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nintendo switch

Number 36 - Super Smash Bros. Melee, Resident Evil 4, VVVVVV

…oh, hello! Didn't see you there. I was just listening to the latest episode of Our Three Cents here.

You won't believe it, but in this podcast, these three little boys tell stories about their favourite games of all time, and in this very episode they're talking up the games they proclaim to be their 36th favourite games ever made. 

In addition, they talk about some of the current games they've been playing. Fancy that, eh? This fella called Chris has been playing some weird title called Ace of Seafood that he reckons is worth a go despite 'defying classification', as well as a title called Adam's Venture which sounds pretty dreadful. Then a wee lad named Jonathan said he's been enjoying a recent remaster of Xenoblade Chronicles as well as an indie title called Hyper Light Drifter on the Nintendo Switch. The final member of the cast, Minty, says he's returned to playing the ludicrously named Tales of Vesperia, alongside a handful of other strangely titled Japanese role playing games. 

Then they all get quite excited about some game about Animals? But to be honest I just glazed over for a bit then. 

Aren't they all busy boys? 

Then the lists! Oh heavens, the lists!

Master Minty tells a story about learning of the Nintendo franchises at the edges of the multiverse in Super Smash Bros Melee.

Master Jonathan talks about the horror game Resident Evil 4, waxing lyrical about its atmosphere, and optional chainsaw controller.

Master Chris praises the simplicity of a game called VVVVVV by a lone developer named Terry that was apparently inspired by the old ZX Spectrum.

What a strange show?! Right, back to it.

Ta-ra!

Bonus Level - Animal Crossing: New Horizons Special

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is finally here and we've made the corporate decision to BREAK RANK and record a bonus episode right here and right now.

Animal Crossing is a series that has grown exponentially since its early release on the GameCube and then the DS, Wii, 3DS and arrives now on the Nintendo Switch in the midst of a global pandemic. 

Does New Horizons stand up against its franchise forebears? (yes)
Does New Horizons prove that the commentariat who willed Animal Crossing to go free to play were wrong, wrong, wrong? (yes)
Will Minty, an Animal Crossing newbie, enjoy the plaintive pacing of Nintendo's life sim as much as Chris and Jonathan, the series stalwarts? (yes)

All this and MORE in this bonus episode!

Number 46 - Final Fantasy VII, Parodius: Fantastic Journey, Luigi’s Mansion 2

Hey, hey, kids! 

Have you ever played Final Fantasy VII, Parodius: The Fantastic Journey or Luigi's Mansion 2? 

If so, listen in and see what we thought of the games you may have loved or loathed. And if not so, maybe we can talk you into giving them a blast? 

We three cents place hands firmly on our hearts and suggest that this generation defining RPG, this cutesy, parody shoot 'em up, and this.. hoover simulator (?) are all very, very worthy of your time. 

Also this week: Jonathan finishes Outer Wilds, Minty doesn't finish Tales of Vesperia, and Chris gets someone else to finish Limbo.

Number 47 - Bastion, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Sonic R

Another episode? A whole one?
Fair enough. 

Is Minty still playing that Tales game? Is Jonathan likely to beat the 400 hour long Witcher 3 before Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases? Can Chris contain his excitement at winning his first Tetris Invictus Maximus?

Then the rankings. Ohhhh, the rankings. 

Three games that we felt were very good. Three games that we felt were SO very good, that we took the time to talk them up within the very podcast you hold digitally in your hand. 

The sumptuously narrated space-Western, Bastion.
The gorgeous, expansive collectathon masquerading as an action RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles X.
...and Sonic R?

We love games and we love you. 

(please wash your hands and take care of one another)

Number 49 - F-Zero GX, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Phantasy Star Online

Our very own menthol man details how Nintendo hits it out of the park with their 'coolest' racer F-Zero GX. Our host extroadinaire revisits the gloom of Thief's grubby dark-age world in Deadly Shadows. That hairy bloke talks about Arsenal Football Club and its weird connection to Sonic Team's online experiment Phantasy Star Online. 

