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Are Fighting Games Improving? EVO 2023 Extensive Discussion with Quash (Guilty Gear XX Player). In today's epic video, Quash and I discuss the past, present, and future of fighting games, leading up to our thoughts on EVO 2023. And for the first time in a long time, I'm actually interested and excited to watch it this year. As of late I have been playing a lot more Tekken and Virtua Fighter, but I'm also interested in a lot of games being played. We go over our thoughts an avalanche of topics, such as: The decline and future of 3D fighting games, Sales vs Tournament entries, Steam Charts vs Tournament entries, the homogenization of game mechanics, the importance of netcode for upcoming pro players, sluggish UI Design, the issues with online Matchmaking, the function of rank modes and why they need fixed, Differences in perception in JP and NA scenes, is the EVO gladiator format still the best, or should they start to look more into leagues? The Final Year of Tekken 7, should Marvel happen every year, the sleeping giant that is the Street Fighter IP, the uncertain fate of Project L, the importance of graphical presentation, my love and concern for Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive, and so much more.The games and tournaments we discussed are:Street Fighter 6 - 7k entrantsGuilty Gear -Strive- 2.4k entrantsMortal Kombat 11: Ultimate - 449 entrantsTekken 7 - 1.5k entrantsThe King of Fighters XV - 666 entrantsMelty Blood: Type Lumina - 554 entrantsDragon Ball FighterZ - 838 entrantsUltimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 1.3k entrants
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Shmups VS Speedrunning, Natural Vs. Fan-Made Meta | Ft. @neoxaquas . Today's topic has been a subject that has fascinated me for a long time, the difference between shmup scoreplay meta and speedrunning time meta. What's interesting is that for a long time, I've heard speedrunners talk about scoreplay in the tone of an outdated style of competitive design. Like if you watch the history of speedrunning video by Karl Jobst, he describes score play as essentially the ooze from which the glory of speedrunning was born. This makes some sense if you only look at speedrunning from their community perspective. However, over the years I have become more skeptical of community / fan made meta (see my discussion of the subject with the Crimson Blur about Melee) and in today's video I am joined by Aquas who is the perfect guest on the topic as he has world records in both speedrunning and shmup score play (a rare accomplishment!). We cover a variety of fun topics, including his world record progression in Pink Sweets, and the heart of the conversation for me is what are the strengths and weaknesses of fan-made meta, like speedrunning, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of natural built in meta like scoreplay. In the end, I find that I greatly prefer the natural meta of scoreplay (and fighting game tournament play) because it is less arbitrary and prone to manipulation from fellow players and outside forces (besides the developer). However, this doesn't mean that I don't think speedrunning in itself isn't a cool idea, and I even offer what I think is the best solution for the issue in the form of what M2 Shottriggers have been doing with their shmup ports. Imagine if Nintendo actually put some care into their wave of ports and re-releases, and included speedrunning modes and leader boards in their ports. Also I love that Aquas brought up how heavily nostalgia plays into a speedrun game's popularity, because there are tons of speedruns that I think could be fascinating (Dead to Rights Super Cop), but sadly the non-nostalgic games tend to be extremely under-explored. That being said, there are also issues that can rise up from relying solely on the natural meta of a game, like Battle Garegga and its infinite milk, so again I think this is where having robust ports with patches really smooths out a lot of issues, other wise competitive score play is going to rely very heavily on replay analysis and community leader boards and we've seen enough "I GOT A CHEATED RUN PAST THE MODS!" vids for a lifetime.
