Old Gamer’s Almanac

Latest Episodes:

Gameboy Honorable Mentions Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

There were some unexpected nominations in last week's Gameboy Draft, which meant there were so many things left on the cutting room floor that are worth talking about. This episode is a little crazy because it's mostly a list of game rattled off in quick succession, but it's also a discussion about what works and what doesn't work on the handheld as well as some of the more fun experimentation that the console saw over it's very long lifespan.

Games Mentioned in this Episode:

Lufia - The Legend Returns

Noobow

Mario Tennis

Pocket Bomberman

Daikatana

Shantae

Picross 2

Toki Tori

Dirty Racing

Mole Mania

Crystal Quest

Dodge Boy

Amazing Penguin

Daedalian Opus

Tecmo Bowl

CutThroat Island

Hammerin' Harry

The Mummy

Small Soldiers

Operation C

Wario Land II

Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children

Parodius

Kwirk - He's A-Maze-ing!

Dead Heat Scramble

Out of Gas

R-Type DX

1942

Contra - The Alien Wars

Hunter

Solomon's Club

Survival Kids

R-Type

Metroid 2

Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Balloon Kid

Pocket Bomberman

Elevator Action/Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage

Magical Chase

Project S11

Stop that Roach!

Dragon Quest 3 and DQ 1+2

Sun

Crystal Quest

Legend of the River King

Lock and Chase

Mercenary Force

Operation C

Penguin Wars

Qixik

Quarth

Rolans Curse

Stargate

The Sword of Hope

Matt

Side Pocket music

Penta Dragon

Resident Evil Gaiden

Crystalis

Nectaris

A-mazing Tater

Mole Mania

Bonk's Adventure

Bonk's Revenge

Mario 6 Coins

Kirby's Dreamland 2

Donkey Kong

Shantae

Wild Snake

Bionic Commando

Brain Bender

To see the most up to version of The OGA 100, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/oldgamersalmanac) Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord. (https://discord.gg/ASG2YpyfPx)

Gameboy Draft Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

We've been researching Gameboy games for months now and it's time to put all of that work to good use! Today is the first real step in our Gameboy Tournament. Matt, Hunter, Sun, and EJ will each nominate 4 Gameboy games to give us 16 total games for a massive battle of the best games later this month. This draft is stupid but it could have--and should have--been stupider!

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Gameboy Overview and Tournament Introduction Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

It's finally time for us to move on to our next project. Through the end of the year, we'll be focusing our attention on the Gameboy! Not every episode will be about the Gameboy, but we'll be playing Gameboy games in preparation for our Gameboy Tournament at the end of the year. E.J. and Sun will join us to determine the best Gameboy game of all time! So let's spend today setting the stage and giving the Gameboy a proper introduction.

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Re-ranking the Top 100 [’The List’ Finale] Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

We've done it. 100 games on the list feels great but we've had some issues looming over us for a long time. As is our yearly tradition, it's time to reassess the list. Some of our opinions have changed over time and we must take stock and reorganize the list so that we can feel bad about it again in a month. To assist us, E.J. and Sun Sanders are here to maximize the chaos and ensure the list doesn't have too much of just Matt and Hunter's opinions.

SPOILERS: This link is for the list AFTER COMPLETION within the episode. If you want to follow along, you can have it pulled up, but mostly this is for after the episode has finished and to refer to going forward. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing.

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Starcraft (1998) [The Ranking] Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

Okay! We could just keep doing this forever. It's entirely possible for this show to just become a Starcraft podcast, but we're not going to do that. So today, after a full month of talking about it, we're finally going to rank Starcraft onto our list of 100 games...which notably is the last time we're ever adding a game to the list. From here on out, these are The OGA 100...until we decide to radically change format again or whatever.

To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Starcraft (1998) [Multiplayer] [w/ Cole Wehrle] Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

We've got one more week before we finally go through the arduous process of adding Starcraft to our list as our 100th game, and there's still too much to talk about. Today, we wanted to focus on multiplayer, but even within that topic there is too much to discuss. So for today's presentation we were joined by board game designer and friend of the show Cole Wehrle to talk about the beautiful cacophony that existed in Starcraft custom games multiplayer. Equal parts nonsense and game design playground, many entire genres of games were born out of the toolkit available to anyone inside Starcraft.

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Starcraft (1998) [Brood War Campaign] Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

It's week two of our Starcraft extravaganza and we continue with our adventure through the single player of the game, this week getting to move on to the first and only official expansion, Brood War. It's three more full campaigns with the featured factions of Starcraft, but the story has a lot more twists and turns to throw our way. We also talk about what units were added in this expansion and a bit about how that changed the landscape of the game.

Come back next week for our huge episode about the game's multiplayer!

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Starcraft (1998) [Single Player Campaign] Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Today is the beginning of a series of episodes covering our 100th game on the list: Starcraft. Released in 1998, Starcraft changed the RTS genre as well as our two stupid little lives. So enjoy this exhaustive look, starting with a focus on the initial release of the game and the single player campaign of just the base game. Next week, we'll talk about Brood War...

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

2023 State of Direct (Patreon Update and Season Announcement) Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

We've been teasing things for a few weeks now but we're finally excited to announce the future of Old Gamer's Almanac. We have a new format for the show incoming and a new way we'll be interacting with the list of 100 games.

In addition to all of that, today's episode details new updates on the Patreon as well as some teasers to more 2024 seasons!

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

Just Games Booking Dads [w/ E.J. Sanders] Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

Matt and EJ read two books by noted video game journalist Jason Schreier and we're here to tell you about them! Jason interviewed dozens if not hundreds of game developers on the front lines to put together two books about the trial and tribulations of the games industry. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels (2017) takes a close look, one chapter at a time, at the development history of numerous specific games including Shovel Knight, Stardew Valley, Destiny, and the infamous Star Wars 1313 covering how hard it is just to get games made. Press Reset (2021) narrows that focus by covering numerous studio closures and the over-reaching arms of publishers and executives; following games like Kingdoms of Amalur, Bioshock: Infinite, and Epic Micky.

To hear Matt and EJ talk about more books (children's and Young Adult), check out their show Just Dads Reading Books: https://open.spotify.com/show/49hFagqtZLGVrdEny5vF12?si=fa3fbc457b3c4308

Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey

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