Listen for Chris' thoughts on the Open Source Scanline Converter, Jonathan's thoughts on breaking the back of flagellation simulation Blasphemous, and Minty's thoughts on a selection of eShop demos.

PLUS: 
Where are we plonking our virtual homes? 
Are Minty's valiant efforts to fight a four point quiz defecit in vain? 
Why is Chris so shit at turn-based combat? 
How's Jonathan getting on in S N A C K W O R L D? 
Why are the boys going to Butlins in Bognor Regis? 

Number 55 - Mario Golf, Metal Gear Solid, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

This week on Our Three Cents we have another eclectic triptych of games including an Italian-plumber-based-handheld-sporting RPG, a 32-bit odyssey about a man’s obsession with hiding in a cardboard box, and an epic adventure involving a black knight in the darkness of the night whilst you try to forge some lightness into the world!

Elsewhere, Chris spends his week killing time with Suicide Guy, and we also have a full debrief on Pokémon Sword & Shield, complete with the presentation of the 1st ever annual Jonathan Andrew Dunn Pokémon Awards. Find out which lucky critters have been selected as the recipients of the coveted JADPAs! 

And, more importantly, find out whether Jonathan & Chris’ school English teacher, Mr Haywood, ever got round to playing Chris’ childhood gaming creation, Dunce Goes to Hollywood?

Only on Our Three Cents. What a bunch of absolute ridiculousness. Amen.

Number 58 - Celeste, Earth Defence Force 2017, Chrono Trigger

Do you like videogames? Do you?!

Join an uncharacteristically excitable trio in their ongoing mission to talk up the videogames which make them happiest.

Can Chris keep up his commanding quiz lead? Is The Witcher 3's recent Switch port any cop? A few months in, how is Jonathan getting on with Mario Kart Tour's layered economy? How is Minty progressing in his personal Dragon Quest?

Onto the rankings: What makes artsy platformer Celeste so good? How long can Chris talk about Earth Defense Force, a series that no-one in the world knows of or cares about? Is Chrono Trigger worth downloading on your mobular telephone or personal computer? 

(we like videogames)

Number 63 - Mario Kart 8, SuperHot VR, Thumper

It’s another week at the Our Three Cents towers and the lads have hoisted their banners to celebrate their 63rd favourite video games of all time. In this week, we have a gravity-defying plumber, a time-defying gunslinger, a sanity-defying beetle, and a deep analysis of what is need to make virtual reality a virtue and a reality for current generation gaming.

Meanwhile, the gang conjure some veritable computer-game Chimeras thanks to a listener question about genre-bending classic game series; Jonathan’s Astral adventure is off the chain; Minty is pining for a horrible goose; and Chris has apparently started working as a part-time Samsung TV troubleshooting guru!

Behold.

Number 65 - Mario & Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Um Jammer Lammy, Psychonauts

Mario guest stars alongside Ubisoft's Minion-esque abominations, Parappa the Rapper hands the spotlight to his guitar playing pal, and Tim Schafer goes all weird again. 

Three great games, talked up by three great guys!

Also, learn the answers to questions as varied as: Can Chris continue to engorge his quiz win tally on account of Minty's cross Atlantic phone delay? How many This War of Mine scenarios will Jonathan play through before he suffers a case of mental distress not too dissimilar to the games protagonists? How has Minty spent his tax rebate?

Number 68 - Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse, The End is Nigh, Pokémon FireRed

This week on Our Three Cents, the chaps tackle another eclectic tryptic of games in the form of a significantly-formative childhood gaming experience featuring a mouse; an expectation-subverting modern platformer featuring a tumour; and an abbreviation-smattered classic RPG remake featuring some running shoes!

Also on the docket for discussion are Chris’ veritable summer-holiday-gaming stampede of activity; Jonathan’s veritable summer-holiday-gaming descent into pure unadulterated wartime bleakness; and Minty’s veritable summer-holiday-gaming instigation of Chris’ robo-dino-phobic beliefs!

