How to Get Started in Handheld Gaming with Retro Game Corps

Special guest Russ from Retro Game Corps teaches The Besties how to get into retro gaming handhelds. Here's you chance to become obsessed with the hobby! Plus, we finally catch up with Indiana Jones. For more Retro Gaming check out the channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroGameCorps

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Griffin McElroy?

  I'm so glad that Russ from Retro Game Core is joining us this week because-

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, when's he gonna get here? He's late. And I, it's really, he's embarrassing. His car-

• 0:10Griffin McElroy?

  He's on island time, but the real, the problem I'm having with all my emus, and I don't know if it's a bug or a virus or glitch, but all my Pokemon games, all of the Pokemon sprites are nude. Like, they're all nude and naked and anatomically, like, really detailed. And I don't know, like, whether I need to get a new device. You're making a face, Russ Fruschick, and I do need to be clear.

• 0:39Russ Frushtick?

  Well, I'm making a face just because, traditionally speaking, Pokemon are always nude, as far as I'm aware. Except unless you're talking about, like, Throw, or one of those, Hitmonchan, kinda wears clothes. But largely speaking, they're always nude.

• 0:52Griffin McElroy?

  That's true. Do you think-

• 0:53Russ Frushtick?

  So you're saying they've reached another layer to it?

• 0:55Griffin McElroy?

  I'm saying that you see Pikachu's genitals, and I'm wondering if I get the Retroid Pocket 5-

• 1:03Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 1:04Griffin McElroy?

  Is that not gonna be a featured-

• 1:07Russ Frushtick?

  Or are you gonna see it maybe more enhanced?

• 1:09Griffin McElroy?

  Hey, Russ- If I get the Odin 2 Mini Pro, are the genitals gonna be more, are they gonna be gone? Are they gonna be detailed? I don't know.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Russ, if you can't stop drooling, I would ask that you turn off your camera.

• 1:23Griffin McElroy?

  And that's both Russes, by the way, for the record. All Russes.

• 1:28Russ Frushtick?

  You know, I could be Russ 2 this episode, fine.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  Now, listen, that was a great cold open.

• 1:32Russ Frushtick?

  We did it. We did.

• 1:50Speaker 01

  My name is Russ McElroy, and I know the best game of the week.

• 1:53Griffin McElroy?

  My name is Russ McElroy, and I know the best game of the week.

• 1:57Russ Frushtick?

  My name is Russ Fruschick, I know the best game of the week.

• 2:00Speaker 03

  My name is Russ Crandall, and I know the best handheld of the week.

• 2:03Speaker 01

  Welcome to Russ City.

• 2:08Speaker 01

  Blasted land where Griffin and I are the only survivors in a world of Russ's. This is the best thing. It's a video game club and just by listening, you have become a member. This week, we are going to be speaking with Russ Crandall, Russ Frushtick. Chris Plant's not here, so you have to tell me about Russ Crandall.

• 2:27Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, so Russ Crandall, we've all, I think people know Russ as Russ from Retro Game Corps. And we've all used his very detailed analysis and setup guides on YouTube because he's done such a good job in that space. Such that I think he has become the Mr. Beast of retro gaming handheld. Is that fair to say?

• 2:48Speaker 01

  Wow, high praise.

• 2:51Griffin McElroy?

  Huge for you, I bet.

• 2:52Russ Frushtick?

  Without all the baggage, just the good stuff. Welcome aboard. We wanted to bring you in because we've been talking about this stuff for a while. And we have so many questions and the readers have so many questions. So I'm very excited. What should we be snacking on? What should we be drinking?

• 3:08Speaker 01

  That was an incredibly long introduction and now we are going to take a commercial break after your absolute soliloquy. We'll be right back.

• 3:20Russ Frushtick?

  Russ, before we get started, what should we be snacking on? And what should we be drinking?

• 3:24Speaker 01

  Wait, I have a better question for Russ that is going to tell us a lot more about him as a person. Russ, when you are setting up a new emulator, do you have a game or a game on each console that you're like, gotta fire it, like gotta do it? That's gotta be the first one I fire up. For me, whenever I set up a new emulator, the only one I have consistent is if it's PlayStation, you know I'm playing Blasto.

• 3:55Griffin McElroy?

  Blasto for the benchmarks, for sure.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  If it's NES, I'm playing Rescue, the Embassy mission is what I'm firing up there. What about you? Do you have any standards?