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The Crimson Blur, Has Smash Melee Sabotaged Itself?This is a FANTASTIC Conversation, even if you aren't plugged into Melee we discuss a lot of relevant topics about game design and competitive integrity. In today's episode, @TheCrimsonBlur and I talk about the current state of Super Smash Bros Melee and have an open conversation about many of my thoughts and critiques of how things are going in competitive Smash right now. I have followed Melee for over a decade now and in this time I think the scene has become increasingly insular and unable to see some of its decisions and ideas from an outside perspective, so I think if you are a fan of Melee or not this conversation is going to be a breath of fresh air outside the usual talking points that you hear repeated on Twitter and on streams over and over. We cover a lot of subjects, but some of the main topics are: Who is Melee's REAL father? As I feel Sakurai is heavily over-creddited for the creation of what we love about Smash 64 and Melee. The nature of Melee as being a community made meta, rather than a natural meta, and how this leads to a lot of more radical decisions when it comes to rule sets (even going so far as to modify the game itself). I talk about the current culture of smash, that obsesses over the e-celeb aspects of its players and personalities, but largely ignores the actual tournament organizers and people who support the scene's infrastructure. Of course we touch on the Nintendo vs Melee community controversy and I share my thoughts on how the community should study Nintendo's motivations more, rather than always relying on social media and fan backlash to protect itself (which I do not believe will work forever). We talk about the recent ruleset changes to ban wobbling and add edge grab limits, and how I feel that these rule changes are reactionary and targeted, rather than being a fair case of assessing outliers in a ruleset. Then there is the sanctioned cheating that is occurring in the ruleset in terms of allowing macros and input processing in the Smash Box as well as the Goomwave. I explain my philosophy behind genuine hardware mods (physical mods) vs cheating mods (introduction of electronics and input processing) and remind the world that Blur, many years ago, predicted these issues but was ignored.Follow Blur at: https://twitter.com/OXY_CrimsonAwesome thumbnail by @boghogSTG
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The Tragedy Of Fighting Games. Perhaps a spicy video, but I think it's important to keep it real (sometimes). Today I am talking about one of my favorite video game genres of all time, fighting games. Fighting games are in my top three alongside shmups and beat em' ups. I have been playing fighting games in a competitive and then semi-competitive since around 2010 or so, so I've been around and plugged into the genre for a long time. Today I am discussing what I like to call the tragedy of fighting games, in that no matter how good a fighting game is, no matter how much the player base loves that individual game, all fighting games are doomed to an early appointment with the grim reaper. Even games that have longstanding player bases like Super Smash Bros Melee and Street Fighter 3, Third Strike (or even Street Fighter 2, Super Turbo) cannot continue onward into future generations and be played in a full competitive manner. What I mean is that just being able to match make in a game every now and then is not good enough. In reality most fighting games are only intensely explored and played during a five year window or so, and then that game is put aside for the next iteration of the series. What I find tragic about this though, in the literal sense of the word, is that this fate is inescapable from what I have observed. No matter what approach a developer or fan base take, the end of the game being played at full capacity seems fated. I go into specific detail of why this is in the video. So this video is not meant to be a critique or warning against the genre, but rather a somber celebration of what makes the genre so special and also, ultimately, tragic. I thought it would be fun to discuss this video in light of the upcoming releases of Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. At this point I am fully planning on playing Tekken 8 unless it is some kind of abomination, and my interest in the Street Fighter franchise as it is currently being made is gone. But I think I will review and discuss both games here on the channel as I think that will be interesting, as fighting game reviews from impartial experienced players are rather rare. I also am really into Guilty Gear XX Accent Core right now as well as DOA, so I plan on doing some vids about those games in the future as wellThumbnail made by me this time! Though @boghogSTG still helped with advice on how to touch it up.
