PixlBit

I actually thought about the Secret of Mana snow region and the music that Julian brought up during the podcast. That was some really good music. One thing about Narshe that I forgot to mention was the sound of the wind that played in the background. Final Fantasy VI has some of the best wind sound I've ever heard in a video game to this day. I actually got to hear the first World of Ruin Theme, which has the wind sound overlaid by funereal organ and piano music, played live at the Distant Worlds concert in Omaha in 2013, for which I had bought backstage passes to meet Yoshitaka Amano. He signed my FFIX cover art.

Stage Select: 

1. Tifa. She's tough and she legit seems like she'd be good company. I wish FF7 had a longer segment with her as the party lead. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything like this.

2. Geralt. In addition to his knowledge of monsters and poisons, I like his deadpan delivery. Plus, he knows where to hook up with the ladies. 

3. Going to go in a slightly different direction with Laura S. Arseid from the Trails of Cold Steel series. I've been on a pretty big Falcom kick lately, even writing a blog on some of their games back in February, and I've been playing through the Cold Steel series. She's a proud noble swordswoman, striving to become a master of her family's school of swordsmanship, yet she's willing to learn and grow, and she's one of the best party members in battle.

Cage Match:

Super Mario Bros. all the way. Tetris is a pretty versatile game, but in the end I'll take tight platforming action over dropping blocks any day. Super Mario Bros is simply a timeless classic that's still playable to this day. Even on the Game Boy, i spent more time playing Super Mario Land than Tetris.

However, one version of Tetris that I think doesn't get enough appreciation is the Atari version by Ed Logg. It has some really good music that because of the greater popularity of Nintendo's versions never got as much traction as Korobeiniki (the "type A" music from the Game Boy that's now a staple in almost every version released since). Tengen's NES Tetris, which was taken off of shelves after Nintendo sued Tengen because Nintendo held to Tetris on Nintendo systems at the time, was based on this version, and it's really close to the arcade. The music on the NES sounds almost identical to the arcade version.

Stage Select

3. Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect Trilogy)- The way BioWare used him as your go to guy in the Mass Effect trilogy felt so unique and made the series more special. I cheered when I saw Archangel take off his helmet revealing his friendly face, I was horrified at the thought of him getting killed by a rocket to the face, and when we reminisced on the "good old days" in 3, they actually felt like the good old days. And yes, my FemShep banged him. Several times.

2. Rockruff/Lyranroc (Pokémon Sun/Moon)-I'm not sure if I'd call this my favorite Pokémon but it was definitely the one i needed the most. I was really missing my dog Rocky so seeing a Rock type dog Pokémon felt like one of my favorite series and developers were looking out for me. Also Lyranroc getting different forms depending on when you evolve Rockruff (wolf/werewolf/other wolf) means I can keep adding Rockruff to my team while getting a different experience each time.

1. Kreia (Kotor 2)- No other character has impacted me as much as Kreia. She even changed my religious beliefs. I question everything, consider the impact of all my choices, and try to figure out everyone else's motives for their choices before judging them because of Kreia

Cage Match

The match has Mario break Tetris blocks strategically until he carves a path out. However, at the last second a Tetris block appears right above him, crushing him. The camera zooms out of the screen revealing this is a Mario Maker level made by Nick Dimola for insane people like himself. Tetris wins

Stage Select:

3. Nino (Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade) She's from the first GBA Fire Emblem and is my favorite from the series. I hardly recalled her story since I was younger when I played it but Fire Emblem Heroes made her such a powerhouse that I went back to understand her origins. She had a very sad and endearing journey and still pushes forward. 

2. Auron (Final Fantasy X) Auron is undoubtedly the cool one in Final Fantasy X but it's earned. His calm and collected nature is a great opposite of Tidus's whiny and emotional nature. Auron helps shape him into a better man and the revelation of Auron is one of my favorite moments in games. 

1 Tali'Zorah (Mass Effect series) I absolutely adore Tali. She was immediately my love interest except Bioware wouldn't allow it. She was always in my party and I'm so glad she's one of the few who was available in all 3 games. Luckily Bioware fixed their mistake and allowed her to be a love interest in ME2. 