More hyphenations than you can shake a stickily-sticky stick at!

Deal with it.

Bonus Level - Summer Special

Take shelter from the UK's unseasonably warm start to the summer, by allowing the cool, soothing tones of three doofi (doofus; plural) talk sunny, bright weather and sunny, bright games.

Find a comfy spot in the garden, crack open a fizzy pop, then injure your neck as you twist to best utilise the sun's searing rays to illuminate your Gameboy's monochrome screen, sharing all the while in the summer gaming memories of three young men who could probably do with getting outside a bit more.

Football! Progressive rock! Balance boards! Family holidays! It's all here. As well as, of course, the usual nerdy discussion on games past, present and future that we assume you all harbour an insatiable taste for.

BLUE SKIES FOREVER

Bonus Level - E3 2019 Special

E3, or the Eideo Eames Eonference, has come and gone once again to delight and disappoint swathes of angry entitled nerds. We take a break from our regularly scheduled chat about three games to tackle the mammoth docket of Everything Nintendo Announced, and Whatever That Thing They Wheeled Out Keanu Reeves For was. We discuss each company's approach to showcasing their upcoming releases and, whilst Jonathan attempts to retain some PokéOptimism, Minty is jumping aboard the Pokémon Hate Steam Train (this is a joke that references the setting of the new games by way of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Minty wishes he’d come up with it when we recorded), and Chris is ready to cross oceans to raise a riot in the Pokémon head office! Come and listen to how we somehow talk about 60 games in 45 minutes!!

Number 79 - Luigi's Mansion, Kirby's Dream Land, Braid

This week the lads are all investing in their latest obsession in Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection, whilst Jonathan has been off shaking the Hand of Gilgamech in SteamWorld Quest and Chris has been gearing up for Borderlands 3! All the while, one of the Arsenal fans within the collective have been venting their frustrations in their team’s downward turn in New Star Manager! We also decide to throw around the very hottest of accessible potatoes where we discuss the recent discourse about notoriously difficult games and the potential inclusion of Easy modes.

Meanwhile in the rankings, Minty visits the spectral plain with a very spooky entry, Jonathan takes another adorable trip down memory lane and Chris gets his brain tied in a series of complex and metaphysical knots!

Number 81 - Papers Please, Diddy Kong Racing, Blast Corps

In Our Three Cents this week, we have a Rare convergence - covering a full complement of video game tropes from border control admin to racist elephants, with ambiguous inter-solar nuclear operations in between! We also take Prince Harry to task on his Fortnite thoughts, and the boys get sucked in by the newest starriest football management game!

Number 82 - Pokémon Snap, SteamWorld Heist, Dragon Quest

This week on Our Three Cents, Minty joins in the Dead Cells fun, just as Jonathan is moving on to playing, what seems like literally, all the other games - ping-ponging from the ludicrously unchallenging Yoshi’s Crafted World to the sadistically-designed Shakira: Hips Lie Twice, and covering a myriad of other recent releases in between! Meanwhile Chris is getting his retro on with some lovely electro-synth mobile pinball action! The chaps also discuss their 82nd favourite video games of all time featuring such classic video-game tropes as shallow tools, pickup trucks, strategic anxiety and the origins of grinding! Plus our dear old friend, nominative determinism rears their appropriately-named head - gender un-assumed.

Number 85 - Excite Truck, The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

This week on Our Three Cents, sickness (rotten colds) abound with Minty and Jonathan delivering the episode from their respective death beds (not actually dying). Thankfully, Chris is on hand to bring the energy and enthusiasm, divulging some deeply personal pudding-related predilections, revealing some fascinatingly pedantic trivial tidbits, and mourning the untamed spirit of Kurt Cobain. All the while in their paracetamol-induced hazes, the chaps concoct the concept for a Super Crash Bros racing compilation! Bon.