Shownotes
Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network
Show Name: From Pong To Pixels
Episode Title: Only Time Will Tell
Episode #7
You are listening to From Pong To Pixels the podcast with your host(s) Andrew.
In this episode of From Pong To Pixels the Podcast we discuss: games released during the 2020s, a popular movie that came out, and my struggle with Mario Galaxy.
Segment 1: From Comeback To wait what
Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and welcome to another episode of From Pong To Pixels. Sorry I’ve been gone for so long, I just finished my holiday break. But I’m glad to be back recording another episode for you guys. If you remember last episode, I had a guest on to talk about games in the 2000s. This episode I plan to cover some games that have been released during the 2020s. It probably won’t be much, considering we’re only 4 years in, but there are still things to cover. So I’m just going to get right into it starting with Fall Guys, released in 2020. Fall Guys is a platform battle royal game published by Epic Games. During 2020, Fall Guys didn’t really get talked about for long. It had made its way around social media, but it was only for a couple weeks. This was mostly because it wasn’t free to play. Its price upon release was $20 on Steam, an extremely popular platform for people to download games on. Now being free to play wasn’t the only reason, another one being how it didn’t work too well on the Nintendo Switch. At the time, only a couple big streamers were playing Fall Guys. But something no one expected happened, Fall Guys became trending again in mid-2022, due to the fact it became free. Everywhere you went you’d see people playing or watching Fall Guys. Even I tried out the game at one point, and although I wasn’t good, I still had fun. So if you’re looking for a fun multiplayer game to play with your friends, I’d definitely recommend Fall Guys. Now, these next two games I didn’t really want to cover, but I feel I have to because they are pretty popular. The first of these games is called Genshin Impact. Genshin Impact is an action RPG released in 2020. It follows the player having to travel a world they’ve never seen before to find their lost sibling. Now I don’t really know much about this game, but I’m sure you’ve heard of it, whether it’s from good or bad. The game features an anime-style open-world environment and an action-based battle system. Now if you’ve heard of this game, it’s probably either from the huge amount of ads for it, or things about its community. The developers behind this game are also not the best either, showing either hints of racism in its character designs, or using AI-generated art. As for the actual game itself, I can’t say much about it because I haven’t played or watched much of it. Another problem people have with the game is that it can feel like a lot of grinding. I’ve played games before that can feel like they’re dragging on and that there’s a lot of grinding, so I can understand the frustration. Now if you want to try out this game, be my guest, I’m not trying to get people to not play it, I’m just stating what I found when I researched info about the game. I’d recommend avoiding the community around it though, some of the things they do can be considered problematic or just flat-out weird. But hey, if the visuals and gameplay really stand out and look interesting to you, don’t be scared to give it a try. Just try not to tell anyone that you play it.
Segment 2: Weird, Forgotten, and oh hey this is actually pretty cool
Now I mentioned that there were two games I didn’t want to talk about. And this one is not so problematic, it’s mostly just the players. Valorant is a free-to-play first-person shooter developed and published by Riot Games, released in 2020. You can choose to play as a set of agents, characters based on several countries and cultures around the world. It is kind of similar to games like Overwatch or League of Legends, being just a first-person shooter with different game modes. The reason I said I didn’t want to talk about it is not because of the game itself, but for the community around it. This seems to be a theme in this episode. Now not everyone that plays Valorant is toxic, just about 80 percent. But you might be thinking, “Isn’t that just every first-person shooter game?” and while yes it is, toxicity isn't the only thing about the community. I don’t want to say it specifically, but If you have Valorant, I want you to just load into a game and see how long it takes for two people to have matching names. Now some of them are okay, but there are some that, well, it’s better if I don’t say. Now moving away from extremely controversial games, let's talk about one that barely got talked about, and that's what I plan to do in this episode too. (Sorry Cyberpunk) Cyberpunk 2077 is an action RPG published by CD Projekt in 2020. This game was most remembered for actor Keanu Reeves' role as Johnny Silverhand. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk universe, the player assumes the role of V, a mercenary in the fictional Californian city known as Night City, where they deal with the fallout from a heist gone wrong, which results in an experimental cybernetic "bio-chip" containing an engram of the legendary rock star and terrorist, Johnny Silverhand, threatening to slowly overwrite V's mind. I don’t blame you if you forgot about this game, because I did too until I started researching for this episode. Although I haven’t heard much, the things I have heard were pretty positive. So if you haven’t played this game and are looking for something new, I’d recommend this one. Onto the next game released in 2022, Elden Ring. Elden Ring is another action RPG developed by FromSoftware. It is an open-world game, having you traverse through six main areas. You can use many kinds of weapons or magic while exploring and fighting enemies. The best way to compare it to something would be to say it’s pretty similar to the popular game, Dark Souls. I don’t think it’s as challenging, but it definitely uses some of the themes and elements present in the game. I have a couple friends who have played it, and they all said it was really good. I would download but I’m not sure I have the time to play through all of it. So if you’ve been looking for something you can sink multiple hours into, Elden Ring is the game for you.