• 4:08Speaker 03

  Man, my stuff is so boring. So I basically, in the moment I get a handheld, I'm just testing it already. And so I just like, so for Super Nintendo, it's Mega Man X because Okay, the bars. Yeah, exactly. It'll show pixel distortion like really quickly. And so Wait, really? Why? Uh, so on the left side, if you think about Mega Man's life bar, it'll be like perfect little pills all across the, the Oh, okay. But only if your screen is balanced. And so you need like a high resolution or something. It's a good integer scale to it. So it's like one of those crappy screen thing.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  It's like almost like a test pattern that you can use to adjust.

• 4:41Speaker 03

  Oh, cool. Yeah, exactly. And so I'll always fire that up and be like, ah, is this good screen or not? And then I can usually figure that out.

• 4:48Speaker 01

  Do you have trouble just playing video games?

• 4:51Speaker 03

  Oh, man, I don't, I don't play anything. I just test games. You know what I mean? Like, I never sit down and be like, hey, let's play Mario World for the 100th time. It's always like, ah, you know, what can I do to make the screen look better? Or oh, the audio is off. Let me see what I can do, you know?

• 5:05Russ Frushtick?

  Even when you're traveling, you're not like whipping out the latest whatever and playing something?

• 5:09Speaker 03

  No, I'm usually sleeping.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Reading, reading, reading sports books.

• 5:15Speaker 03

  You've created a prison.

• 5:17Speaker 01

  Hunting animals with his bare hands. I do two things. Neither of them are play video games.

• 5:24Russ Frushtick?

  Russ, I, I, we brought you on specifically because I think there are a lot of people, and you have been a great ambassador and an introduction to this space. I think there are a lot of people that are very intimidated by, you know, we're talking about a lot of Chinese handhelds from manufacturers that no one's ever heard of before. I mean, we have, but that's only thanks in part to you. I feel like a lot of people don't know how to get into it. And I sort of wanted to like, at a baseline, if you're side, like just slightly interested in the space, what is like step one?

• 5:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know, it's, it's hard because I think Chris mentioned it really well in his written review earlier last week. It's basically all of these things are magical in their own way. It's just finding the right magical one for you. And it's really hard. You know, I've got some roundups on my, on my channel and stuff, but even then, within a month, the, the story changes all the time.

• 6:15Russ Frushtick?

  Right.

• 6:15Speaker 03

  That's the big thing I've noticed. And so my advice is really just like, look at your budget. Like, say it's going to be like the price of like a modern game, so 60, 70 bucks. And then see, see what's available at that price point. And it's probably going to be pretty magical on its own. And then just kind of go from there.

• 6:30Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, the first one you get regardless of whether it's quote good or not is always kind of magical. I remember it was an RG 351M.

• 6:40Speaker 01

  Oh, the RG 351M. I still have a poster of it.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  We all, we all remember our first.

• 6:48Griffin McElroy?

  My, my advice for getting into this scene is always just go to the mall, look for a kiosk where someone is selling a one, an 801 NES box, definitely unlicensed. They're gonna have some art that's like glass, cut glass that you shine a laser light through. You can pick up one of those if you want. It's not necessary for the emulation. But you can't go wrong with a kiosk, a mall kiosk retro box.

• 7:16Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, you mentioned the, the price point, uh, Russ, at that like a console game price point. Where are you currently at in your like, this is the thing to buy? Cause I feel like at that price point, or maybe a little lower for a long time, it was the Miuminii. Yeah. Plus, I guess. I feel like it's not there anymore.

• 7:36Speaker 03

  Right.

• 7:36Russ Frushtick?

  Is that fair to say?

• 7:37Speaker 03

  A very recent replacement, but for me, it's now one called the Trimui Brick. And so this one looks a lot like the Miuminii, but smaller. And, but a really high resolution screen. I think it's like 768p. You know, all these are using like, you know, recycled like phone parts and stuff. So all the resolutions and stuff are always crazy, but this one's like super crisp and clear. About 50, 60 bucks and, uh, can play a lot more. So you can play, you know, up to a good amount of like Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, which, uh, the Miuminii Plus could not do. And so that's been my, my one. It's like a really solid, small handheld, just kind of throw in your pocket.

• 8:10Russ Frushtick?

  And that's running Linux as well?

• 8:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's just running Linux and there's a bunch of, you know, custom firmwares and all that stuff, which is a whole nother world, you know? Uh, but that, that's like my big one. And then the other one, it would be like the Ambernic 3 RG 35XXSP. Terrible name.

