts of three young men about video games!

The quiz hots up, with some lateral thinking puzzles that make our duo look like absolute dummies!

Chris lays Genshin Impact to rest for the time being, continues to make incremental progress through the genesis of the Earth Defense Force series, and bigs up the retro throwback handheld the Evercade roughly a year after first picking it up!

Minty fights through the perils of a sore thumb, to chip away at The Binding of Isaac, and to experience his first 'stand up and be in a place' VR experience!

Jonathan grinds through Returnal, digs down into Undermine, weeps into hands as he attempts to stream Balan Wonderworld, and begins the gruelling psychological horror of Resident Evil VILLage!

Then the ruddy main event!!

The boys break into the TOP FIVE with Chris' 5th favourite game of all time!
It's Super Mario Odyssey!!
A game Chris describes as 'unfettered joy’!!!

Number 6 (Jonathan Dunn) - Metal Gear: Ghost Babel

Podcast notification, your Monday morn' marker
Quiz Master Jonathan, channels legend Sue Barker
Then J's progress through Morta, its children, Returnal
C's racing highs, racing lows, love for bad games eternal
M binds young Isaac, points, clicks and fishes
Then to Jonathan's six, a most wholesome of dishes
Metal Gear, Metal Gear, but not as you know
In the hand, in the pocket, a coloured Gameboy is stowed
'Best handheld game ever!'; tis high praise indeed
To find out more details, listen in, and take heed!

Number 6 (Minty Booth) - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

As sure as day follow night, Minty is here to sing the praises of a JAY ARR PEE…

…wait, what?!

Allow the man with a mint in his eye to extoll the virtues of Metroid Prime's first sequel proper - SURELY the highest ranked FPS on our collective lists?!

If that hasn't got you dribbling enough, activate those salivary glands for the following:

A rogue-like / rogue-lite combo pack of Children of Morta and Returnal!
A PlayStation 2 'buy one get one free' of The Sims and Earth Defense Force's earliest entry Monster Attack!
A wholesome meal for one in the form of thick, creamy thoughts on Pokemon Snap!
A descent into the measureless caverns of Mortal Kombat's multimedia empire!

…and Genshin Impact.

Number 6 (Chris Dow) - Rock Band 3

Did you know that the Rock Band series taught Chris how to play the drums?
Well gosh and darn it is he going to tell you!
Indulge Chris a little of your time to talk up what he describes as 'the crowning jewel in Harmonix's collective oeuvre’!

But of course, OF COURSE, there's more!

After listening to and marvelling at how this week's quiz round breaks Minty and Chris' brains, find out the answers to these questions:

How is Chris getting on in Genshin Impact now that its native PS5 app has launched?
Has Jonathan ascended to a higher plain given he's finally beaten The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ 100%?
Why doesn't Minty care about the illustrious return of Todd Snappington-Snapsworth in Pokemon Snap?
Is Chris going to become a famous EDM producer using only the Korg Gadget on the Switch?
Which pun-heavy, fruit and veg themed Zelda-a-like has Jonathan stomped through?
Will playing The Sims co-operatively on the PlayStation 2 lead to the end of Chris' relationship?
How did Jonathan find the time to session Giant Squid's The Pathless and Abzu in a single day?
How have Minty and Mrs Minty enjoyed Nairi: Tower of Shirin on the Switch?

But of course, OF COURSE, OF-BLOODY-COURSE there's even more - why not have a listen, eh?!

Number 7 (Jonathan Dunn) - Pokémon Gold

Jonathan Dunn is here to celebrate the 'A' game of the Pokémon Gold and Silver duology by way of Beowulf inspired progressive rock, a stuffed drawer of Eevee plushes and… the Backstreet Boys!

BUT NOT BEFORE a scintillating synonym heavy round of the quiz, Jonathan's weekly Isaac update, and thoughts from the gang on games as disparate as Toree 3D, the ageless Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Chinese-made free-to-play monolith Genshin Impact!

Poo jokes, discussions on random number generation, the Sega Saturn's Athlete Kings chucked through a thesaurus, and loads of other FLUFF that you WILL not get anywhere else!

Guaranteed!

Number 7 (Minty Booth) - Super Mario Bros. 3

Oh my golly, and oh my gosh!

