Mission failed: John was annoyed.
Hey folks! This episode of Nerds Without Pants was recorded while Julian was on vacation, so this is a very mediocre endeavor. Anyway, on to the show!
You're listening to 101.5, The Game, KNWP!
Hey there! This is the craziest Nerds Without Pants EVER! We only got a handful of songs for Stage Select, so instead of talking about 7 or 8 songs and calling it a day we decided to create an entire two hour block of radio programming that approaches UHF levels of insanity. Yep, this is happening. Check it out!
The 25th anniversary of a victory fanfare for the PlayStation.
“And now, the most anticipated epic adventure of the year will never come to a theater near you. Final Fantasy VII.” And so began my interest in RPGs. That commercial blew my 12-year-old mind back in 1997. Besides the impressive animations shown (which we would later learn were only cut-scenes), I was intrigued at seeing that we somehow jumped from Final Fantasy III on the Super NES to now VII on the PlayStation. “What manner of sorcery is this?”, I wondered.
We are very serious, very powerful business type people.
Well hello there! I don’t like to toot our own horn too often, but this may be the best episode of Nerds Without Pants of the year. Is Stage Select a banger? Not even close. Is Video Game Cage Match one for the record books? Fraid not. But Consumption Junction is a blast, and hopefully you think so, too!
Heroes of Might and Magicite
As a late bloomer to RPGs, I was mostly ignorant of the Final Fantasy series until 1997, when that commercial for Final Fantasy VII caught my attention in all its epic CG glory. But it would be another two years before I finally saw a demo of the game in action, which sparked my love for RPGs. The point is that I missed out on Final Fantasy VI (originally titled Final Fantasy III in the US) when it was released in 1994. Fortunately, the Super NES Classic Edition's release several years back allowed the opportunity to play Square’s magnum opus of the 16-bit series. And boy, was it worth the wait.
Time ghosts.
Welcome to another lengthy episode of Nerds Without Pants! Come let us keep you company for half the workday as we talk about bad video game endings, “Not E3”, and witness a Tetsuya Nomura mirror match!
Press R2 to hold hands.
Welcome to the first music edition of Nerds Without Pants of the year! It’s been a long time, so we are here to rock your face off. We also have a lot to say about something topical for once. Enjoy!
Japanese military high school, or Japanese murder high school. Choose!
Welcome to the return of Stage Select on Nerds Without Pants! After the dust has settled on the Video Game Cage Match Championship Tournament it’s time to get back to the old show format with a new focus on our lovely listeners. To that end we are joined by long time listener, first time guest Xavier Kreiger to talk about all sorts of dumb stuff. Let’s go!
Final Fantasy gets a job.
When Final Fantasy VII appeared in the late 90s, my initial reaction was that of shock at the significant gulf in sequels for the US. It was a harsh reality to learn that, of the three mainline Final Fantasy releases we received, Japan had double that number by the start of the PlayStation era. As time marched on, Square (now Square Enix) eventually released the sequels we had missed. Meanwhile, I’ve been playing a nearly 30-year-long game of catch-up since 1997. A particular blind spot for me was Final Fantasy III- the last one to be developed for the Famicom. However, after finally getting around to playing it, I now have a new appreciation for this long-running series.
The Street Fighter
Sometime in May 1986, Japanese arcades saw the release of a brawler called Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun (roughly meaning Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio in English). It stars Kunio- a miscreant high schooler fighting for a classmate being picked on by rival gangs. The game is notable for being the first brawler to feature an urban setting and introduced many trademarks common to the genre- a tough guy protagonist, themes of street justice, generic thugs, female villains, and so on. The game underwent significant revisions for its Western release and subsequent NES port, including a name change to Renegade and the story wholly disconnected from its source material.