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GAME CRITIQUE IS DEAD: Why Reviewers SHOULD Be Skilled Players | The Definitive Discussion. Today is a very special video where @boghogSTG and I discuss the current (and awful) state of video game reviews and critique. This isn't just a bunch of empty complaining, however (at least I hope so). Instead we discuss the nature of what is good critique, what is the role of the critic vs reviewer, what forces influence critics and reviewers, both conscious and unconscious. We also make our strongest case for why video game reviewers SHOULD be skilled players, why this is an important value a critic should strive for, and how being a skilled player not only improves reviews, but also is an important asset for game developers as well. We also get into the topic of access journalism that we see IGN and the major game publishers engaging in (such as IGN infamously "forgetting" to review Cyber Punk 2077) and how the video game review space has more in common with the Yakuza than it does open artistic discourse. Sphere Hunter may be invited to Capcom events, but she's not at the IGN level of access to be allowed to review the game before the release date. Imagine all the NDA's that level of access would involve.Talking about IGN, eurogamer, Polygon, Kotaku, and Gamespot is one thing, but we also get into what is the role of the youtuber in this equation and how even if the youtuber is not directly being contacted by game publishers, he is still being indirectly shaped by the marketing of AAA games and their vocal fan bases. As a result, we see a cyclical trend of hype marketing around releases like Resident Evil 4 Remake, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (and soon to be Tears of the Kingdom), and Bayonetta 3, where all the reviews are going to fall in line with the marketing. And if you are more critical of these games during their release window, prepare to be hit by the hype train, which is not going to be a fun experience. As a result, I think we've seen a shift in the youtubing meta away from the over the top reviews that we saw in the Angry Video Game Nerd era of gaming youtube. Instead, we are now in the fluf**** era, where youtubers take games that are already hyped and highly anticipated, and then just dial the hype levels up even higher (as we see on Maxamillion Dood's channel). So now all average games are *amazing* and all good games are modern masterpieces.
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JRPG Is NOT Discrimination and Why Genre Terms Matter (NOT POLITICAL). All bad ideas seem to spring from RPGs, am I right ;-) Today I am discussing this viral topic of how Game Journalists are pushing for the genre term "JRPG" to be discontinued and why I think this phenomenon is happening. Additionally, I am making this video because I do think that accurate and objective genre terms are really important for communication, review, discussion, and especially discovery. Genre is how most players find new games that they like, and that having a natural network of games that share a core design is EXTREMELY important, no matter what my fellow hipster millennials say about living in a post genre world. So I am making this video because I find discussions of genre really interesting and how this trend of making regional based discussion of games some kind of taboo is very short-sighted and ultimately pointless. Also I explain that the term JRPG is not purely a regional description, it is an artistic movement just like German Expressionism. So a developer who is not from Japan can also make a JRPG, and a Japanese developer can make a western role playing game as well, it's about design composition, not nationality. Once again this whole discussion is mostly about giving people who consider themselves industry insiders some kind of artificial authority and credibility without having to discuss games and their actual game play mechanics or design.
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The History Of Beat Em' Ups - Part 2 (AVP Invented Character Action). The extensive history of one the greatest video game genres, Beat em' Ups, continues with our expert guest Kriegor! And we tackle the 90's golden era titles! In today's video we talk about the golden era of the genre (in my opinion) and we even see the birth of the mechanics and design that would go on to define "character action" and action rpg games like Dark Souls, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Godhand, Resident Evil 4, and so many more! What's great about today's discussion is that we are not just giving out release dates and behinds the scenes facts, what we are doing is heavily diving into the design and mechanics of the games and tracing the genre's design philosophy and evolution over the years, which I find deeply fascinating. If you are a fan of action games, character action, beat em' ups, and gaming I think this vid has a lot of fantastic insights that even I didn't know until talking to Kriegor.