Minty veers violently from his role-playing bread and butter to celebrate the platforming purity of Super Mario Bros. 3 as his 7th favourite video game of all time!

But before any of Minty's childhood memories of the mustachioed, there's another nail biting round of the revised quiz, and thoughts on a whole bunch of bona fide gamey games that our trio has played using their fingers, hearts and minds!

In unnecessarily alphabetical order:
Balan Wonderworld: THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF AVERAGE
The Binding of Issac: NEVER-ENDING
Bravely Default II: BESTED
Cadence of Hyrule: A RHYTHMIC CONFUSION
The Outer Worlds: ELEGANTLY RESOLVED
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy: GOING BACK TO THE SHOP
Spider-Man Remastered: ASTONISHINGLY POLISHED
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 Remastered: CAN'T STOP, GOT TO POP

Games.

Number 7 (Chris Dow) - Super Mario 64

After a ludicrous 50/50 score draw in the quiz, we enter QUIZ TWO POINT OH with a revised format!!

Then, onto the games…

Chris plays his shiny new PlayStation 5, and has many, many thoughts on the console he loves, yet describes as being 'very much a product that has had its final QA pass during a global pandemic’!

Jonathan hits an insane 'hours played' milestone in The Binding of Isaac, a game he just cannot quit, and then blows off some steam with the bloody duology of Super Blood Hockey and Serial Cleaner!

Minty continues the now stalwart Booth pairing of Bravely Default II with its layered bluff endings, as well as grinding away at Isaac to prepare for Repentance's potentially wobbly Switch port!

Dinner for today's spread? Super Mario 64!

Allow Chris twenty minutes of your time to try his best to say something new about a game our trio have already collectively talked about for about 100 hours since this show began. Pawn-shops! Nesting dolls! Bubsy 3D! Silly voices!

Games are so bloody good!!

Number 8 (Jonathan Dunn) - Golden Sun

It’s only another ruddy Monday and we’re at the end of an octagonal triptych - it’s the last eighth-favourite-video-game-of-all-time from us three cents!

But before we do that - the Our Three Cents Quiz spectacular reaches the finish line - who will carry the baton over it? Will either of them? Will both of them?! What will we quiz upon now?! Gosh darn it if you don’t just want to know the answer to those rhetoricals!

Then the chaps discuss games that were spurned by many but loved by them! And their recent gaming activity sees Chris find a very ‘Chris’ game in Sumo Digital’s Hotshot Racing! And Minty continues his adventuring in Bravely Default! 

Elsewhere Jonathan dutifully takes on the toughest challenges that Edmund McMillen can throw at him in The Binding of Isaac, and then he goes from “way ‘ard” to Weyard with his 8th favourite video game of all time - the extraordinary Golden Sun - the enormously epic JRPG, that “didn’t care it was ‘just’ on the Gameboy Advance!”

Number 8 (Minty Booth) - Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros.

In the latest smackerooney of an episode, Chris returns to work and suffers an inevitable dip in his gameplay activity, and Minty, as is his Default, is adventuring Bravely on in his latest JRPG epic!

Meanwhile, Jonathan is still making babies cry in every direction for the sake of the podcast’s YouTube channel, and he also ventures to The Outer Worlds to discover an adventure that is more Firefly than Fallout, and more Bioshock than Bethesda!

And then, the main pudding! Big long boys, lots of green lads, glowing green letters, whimsy, fantasy and a huge dose of earnest storytelling, all play a part in Minty’s entry for this week!

Listen on to find out why the albeit admittedly flawed Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. gave Minty “the most emotive gameplay experience of his life” and thus made it his 8th favourite video game of all time!

Number 8 (Chris Dow) - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Want to know the gaming imagery We Three Cents would have permanently etched onto our buttocks?

Want to know how Chris has got on with a number of games like Lonely Mountains: Downhill, awe-inspiring Vita ports of the PS2's Grand Theft Auto trilogy, or 3DS ports of some pixel art classics?

Want to know how Jonathan has got on with a bigger number of games like a 3DS platforming triumvirate, the Champion's Road of Super Mario 3D World, or the entire launch line-up of the Playstation 5?

Want to know how Minty has got on with one game, the cavernously large Bravely Default II?