• 8:23Russ Frushtick?

  It just rolls right off the top.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Which one?

• 8:26Speaker 03

  RG35XXSP.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  Did you say SP?

• 8:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, so it looks like a Game Boy.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  Wait, you're a professional and you're recommending the 300XSP? Cause all of us real ones know that the 400000X3P is gonna be the one to wait for. I'm sorry.

• 8:47Russ Frushtick?

  There is, there is actually a 4001, as I'm sure Russ is running through his head.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  It is this weird gray area, though. Tell me if my read on this is wrong, Russ. It's like, it feels like they'd never want to be so strongly branded as to be easily suable. So it's like, kind of a moving target, like, I don't know, it's kind of like a jumbling names and numbers. It's impossible to know what this thing does.

• 9:12Griffin McElroy?

  I mean, for, for Ambernic, I have to assume it's just that they are releasing so many of these that they could not possibly create like a marketing team, large enough and productive enough to come up with like original, like memorable names for every device they release.

• 9:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, part of it too, is that they, they just created their own nomenclature because there are so many. So the numbers mean something. So 35 means 3.5 inch screen. The XX is a specific, is reference to a specific chipset. And then they have other things. P means like plastic, M means metal. And so they, they just can't come up with that many names. There's just not enough names in the English language. And so they have to come up with nomenclature.

• 9:50Speaker 01

  What's the race still? Like what are, what are, what is being chased the most actively in, in this space? And this sort of like portable arms race?

• 9:58Speaker 03

  In terms of like what?

• 9:59Speaker 01

  Size, yeah, size, price, power, cost. Like what is the, what's the, what is everybody chasing?

• 10:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, there's like two main tiers. There's the cheap, under $100 one. And then there's like the 200 ish dollar one, like the Retroid Pocket 5. And so the cheaper ones are just really trying to get to that impulse buy category where they're looking at just something that reminds you of the old days and that you're just gonna pick it up on a whim. And then the more expensive ones are really targeting basically GameCube and PS2 performance and like an OLED display, all those kinds of things, like really trying to bring in that generation.

• 10:30Russ Frushtick?

  Do you have insight into how big Ambernic would need to get before they were like, maybe we shouldn't ship ROMs on these SD cards when we sell them?

• 10:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't have any insight, but they uh it's it's weird because they you know their domestic market is much bigger than their overseas market, right? They're really making this as an afterthought for the rest of us. And um yeah, I don't know how much bigger they need to be. I know that they've been dropping listings on Amazon, like pulling them because they begin in trouble and stuff. Me, the same thing, so.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  How do you, for yourself, for us, uh I I feel like everybody has to kind of answer these these questions on your own. But like, obviously, the conversation of like emulation is always kind of like in tandem with the piracy conversation. I always find myself kind of torn, and I did when I was setting up. I'm always find myself when I set up one of these like surprised at how far caught up, you know, the the technology is. And like, I really struggle because I cannot find a rational argument why you should not download a ROM of an Atari game that is absolutely unpurchisable for you in any planet. But on the flip side, there's a game released this week that, you know, is that you could also find the same way. How do you, how do you, and that feels like I definitely have like a yuckiness line that is a pretty moving target.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  Like, how do you, how do you sort of like navigate that, that those waters for yourself?

• 11:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, so for me, I try to make everything available. So I have like guides on how to like rip ROMs, you know, from an original cartridge and stuff like that. For those who really want to kind of keep it very clean. And then for everyone else, I basically just start at the moment where I assume you already have those games. And so I don't, don't kind of get into that thing and, you know, try to jump on one end or the other. But for current games, like so there's a, there's a tool called Portmaster, which is available on most of these Linux handhelds that allows you to basically run certain Steam games directly on your device by pulling your Steam files and putting them in a certain folder and whatnot. All totally legit and legal, it's just basically porting it over, right? And some of these companies will actually ship with those on there, with the commercial things like Celeste or Bellatro.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  And for me, that's like totally crossing a line. So I always call that out if I ever see that in a review. And then also, you know, make guides and links to that other Portmaster thing where you can just do that yourself. Buy the game on Steam, grab those files, throw it on there. And so there's kind of a middle ground there, but with emulation, yeah, it's one of those where I show people the tools. And to be honest, there's not a lot. A lot of interest in that. Not a lot of people really care about that. Those are like my worst performing videos.

• 12:53Russ Frushtick?

  In terms of what? The tools to rip?