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UNPROFITABLE CONTENT: Why CAVE Doesn't Make Arcade Shoot Em' Ups Anymore :-( Today I am digging into a question that has come up ever since I began playing shoot em' ups (shmups) as to how CAVE went from the "most prolific" shooter developer of all time (according to Guinness World Records) to a studio that hasn't made a new arcade game in the past decade. It's going to be a very long, depressing, and interesting journey and today I am doing my best to sort through all the public information I can come across. Most of the data is from financial reports that CAVE make to their shareholders, but I also dug through VGcharts to see the sales data of the Xbox 360 era releases (a high point in most bullet hell players minds). ONE IMPORTANT NOTE is that I do not claim that the information we review in this analysis is 100% accurate. @boghogstg and I did our best to sort through and analyze all the scattered information we could, but these reports are very difficult to interpret and then there could be all these crazy unknown factors that we aren't even aware of. However, I did do the best I could to cross verify the information we came to with stock value data and so forth. So if you watch this video and have more accurate information, please post in the comments and I'm going to make a pinned comments that compiles all updated info. For those new to CAVE, their famous games include: Dodonpachi, Guwange, Ketsui, Deathsmiles, Mushihimesama, Futari, Esp. Ra. De., Espgaluda, Dangun Feveron, Progear, Akai Katana, SaiDaiOujou, DaiOuJou, Dodonpachi Ressurection, and many more! Same CAVE didn't follow a touhou model, but that's the topic of another video.Link to raw data: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BPKoII4JKHGMlpAPkDHInKEsEbxZWot1
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You are NOT Too OLD to Play Difficult Games! Ever since I have started this channel and have covered difficult arcade genres like Shoot Em' Ups (shmups), Beat Em' Ups, Fighting Games, and Run N' Guns, I often notice in the comments section that many people will say that they can appreciate the difficulty and challenge of these video games, but sadly the are just TOO OLD to be able to keep up with them. Reaction times are often cited in these comments as well. In today's video I wanted to engage in a bit of a rant/pep talk with this mentality because I do not think it is actually accurate. Skill in these genres comes from many different areas such as visualization, mental planning, the ability to think abstractly, practice, experience, the study of routes and mechanics, and the development of automatic responses that don't require "frame perfect" execution. It is my hope that this video will help players who are stuggling against the difficulty walls of these genres break through them and enjoy the purest experience that these games have to offer. If you enjoy this topic and want to learn more, but sure to check out my "How to Shmup" tutorial series in the playlist.
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The History of Beat Em' Ups (Part 1 - The Pre-Final Fight Era 1980-1989). Beat Em' Ups is one of my favorite genres of gaming. However, the history of this arcade staple isn't really widely known or discussed. Today I am joined by Kriegor, a man who knows a ton about the genre's history in detail, and we go through the first era Beat Em Ups, the Pre-Final Fight Era. We have termed this era "Pre-Final Fight" becuase, as we discuss at the end of the video, this Capcom classic CHANGED EVERYTHING. Which is crazy to think about how important Capcom is for the arcade genres. Not only did they define the fighting game genre with Street Fighter 2, but they also defined the Beat Em' Up formula with Final Fight 1. The games we discuss in this episode are: Samuraï, Swashbuckler, Spartan X, Nekketsu Koha Kunio-Kun, Double Dragon, The Ninja Warriors, P.O.W.: Prisoners of War, Ninja Gaiden, Golden Axe, Dynasty Wars, River City Randsom, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Crime Fighters, and FINAL FIGHT! I'm not sure how many of these are availible on modern consoles like Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox, or Steam (PC), but I imagine a good many :-) I know Final Fight is in the Capcom Beat Em' Up Collection, which is pretty sweet!
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Psikyo Shoot Em' Up Tier List Ranking! Ft. Super Player @Meriscan It's time to discuss which Psikyo Shoot Em' Up (shmup) games are the best with a ranking! And today I am joined by one of the best Psikyo players in the western world, @Meriscan ! For those not in the know, Psikyo is one of the most underrated shmup developers and their games are like a cross between CAVE style bullet hell (danmaku) and Raiden style high speed bullets of death. The games that we cover are: Sengoku Ace, Gunbird, Strikers 1945, Sengoku Blade(Tengai), Strikers 1945 II, Zero Gunner, Gunbird 2, Space Bomber, Strikers 1945 III (1999), Strikers 1945 Plus, Cannon Spike(Gunspike), Dragon Blaze, and Zero Gunner 2! A lot of these games are available on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Though I would highly advise staying away from the Nintendo Switch Collections, Bravo and Alpha, as they are both very laggy and bad. Be sure to sub to @Meriscan 's channel! https://www.youtube.com/@Meriscan
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What is a Shoot Em' Up? Defining the Genre with Shmup Junkie. This video has literally been years in the making. As much as we all the love Shoot Em' Up (shmup, STG) genre, what's embarrassing is that, up to this point, over all these decades, there has never been a solid criteria or definition of what a shmup even is. For a genre that is so fundamental you'd think this would have been established by now, but due to the nature of online discourse, this question has never been resolved. Over the years, I have worked on what I think are the 3 criteria of what I believe consitute a shmup, and in today's video I explain these criteria and run them by fellow youtuber, Shmup Junkie, to hear his reaction and thoughts. We not only talk about shmups, but also related genres like run n' gun, rail shooter, gallery shooter, first person shooter (fps), third person shooter, single screen games, metal slug, contra, platformers, twin stick shooters, Star Fox, Doom, and many more! I think we have a fantastic discussion and I do think this is one of the most important episode of The Electric Underground :-) I am now going to list off some algorthym tags: Nintendo Switch, Steam, Bullet Hell, PS4. PS5, Xbox, PC, Indie, Hidden Gem, Sega, CAVE, Touhou, Battle Garegga, Longplay, 1cc, Podcast.
