Content that'll quench ya!
The truth is out there… waaaaay out there. Our newest guest, Lucy, is released from the lamp to share the most secret treasures of the venerable Shantae series, before David gives the debrief on some of the world’s oddest cryptid myths, coloured by the tale of the even stranger developer behind the X-Files tie-in game on PS2. It’s all brought together by perhaps the most inexplicable connection on the show so far – and we don’t mean Sam!
Sometimes, the greatest fears come from within… sometimes, you have to know when to stop looking. Join us, on our most noble of expeditions, as we whack through the metaphorical forest brush in search of segment gold. David sticks a big combat knife into the table as he details the acute difficulty in devising a segment (while accidentally creating [REDACTED]), before Sam swoops in to relay the comic book origins of Acclaim’s notorious arrow-slinging mascot, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. There’s also a report from the London Gaming Market, and absolutely nothing cursed happens otherwise. Promise?
You’re a kid now – you’re an arachnid now?! SOMEHOW, David has returned… and he brings along tales woven of “spiders-men” and “played stations”. It’s as much of a celebration of the web-slinger’s chequered history as it is a classic rant, true believer! Sam also invites experienced splatmate Kit aboard the good ship Era to talk about the slippery world of Splatoon and the evolving ambition of its single player campaigns. ‘Nuff squid.
WOAH-SHI – it’s a double Yoshi exploshi! David’s taken a step out for this episode (something about “unfinished business”…?), so Sam calls in long-time friend and resident Yoshi expert Muz (@MuzYoshi) to run through all things Munchakoopas. There’s a particular focus on his N64 outing, but we also take the time to run through all the attempts to follow it up in the years since – and where we think it might be headed next. Forgotten details and lore drops abound!
When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city… to see the marching band… or rather, “vaguely aspirational hero characters from the mid-aughts that were marketed to boys of about our age”. Cough. Plenty of deep cuts this ep: David frames a discussion on the titular Action Man in musings on plastic capitalism, while Sam beams a computer-generated spotlight at the BBC’s long-buried kids’ multimedia outfit, Ace Lightning. There’s also our essentially live reactions to the now-infamous “Willy McDuff” scandal from a couple of weeks back. Let the truth be heard that we bought stock early in The Unknown!
It was a day like no other – the winds of trouble blew into my office like a nightmare, and it’d take one hell of a pinch to wake me. The case was double dutch all the way down; pages and pages of total madness. Our first informant, Sam, re-briefed us on one hell of a bad memory from ‘93 – the disastrous alliance of the Philips and Nintendo families. Then, the vigilante David turned the tables – promising us they could finally bring down the Hollywood Noire syndicate with one unassuming link. Could these two crazies have a point? Would it be worth risking it all in the pursuit of justice? What’s that old saying – “where there’s smoke…”?
Pokémon! Ever heard of those?! United under a common theme, our brave hosts both venture into strange new lands this week; while David toils in the mines of touchscreen-flavoured mediocrity, Sam takes a flight of fancy through the real-world legends that inspired the beasts. Includes a whole-ass bumper quiz segment!! Goodness!
“The name’s Games. James Games…” Your mission, should you choose to accept it – infiltrate the European Games Manufacturing Complex and retrieve valuable secrets from a family shrouded in secrecy. Agents Sam and David will be your local guides, but take great care. Beyond this point, few have returned…
A capsule containing such power… Gamer Era continues into its sophomore offering as David extols the virtues of “Shrek Treasure Hunt” for the PlayStation (and its deeply troubled developer) and Sam continues the handheld love with an ode to Panic’s Playdate. All this as decade-old social media drama and the looming presence of a revered Nintendo fantasy series threaten to derail the very structure of the pod itself. Will our brave heroes resist the temptation of barely-related tangents, and deliver us to coherence?! Not if they have anything to say about it.
A podcast you can hold in your hands! Join Sam and David in this inaugural edition of Gamer Era as they invoke handheld gaming guilty pleasures, puzzling over the Evercade’s insanely niche appeal and a carefully curated selection of licensed paff for the Game Boy Advance. All this and more wrapped in unexpectedly violent public domain newspaper cartoons, truly toe-curling childhood anecdotes and nonsensical British pop culture deep cuts. Attention Gamers – your Era has arrived.
