PixlBit

ok, I promise I'm gonna listen to this. 

Yes! Please do when you can, thanks.  Have you listened to the others?

Hey Cary, I finally listened to this. I'm sorry it took you so long, I've been working like crazy.

I was very impressed. A lot of podcasts are thrown together, but yours was very professional and entertaining. And you have a lot of darn brothers!

Thanks for listening.  According to Jeff, Episode 4 should be up later this morning!

I think part of the reason why the podcast doesn't sound as thrown together is because I write an outline before we record, and then we go over the outline before we record as well, wriing down things we want to say that we may have forgot.  Plus both Jeff and I have had radio and phone speaking experience, so that helps.

I do have a lot of brothers, but did you know it wasn't always that way?  When I was a kid, I was an only child through most of my childhood.  When my parents got divorced and married other people, they then started having kids.  Five boys on my dad's side and one boy on my mom's side.  And most of this didn't start to happen until I was about to graduate high school!  So yeah, I'm significantly older than the rest of them if it sounds that way in the podcast.  Our lifestyles as kids were totally different, too.  I went to public school, whereas the boys on my dad's side were home schooled, for instance.

My first handheld was the original Game Boy, in its launch year. It came with Tetris, but these days I actually remember Super Mario Land more fondly. 

The NGP Color looked really good, I was kind of hoping SNK would be able to at least make sales on par with the Game Gear. I also kind of wish we'd gotten a US release for the WonderSwan. I actually saw a lot of SNK arcade games like P.O.W. and Time Soldiers, and almost every arcade had a Neo-Geo system when those came out. Vanguard was one of my favorite early 80s games, but I thought it was made by Atari, who published the home versions in the US.

I actually had mixed feelings on the DS. It had some great games, but too many of them relied on touch screen gimmicks. The DS Zeldas were my least favorite Zeldas (not counting the CD-i games, of course). The games I liked were conventionally controlled. The DS ended up becoming a Dragon Quest machine, owing to the first-ever releases of V and VI as well as IX. The 3DS was somewhat better, as it had a lot more conventional games and some great RPGs.  A Link Between Worlds was a definite step up from the DS games, and the 3DS will always get props from me for being the savior of the Fire Emblem series and helping it to become one of Nintendo's tentpole series. That said, I'm very glad that Nintendo mostly seems to be putting dual screens and touch-screen controls behind them. I never did learn to love touch-screen controls, which is also part of why I never got into mobile gaming. I remember reading rumors back in the day that Nintendo was prepping a fourth-generation Game Boy that would have had specs on par with the Gamecube and conventional controls, and being excited. 

The PSP had some great RPGs. Valkyria Chronicles 2, a port of FF Tactics that had a competent translation, Crisis Core, Persona, Trails in the Sky, and more. I wish I'd gotten the Bandai LoH games. The Vita was interesting, but Sony's heart clearly wasn't in it.  That system ended up being mostly a Falcom machine for me. 

I definitely agree with you guys on the GBA. Castlevania and Golden Sun started me out on it, and I got a SP in 2004. Metroid Zero Mission was awesome, and I got the GBA port of Tales of Phantasia not long after I finished Tales of Symphonia. The GBA kept me entertained during my sophmore year of college, when I had to take a night class that was several hours after my last daytime class. I even had the Game Boy Player, which was amazing. Unfortunately, it got stolen, which is a pity, since the boot discs now go for $200 on eBay. I would really like to play Mother 3 on my TV. 

My favorite handheld is also my favorite system of all time, and it is none other than the Switch. It made me fall in love with video games all over again after I was kind of becoming a little disinterested. It pretty much stays in its dock at home, and I play it with a Pro Controller. However, it's accompanied me on the many trips I've had to make to Oklahoma this year. Being able to play a few rounds of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros, explore Koholint Island, fight a few Fire Emblem battles, or have a few matches of Smash, really helped me keep my sanity during these difficult trips.

Excellent podcast. Looking forward to more.

Thanks for listening and commenting.  Really means a lot to me.

I'm really hoping we'll have the next podcast up by the end of Labor Day weekend.  Jeff edits it, and he's a schoolteacher so right now he's really busy with the start of school.  But I've been pushing and encouraging him to get it done this weekend since there's an extra day for him in there.

Episode 4 is actually with me and another one of my brothers, Ben, as we talk about our favorite video game music composers.  Then after that, I hope to record Episode 5 with my brother Nathan, as we plan to talk about our favorite Disney characters and rides at the theme parks.

I can guess at least a couple of your top 5 composers. 

I keep wanting to go to Disneyland, since I only have a 6 hour drive to get there. I went there when I was 5 years old. Do you go to Six Flags Over Texas a lot?  

OK, go on, try to guess my favorite composers.

I used to go to Six Flags Over Texas a lot.  Not usually by choice, as I'm not a big fan of those types of roller coasters.  I'm kind of tired of Six Flags actually, so I haven't been there in many years.

Did you know that a long time ago, before the kids area in Six Flags Over Texas was Looney Tunes Land, for a while it was Pac-Man Land?  It's true!  I went there when I was a little kid.

I'm just waiting for Nintendo Land to open up at Universal Studios in L.A. Definitely going to that one.

Yeah I really want to go to the Nintendo area, too.  I may not want to leave...ever!  :)  By the way, Episode 4 is technically up, and Episode 5 is waiting to be edited and posted!

Another good podcast. The DS is my favorite handhel, felt unlike the Wii it was full of games that took advantage of its gimmicks rather than the touch screen feeling tacked on. Meteos, Elite Beat Agents, World Ends With You in addition to traditional games like Castlevania and Pokémon. After that my order would probably be 

2. GBA

3. Switch

4. 3DS

5. PSP

Yeah thinking about it, the DS didn't seem quite as gimmicky as the Wii, somehow.  Thanks for listening!