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Fight N' Rage Developer Interview! The Creation of the Best Modern Beat Em' Up! I'm very excited for today's guest, Sebagames, the developer of Fight N' Rage, my favorite Beat Em' Up of all time! In today's episode we discuss the history of the game, his story and motivation to get such a massive undertaking completed as a solo developer, and of course the possibility of a sequel and what the developers thoughts are on his "creative crisis" in regards to making a follow up. We also discuss classic arcade based design, such as Fight N' Rage, Alien Versus Predator, Final Fight verus the modern simon says style design of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge, River City Girls, Scott Pilgram, and these types of games. Another aspect of the episode is talking about how insperational the story of Fight N' Rage can be for other indie developers, but how often the stories of indie devs are overlooked in favor of older studios like Square and their tale of creating Final Fantasy. Fight N' Rage at the time of this recording is on massive sale and I strongly strongly recommend picking it up on Steam, Good Old Games, Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox and wherever else the game pops up.
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True Last Boss - Amazing or Awful? A Shoot Em' Up (Shmup) Debate. True Last Boss, the TLB, they are a signature aspect of shoot em' up, shmup, design. Are they fair? Are they outdated and stealing your money? should they be mandatory? Should they be optional? What about TLB's appearing in other genres? Should Super Mario have a true last boss (giga Bowser). What about secret super bosses in RPGs? Today the crew gets back together and Aktane, Boghog, and myself debate this idea. It was a really fun conversation and definitely subscribe to Aktane's channel and check out Boghog's upcoming shmup, Gunvein! It's going to be great 😃
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Are Fighting Games Decaying into Drama, Twitch Highlights, And Hype Reaction Videos? A discussion with @RedLineFGC . I have been actively involved with the fighting game scene (attending locals, watching majors, etc) since 2012 and over the past ten years it feels like there has definitely been a big shift in tone where the passion for the games have cooled, despite there being more fighting games being produced than ever, and the passion for the internet sub culture, especially drama, has grown. I'm not an arcade purist or anything like that, but I do think there is a balancing point in terms of the type of content being made and the tone of the content. I would argue that since the esports shift, the tone of the content has become more generic, bland, and more geared towards filler and there also now exists a thriving subculture of pure drama. Also the rate of turnover between games has become so fast that it's essentially impossible to keep up with as a fan, as a player, and as a video maker / youtuber. On top of this, it is a bit of a shame the so many channels that I have enjoyed over the years like Avoiding the Puddle and The Main Man SWE are more on the side of stream highlights than making dedicated videos and podcasts (especially ATP), but I also do understand why this shift has occured. This all being said, keep in mind that I am much less invested in what goes on with fighting games and am perfectly willing to now retire to playing locals and less popular fighting games online :-) I am interested to see what happens with Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, Dead or Alive, Virtua Fighter, and many other upcoming fighting games, but I'm not holding my breath for a healthy shift in quality and engagement around the games. You never know though! Thanks so much to @RedLineFGC for being a guest on the episode and be sure to check out his "Tekken 7 - A Five Year Critique" video and subscribe to his channel! Link to his vid: https://youtu.be/OlcFHI9RYAs Link to his recommended fighting game channels: Rubbish: https://www.youtube.com/c/HQRubbish Leon Massey: https://www.youtube.com/c/LeonMassey Gekko Squirrel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GekkoSquirrel ProxicOn: https://www.youtube.com/c/Proxic0n TheoryFighter: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoryFighter
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The discussion of how massive and omnipresent the tactic of nostalgia in today's video games and film is a common topic. Very few would deny how potent nostalgia is and how companies will not hesitate to use it. In today's video though, I want to go beyond the usual conversation of the behavior of the studios and companies (the suppliers) and instead focus my attention on the consumers of nostalgia. Why is it so compelling to us? How has it become so pervasive in all of our media? And analyze why I believe the millenial mind (I am one myself) is espcially supseptible to the powr of nostalgia and how we can bend ourselves into logic pretzles to both justify nostalgic pandering and deny it at the same time. I also go over how I think this addiction to nostalgia has altered our current artsist practices and why everything these days seems to be a copy of a copy.