Segment 3: Mario Time (the amount of attempts...)
Moving away from video games, I want to talk about a movie that was actually released during the 2020s following one of the biggest video games of all time. The Super Mario Bros Movie was released in 2023 and produced by Universal. The quickest summary I can give of this movie is that Mario and Luigi try to start up a plumbing business, but after their family disapproves of it, Mario and Luigi try to save their hometown, Brooklyn. But once they go into the sewers, they get separated by a warp pipe, Mario being taken to the Mushroom Kingdom, and Luigi being taken to Bowser's castle. Mario encounters multiple iconic Mario characters, such as Toads and Princess Peach, and they try to help him get Luigi back from Bowser. Mario becomes skilled enough to stop Bowser after a short fight with Donkey Kong. They all team up and defeat Bowser, saving Luigi and Brooklyn in the process. Now I definitely skipped over some important stuff, so if you haven't already, go and watch it for yourself. When this movie was first announced, it was kind of not taken too seriously, considering the cast. Chris Pratt was revealed to be voicing Mario, and Jack Black was Bowser. Although it sounded like bad casting at first, they both did an amazing job as their roles. People were surprised by how good of a Bowser Jack Black was. Chris Pratt on the other hand wasn’t received too well. Personally, I think he did a good job, but many people's problem with it was that it didn't sound like Mario. I can understand that, but come on, do you really want someone like Charles Martinet to be doing a stereotypical Italian voice for the entire film? Probably not. So maybe Chris Pratt wasn’t the best choice for Mario, but I still think he did a good job. While still on the topic of Mario, I actually got reminded of a story involving one of the Mario games. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, there are these two galaxies that have you using the Wii remote to control a bird and fly to the end of the stage. The first one isn’t too tough, but the second one is what really got me. I mentioned in a previous episode that I actually got a Wii for my birthday, and I played Mario Galaxy on it. I recently reached the second level again and just, all the horror and bad times with it came back to me. Actually completing the level isn’t too bad, with only one or two hard parts. But there are these things called Comet Medals, which later spawn Comet Stars. To collect the Comet Medal in this stage, you have to fly through every one of these arches, which involves having to do some really tight turns, and only then will it spawn. But the challenge isn’t over yet, once it spawns, you still have to fly into it to collect it. The amount of times I’ve gotten through all the arches but missed collecting it is embarrassing. I tried this for multiple hours before I finally ended up collecting it. The name of the galaxy is Fleet Glide Galaxy if you wanna check it out. But yeah, finally beating that galaxy was one of the best feelings ever. Now I have to get all the green stars. So much fun. Well, I think that about does it for this episode, I’m gonna go reflect on my life and think about how long it took me to complete that level. Thank you for listening to another episode of From Pong To Pixels, I’m your host Andrew, signing off.
Music Credits:
- Magenta Moon (Part II) - Line Noise
- Mr. Pink - Wolf Asylum
- X-2 - nymzaro