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How did I miss last episode....  and nobody chose the best MGS game.   NNOOO!!!!

2003 is Ratchet and Clank:  Going Commando.  One of my all time favorite games that I feel the need to replay regularly.  I really hope Insomniac remakes this one for the PS4.

I missed your comment, Transmet. Sorry. I really wanted to talk about Snake Eater, too. I thought for sure Patrick would pick it.

My favorite game of 2003 is hands-down Beyond Good & Evil. A buddy of mine at the local mom & pop video game store recommended I try it out. Initially, I didn't expect much from the game because I didn't remember hearing any real buzz about it. It just kinda appeared one day.

But I was pleasantly surprised upon playing through the game. The soundtrack was great and the story was refreshingly original (from what I can recall anyway). I loved Jade as the main character. She wasn't super sexualized just because. The game had good mixure of action and stealth elements and felt surprisingly believable.

Still waiting on that sequel though.

Great podcast guys. I need to look through my games to see what I have worth of value. Unfortunately I grew up without a SNES so don't have much from that console which is one of the ones with the best gems. 2004 was definitely a huge year for games. So hard to pick just 1.

I also never had a gaming PC so missed out on MMOs and have never really jumped into them even now. Unless you count Destiny, I dont. I tried so desperately to find a way to play FFXI but there was no feasible way cause I was 16.

2003 is another year that's very hard for me to pick because there are 2 amazing games that appear to be forgotten in time. They haven't had a sequel since then.

Chrono Crossing 2003: Phantasy Star Online 3: C.A.R.D Revolution (Gamecube)

HUGE shout out to Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for Xbox. It introduced me to the world of online gaming and will always hold a special place in my heart for that. Still dying for a sequel...

But PSO3 is my game of 2003. It's deservedly underrated. I never played PSO1&2 but I can see the disappointment from fans on 3. The concept was unlike the first two. It was more of a card collecter and had me hooked for months until I messed up my Saved Data during a transfer (Still hurts...).

Honestly this year saddens me since sequels have never released since. Crimson Skies may have its day but I don't think I'll find anything like PSO3 again.

Stage Select: Doom Marine vs Hells Champion

I'll stay recent, in Doom (2016) you hear stories of a colossal demon called the Titan. He faced the Doom Marine only to fall. I don't think he reappeared (Unless that was the final boss. If you guys have any knowledge of the first showdown please elaborate because I never finished the previous games).

I went the rest of the game thinking about a battle against a strong "smaller," demon. I want something like Kratos vs Hercules, Link vs Ganondorf in Twilight Princess, or Bloodbornes final boss. Huge and monstrous is fine but I love personal, intimate battles like these and really wanted one between the Doom Marine and a fearsome Demon who could stand toe to toe with him. My lost level would have been like Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4 fighting Ocelot on the Submarine. Only in Hell, as an FPS, with fire engulfing the arena. 

I'm sad that you missed out on FF XI. Curious, have you tried to play any MMO now that you're older? I think everyone should try at least one.

Unfortunately I haven't and the time commitment scares me these days. Full time job with crazy shifts and hours and a 3 year old mean game time is limited. Maybe one day though. 

I am back! It has been a while since I have been active on this site, but I have been listening to the podcasts regualry. I will try to rate you guys on iTunes, you guys are def one of my favorite podcast. But here are my choices;

Stage Select: For the original Metal Gear Solid on PSX, actually fighting Decoy Octopus would have been awesome since the boss fights in that game are so great. I am interested in how they would have done that. 

Chrono Crossing 2003: My pick is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, one of my Top 5 favorite games. I was never a fan of action RPGs until this game, the only one I completed at this time. This was one of the rare games where I completely played it one way (light side) and then turned around and played again the opposite (dark side).  This game and the sequel need a remaster, altough I do own on iPad, it is just different. Honorable mentions: Ape Escape 2, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.

Just wanted to ask if you guys played Ape Escape 2 originally on PS2? The voice actors were from the original Pokemon anime, it was kind of cool, but the version of Ape Escape 2 you can currently buy on PS4 has changed the voice actors.

I have the original PS2 verison of Ape Escape 2 as well. Only played it once years ago and never finished it. You know, I always thought the main character in the game sounded an awful lot like Ash in Pokemon. Now I know why.

I'm not sure why Sony would have gone through the trouble of re-dubbing voices from new actors this time around. Maybe it was a legal thing. Or just a just stupid-changes-for-no-reason thing.

Ape Escape 2 is so awesome, especially the boss battles. Its probably in my top 10 or 15 games of all time. But yea, the main character is voiced by the same voice actor as Ash from Pokemon and the girl (forgot her name) is voiced by the voice actor who played Misty from Pokemon. It was a trip, I liked it though. 

This made me smile so hard. Thank you! I'm going to answer your question on the show.

Stage Select

If I could have a new level in one of my favorite games it would be in Halo 2 during the orbital battle around Earth and the player would have the ability to manually jump through space in only his suit, collide with Covenant cruisers, board the bridges to destroy the captains, and eventually kill the capitol ship. In the game Chief flies out an airlock with the bomb on Cairo Station and you see him kill the capitol ship in a cutscene but I'd love to have all of that open space jumping be playable. It would make for incredible spectacle having full control as you look around in mid flight to see a massive fleet battle.

Chrono Crossing 2003

My pick is The Hobbit for Gamecube. This was a licensed adaptation of the novel and it wasn't related in any way to Peter Jackson's LOTR films. It's a children's game with rudimentary third-person action-rpg platforming and stealth. I have a lot of emotional and sentimental attachment to the game because 2003 was the year I read The Hobbit for the first time and fell in love with the adventure. Then a few months later the game came out and it turned out to be really polished, faithful to the source material, colorful with an art style that still holds up better than most games of that year, the soundtrack is good and won some awards, and the gameplay is simple but executed well. Listen to this song and tell me you aren't ready to leave the Shire on an adventure:

A Walk In The Shire - The Hobbit OST

Five years ago I actually wrote an in-depth review and explanation of why I love this game so much. It was the second blog I ever posted on Pixlbit and Nick featured it on the front page and everything. I'm a sappy dope about this game

Guilty Pleasure: The Hobbit by Michael117