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Gradius Series Ranking and Tier List! Shoot Em' Up Discussion with @KyoKusagani ! There is no Shoot Em' Up (shmup) series more classic and influential than the Gradius series. Konami, in years prior, were a legendary studio and absolutely pushed the genre of shoot em' ups forward in many meaningful ways. Today, I am joined by @KyoKusagani to rank and discuss the Gradius series, as well as related spin off games like Salamander and Parodious. We will go through Gradius 1, Gradius 2, Gradius 3, Salamander/Life Force, Gradius 5, Gradius Gaiden, Gradius 5, Gradius Rebirth, and a few more :-) So you could also consider this video a review of Gradius collection as well! We discuss PCB's, level design, balance, checkpoints, boss fighter, music (ost), graphics, stage design, glitches, and history. These ports appear on tons of consoles like NES, SNES, PS1, PC-98, MSX, PS2, PSP, Wii, and probably a lot more! Fingers crossed for a really solid collection on Switch, PS5/PS5 and Xbox in the future! Be sure to subscribe to Kyo's channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcou...And for insane Gradius Gameplay, check out G3Fleako and Refkey: https://www.twitch.tv/g3fleako
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Elden Ring Debate! Is Elden Ring A Masterpiece or Overrated Spam Fest? (Review, Discussion). Today I am joined by talented Shoot Em' Up Dev Boghog (Mechanical Star Astra + Gunvien) and charismatic Shmup commentator, Aktane, to discuss the open-world phenomenon that is taking over the gaming world, Elden Ring, to debate it's merits and try and work through the hype and unrelenting critical praise to decide if Elden Ring lives up to its reputation or if it is flawed and overrated. Topics we cover are the open world design, the level design, the combat, the boss fights, the visuals, the graphics and music, the critical reception, the difficulty, it's placement in the Dark Souls series, how the game relates to other action RPG, the sales, Castlevania, Joseph Anderson "Shattered Masterpiece," input buffer, pc performance, and so much more! If you are looking for a really passionate and fun discussion about the game you can't go wrong! BogHog Twitter: https://twitter.com/boghogoooHis Brilliant Bullet Hell Dev Guide: https://t.co/rr6D69O9RJAktane Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AKTANEARCADEAktane Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/aktane
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Bootlegs, Dictators, & Shoot Em' Ups! Gaming in Brazil | Podcast with ShmupsBR. Today on the Electric Underground Podcast/Videocast I speak with @ShmupsBR about his experience playing retro games in Brazil growing up and all the wild stories about playing bootlegs and getting around the rules of a military dictatorship (hardcore!). We discuss a ton of topics in this episode including his top 5 favorite shmups, the modding scene in south america, clone consoles, arcade bootlegs, fights in the arcade, Nintendo, Sega, Master system, NES, NEOGEO, SNES, N64, PS2, import taxes, the ups and downs of youtubing, and so much more! Sub to ShmupsBR! https://www.youtube.com/c/ShmupsBR
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Are Shoot Em' Ups Worth Full Price? What Makes Video Games Valuable? Videocast Discussion w/ Aktane! With massively popular games coming out right now like Elden Ring (and other Dark Souls like games) the question of how much a video game is worth, especially for older genres like Shoot Em' Ups or other arcade games, is coming up more and more. In a mainstream audience's eyes, its hard to deny that a genre like shmup is often considered less valuable then a massive sprawling RPG like Elden Ring of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. So today, among many other topics, Aktane and I discuss what type of content could be added to modern shmup releases to increase their value and what is particularly appealing to newer players!
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