Cage Match: My heart REALLY wants to go with Tetris but I have to be realistic. Mario Bros. & Co. make a living out of breaking blocks with their heads and asses. I don't see how Tetris has a shot.... Unless! Tetris blocks get smart and start coming from the right and smash their sorry asses into the wall. Yeah let's go with that. Tetris baby!

Stage Select
1. Feena (Grandia 1)- Much like Tifa in FF7, Feena is a super capable partly member that could hold her own in a fight. She had that awesome whip and flame magic abilities. While she did eventually become the love interest of Justin (the protagonist), the relationship felt more natural because it develops over the course of the game instead of being established immediately.

2. Prince Harry (Dragon Quest V)- He was a great character because, when you first meet him as a child, he's a spoiled brat that treats the hero like crap. But after spending roughly 10 years as a slave together, he softens up and becomes one of your greatest allies in the game. I had never played an RPG where the annoying character actually learns a life lesson and changes for the better because of it. DQ V was such a great recent new experience for me.

3. Sylvando (Dragon Quest XI)- He's fierce. He's fabulous. He's one of the most capable swordsmen I've seen in an RPG. I love how well his character was written. Sylvando really stole the show for me, in the best way possible. 

Cage Match
As Exrian noted, the Super Mario Bros. can bust Tetris blocks all day, every day. They're Nintendo's flagship duo. And without Nintendo, Tetris wouldn't be here in the ring at all. BUT WAIT, what's this?!....Tetris tags in a buddy from the early PlayStation years- it's the Intelligent Qube blocks!!

Mario and Luigi- being the original NES version of themselves- are no match for rolling blocks in a 3D space. The IQ blocks steamroll over the Super Mario Brothers, tagging Tetris back in for the finishing blow. It's a bloodbath, ladies & gentlemen! The biggest upset in history!

About the last podcast: I joke you not, exactly right before you said my name in relation to the horrible timed level in Revolution X I said out loud, "Wasn't that the bus level?"  Amazing.

Oh, and about that "Dude Looks Like A Lady" link from last time, that's the soundtrack from the SNES game, which only has the digitized line "Dude Looks Like A Lady" repeated ad nauseum as a reward for beating the game.  Congrats?

STAGE SELECT:
I was having trouble with this one so I put some constraints on myself.  Here's 3 good SNES party members in no order:
1. Robo from Chrono Trigger.  I think every one of Robo's sidequests in that game are part heartstring-tugging and part devastating.  Even when Robo is on the sidelines he is encouraging and funny.  Robo is one of the most human characters in Chrono Trigger and it's slightly tragic, especially when you think about what they did to him in Chrono Cross.
2. Galuf from Final Fantasy V.  Another tragic character.  Galuf saves your life a bunch of times and injects a dwarven joviality to FFV.  He ends up making the ultimate sacrifice in order to save his granddaughter (who you then get to play as and arguably has better stats).
3. Gogo from Final Fantasy VI.  Actually, any weird last minute secret character can go here.  I always liked Gogo because it's a weird tie-in to Final Fantasy V (they're a hidden gimmick boss) and has some unique skills that are also part of the Mime class from that one.  You get them from being eaten by a worm in a hidden desert area?  Fantastic.  Another example of the last minute secret character would be Bleu who is a downright absurdly broken secret character in Breath of Fire 2 after being in the first one.  To illustrate, every character has an off-combat ability gimmick and hers is in the Hunt category.  Only instead of actually being used for that she uses lightning magic to turn every animal on screen into (collectable but useless) Charcoal.  She makes appearances (or close enough) in every other Breath of Fire game except for Dragon Quarter.  Just create a character with 99% mystery and 1% lore and you have a downright winner.

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH:
Imagine, it's the year 1989.  You own an NES and unbeknownst to you a game is going to come out that will ruin your life.  Your existence becomes a tetromino nightmare.  You have dreams of glory shattered by impossible J- and Z- blocks.  You swear you saw an X-block fall once and nobody will look you in the eyes anymore.  Alone, you practice a hopak to the astonishment of no one but your cat.  After scrounging for strategies of dubious quality and source, and years of your life gone to a gray whistling box, you finally beat the coveted Game B, Level 9, Height 5.  Your reward?  A strange, disfigured, dancing Mario.  Mario wins.