A Green Mushroom

We’ve been playing a bunch of 3D Mario games. Which makes sense because it's the 35th anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros on NES all the way back in 1985. We even did an issue of PRESS START on Mario at https://patreon.com/geektogeekcast! Beej has been playing a TON of Mario games, not just 3D ones, either. But he finally beat Super Mario Odyssey and likes it a lot more than he did beforehand. Between Super Mario 3D Land and World, the level-based platforming is covered, the New Wii U Deluxe version is getting some Switch play, and then there's the brand new Super Mario 3D All-Stars that just released that everyone is playing and loving. He's playing that, too! Whew!  And Void is, too! He's focusing more on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars part of things, but really loves him some Super Mario Galaxy. Enough that he beat it on its own already. He wants Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Switch, and his thinking is that we're going to see it as DLC for the All-Stars ...

In This Episode: This week Void and Beej are buying into some of the next generation console hype around PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X… and questioning some of the hype too.  From pricing to pre-orders to what we pulled the trigger on, we discuss a little bit of all of it. Weekly Geekery For geekery, BJ finished up some comics on DC Universe, played Kirby Triple Deluxe, watched West World Season 3, and started reading Dune again.  Void actually finished an anime for the first time in a long time with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and he’s also been dabbling in Crusader Kings 3 on Game Pass for PC. Subscribe to Our Digital Magazine on Patreon The Patreon is shifting gears a little. We're not putting out a monthly digital magazine for patrons starting in August. Make sure that you read this sample of the exclusive content , and if (read: when) you love it, you can go to geektogeekmedia.com/patreon to support the new publication. We are always looking to add new value...

In This Episode: This week we talk all about the “dumb” fun of action reality shows like The Floor is Lava, Ninja Warrior, Jedi Temple Challenge, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and more!  We also touch on some light Geekery around Howard, Forager, Marriage Story, and Greyhound. Support the Podcast on Patreon You can go to https://patreon.com/geektogeekcast to support the podcast, and you can get some cool stuff, too. You can be a Patron Saint of Geekery and get some neato Reddit flair. We are always looking to add new tiers for patrons, so if there's something you would like to see, let us know! Join Our Community! Discord: discord.geektogeekmedia.com Slack: slack.geektogeekmedia.com Reddit: reddit.com/r/geektogeekcast Geek to Geek Media Original Content We have expanded the original content on the Geek to Geek Media website. We now have video game reviews, movie lookbacks, geeky toy rundowns, and all sorts of original blogs and livestreams. Not to mention ...

In This Episode: This week Void and Beej both tried out Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and find it… interesting?  But also very wanting.  It channels the Gamecube era but not necessarily in a good way. Weekly Geekery For geekery, BJ has been watching Lovecraft Country and Bill and Ted movies while Void has been playing Soda Dungeon 2, , and more Spirit Farer.  He also got some new podcasts in the rotation like Triple Click, What the force, and Friends at the Table. Subscribe to Our Digital Magazine on Patreon The Patreon is shifting gears a little. We're not putting out a monthly digital magazine for patrons starting in August. Make sure that you read this sample of the exclusive content , and if (read: when) you love it, you can go to geektogeekmedia.com/patreon to support the new publication. We are always looking to add new value for Geek to Geek Patrons, so if there's something you would like to see, let us know! Join Our Community! Discord: discord.geekto...

Assassin's Creed Black Flag is an interesting entry in the series.  Its main addition is the fleshing out of ship to ship combat into a full gameplay system which, in turn, makes it the best open-world pirate action game out there. If you're ever looking for an entry in the Assassin's Creed series to go for 100% map completion in, this should be one of your first stops.  The mix of on-foot and on-boat gameplay means that you always have the option of switching your current moment to moment activity while still making progress toward map completion. As an open-world pirate game, Black Flag succeeds amazingly.  As an Assassin's Creed game, it's fine.  It's not an amazing entry in the context of the series but there's a ton of fun to be had if you set your expectations to "pirate" instead of "assassin". So, should you play this game?  Well, this is one Assassin's Creed game I can recommend as a very solid open-world game.  It's perfe...

Following up on yesterday's post, I dove into the two latest Assassin's Creed games which represent the pivot that Ubisoft has made in the series.  Both Origin and Odyssey fall squarely into the action RPG genre instead of the stealth action games that the series started with. Revisiting Assassin's Creed Origin was interesting.  I initially bounced off the game when it first released because it was such a radical departure from the series I loved.  After Origins reset my internal calibration for what makes an Assassin's Creed game, I was able to really enjoy Odyssey on its own terms when it released. This revisit of Origins made me realize that the game is better than I gave it credit for at the time.  If all you're looking for is an open-world Egypt action RPG then this is a great game.  But, if you are looking for a stealth game with assassination in it, you'll be disappointed.  Removing stealth and instant kills was the biggest thing they did in Origins ...

My revisit of the Assassin's Creed games sped up a bit over the weekend.  I finished my full re-playthrough of Assassin's Creed Revelations and then went into "sampling" mode for the other games in the series. Revelations is an interesting one, in that it's the most ambitious storytelling they do in the first five or six Assassin's Creed games.  It ties Desmond, Altair, and Ezio together and has them all communicating across time and space.  It works surprisingly well.  The gameplay in it is iterative with some new gimmicks, but it is definitely the strongest gameplay and storytelling of the Ezio collection. I'm skipping over Black Flag for now since I know I really like that game and it's a great time waster.  My plan is to come back around to it at the end. Which brings me to Unity.  Assassin's Creed Unity is the worst mainline game in the series.  They tried a lot of new things as they brought the series to a new console generation.  It was amb...

In This Episode: This week Void drags Beej into a conversation about Microsoft Flight Simulator.  BJ likes the birds.  Void has also been messing around with a bunch of new Game Pass games on Xbox and has some impressions. Weekly Geekery Void played a lot of Game Pass Games!  Beej has been checking out comics on Comixology Unlimited including Umbrella Academy, Batman Court of Owls, City of Owls, Death of the Family, and Birthright. Subscribe to Our Digital Magazine on Patreon The Patreon is shifting gears a little. We're not putting out a monthly digital magazine for patrons starting in August. Make sure that you read this sample of the exclusive content , and if (read: when) you love it, you can go to geektogeekmedia.com/patreon to support the new publication. We are always looking to add new value for Geek to Geek Patrons, so if there's something you would like to see, let us know! Join Our Community! Discord: discord.geektogeekmedia.com  Slack: slack.g...