Then, the meat and potatoes of the episode - want to know just how much can one man say about a game comprised entirely of three-second experiences?!

Find out why Chris considers WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ Nintendo's most immediate but also most cerebral release to date!

Number 9 (Jonathan Dunn) - The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

'ERE WE, 'ERE WE, 'ERE WE FACKIN' GO!

What are our intrepid podcast heroes thoughts on the recent Nintendo Direct? More Hyrule Warriors? A new Mario Golf? A weird Octopath Traveller follow-up come sequel? Stubbs the Zombie DELUXE?

Jonathan finds a new ball-rolling indie obsession in Glyph. Minty blasts through Bowser's Fury in the flick of a cat's tail. Chris breaks down and buys a New 3DS XL!

Then, and you better be ready for this, Link's Awakening RIGHTFULLY becomes Our Three Cents approved, as Jonathan nominates the dreamy surrealism of the first pocket size Zelda as his ninth favourite video game of ALL BLOODY TIME!

EGGS!
SEASHELLS!!
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS!!!

It's one of the best games of all time!!!!

Number 9 (Minty Booth) - Saints Row 2

bang, bang, shoot 'em up, cops and robbers

Minty goes blat, blat with his gat, gat as he talks up Saints Row 2, his ninth favourite video game, and perhaps Volition's crowning glory as the game that transformed the Saints Row franchise from a soulless GTA-copy, to the fun-loving series it would become!

ALSO THIS WEEK: the trio get stuck back into The Binding of Isaac in a big way; Minty asks for suggestions to play on his peat-powered-personal computer; and Chris deals vigilante justice in The Outer Worlds. Jonathan gives his thoughts on playing Super Mario 3D World for the first time; Chris and Jonathan go on and on about the 3DS's joyous stereoscopic 3D; and a certain Souls-like-liker gets all fired up talking about Robi Studio’s Blue Fire!

Go and play some video games, you deserve it.

Number 9 (Chris Dow) - Lumines

How many references to Handforth Parish Council can our trio slip into this bumper episode as Chris breaches the TOP 9s?

Chris and Minty tussle quizzically as part of the, y'know, quiz. The boys attempt to explain their approaches to fitting gaming into modern living. Jonathan does his damnedest to sell Chris on his recently acquired PlayStation 5!

Thoughts on games as far reaching as: THE BINDING OF ISAAC, THE OUTER WORLDS, THE MESSENGER, SPIDER-MAN REMASTERED, PARATOPIC, ASTRO'S PLAYROOM, DEMON'S SOULS as well as some reverent nodding in the general direction of Sony's adaptive triggers!

Then, pull up a chair, make sure your bladders are drained and that you have access to a hot drink and snack of your choice, as Chris takes a deep dive into Lumines, his 9th favourite game of all time!

ATTACK
THE
BLOCK(s)

Number 10 (Jonathan Dunn) - The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+

Starter
The boys think on bad games they played for just that bit too long - a cavalcade of handheld ports and novelties that our trio defended vehemently, until they just couldn’t!

Main
Chris plays some punishing platformers on the Vita courtesy of Ratalaika Games and endless runners on the Switch courtesy of the dregs of eShop sales past to distract himself from home working. 

Jonathan continues a roguelike Greek Odyssey, revisits some cowboys he previously poo-pooed, and gets very excited about the bit-switching, chiptune joy that is Sabotage Studio’s The Messenger!

Minty finally concedes that Grindstone is an absolute belter of a pocket-sized puzzler!

Dessert
Jonathan Dunn rounds out the first round of the top 10 with a deep dive into the nested design of 'the crying baby game - Ed McMillen's The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+!

Number 10 (Minty Booth) - Doom

Another week, another NUMBER TEN, this time courtesy of Master Minty Booth!

The original Doom ranks as MB's game for your consideration on this drizzly January day. Find out why it's so much more than a 'legacy entry' chosen only for its historical value, and remains a bloody (no pun intended!) good time, even today!

But of course, we shan't be allowing any of that ripping and tearing payoff, before binding you to a metaphorical chair and forcing you to hear our collective opinions on topics as disparate as: mind-blowing mechanics; perfunctory passwords; ruminations on lockdown malaise; and of course, games wot-we-have-been-playing!

Go and play some games. You deserve it!