• 12:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, how to rip.

• 12:56Russ Frushtick?

  Fiscal carpet.

• 12:57Speaker 03

  Cartridge. Yeah, those things bomb.

• 12:59Speaker 01

  I mean, I don't need to, I don't need to rip it myself, right? I know I have a copy of Rescue the Embassy Mission somewhere. I own it. It's, my dad got it for me for my birthday. I know I own it. I didn't get, sell it.

• 13:14Russ Frushtick?

  I guess that brings me to the other point, and I don't know how comfortable you are talking about it, but obviously there was the issue with YouTube strikes and Nintendo.

• 13:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:23Russ Frushtick?

  And you had to alter the way you do stuff. Where, where does that sort of sit at the moment?

• 13:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, that was rough. So I got two strikes on my channel and the first strike was literally me showing how to do that thing to legitimately dump your game onto a file and then play it somewhere else. But it was a Switch game and I think they were pretty sensitive about that. So I got a YouTube strike and then they were just kind of targeting my channel. And the next time I showed a Nintendo game, which was for the Wii U, totally different system, got another strike. And so that was rough. Those strikes are now expired, so I'm good. And just since then, I haven't really shown any Nintendo at all on my channel. So it's been about three months. I've been slowly testing the waters by showing a little bit in a couple of videos.

• 14:01Russ Frushtick?

  I was gonna say, I think I saw a little bit in a recent video.

• 14:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, and that's me just really kind of, yeah, I'm just testing the waters to see what is the threshold. It's not like they ever talk to me. They just threw those strikes at me. And so I want to kind of figure out, like, if I can show Mario 64, I want to show it.

• 14:17Speaker 01

  Yep, that makes sense. That explains why the Retro starter guide I was just watching didn't explain to me how to set up Nesticle for the 30th time and I still. When you're doing a guide video, I still need the guide to find.

• 14:30Griffin McElroy?

  Is there part of you that just wants to be like, just get Nesticle, like you know how to, it's, you know how to, just get Retro Ark and then you fucking know how to do this? Come on.

• 14:40Speaker 03

  It is hard to go over the basics every time. Like, for example, last year, the Retro Pocket 4 came out and then the Odin came out. And they came out very quickly. And so what I did is I did the Odin guide first and then I used the same footage in my Retro Pocket guide because it's the same thing. It's an Android device. People got mad about that. They're like, I can't believe you're so lazy, Russ. And I'm like, come on, it's the same thing. So, yeah, I'm, from now on, I'm just doing a single guide every time. And it takes several days just to make one guide.

• 15:07Griffin McElroy?

  Was that the Odin 2 that came out? And then there was also the Pro and also the Portal. It seems like last year was kind of crazy for like-

• 15:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, so they had Odin 2, the Odin 2 Mini, and then the Odin 2 Portals now coming out.

• 15:21Griffin McElroy?

  And then Retroïd released the Pocket 4 and the Pocket 5. It feels like those two are sort of in direct competition. And I remember when the Odin first came out, I got the Odin Pro. And I really enjoyed that. I played PlayStation 2 games and it was like the first emulator that I was able to like really play PS2 games on like a handheld. But it seems like Retroïd sort of, the pendulum has swung back in the other direction a bit. And now Retroïd Pocket 5 is able to do a lot more than the sort of previous generation was. Is that sort of your read on things? Or, because those two sort of occupy that higher end space.

• 16:03Speaker 03

  Right, I would say that the Retroïd is always focused on kind of that middle tier, you know, like getting up to potentially PS2. And then the Odin 2 is kind of overkill. Like basically, anything you can play on Android is going to play on that. It's basically like a high-powered phone. And so it's interesting because these two companies, it's speculated that they both have the same parent company. And so they're just kind of trying to hit two different targets, but also undercutting one another. But yeah, I would say the Retroïd is like $200 space, whereas the Odin's at $300 space.

• 16:32Griffin McElroy?

  Oh, is it? Okay, I didn't realize it was that.

• 16:33Russ Frushtick?

  It's wild to me that we don't know that they have the same, whether they have the same parent company or not. That is insane to me.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, but like, I can see why they're probably-

• 16:43Russ Frushtick?

  No, I get it.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  Hey Russ, can you tilt your camera to show us the huge pile of discarded handhelds that you-

• 16:53Speaker 01

  I figure there's a corridor somewhere.

• 16:54Russ Frushtick?

  Is FEMA gonna show up at your house and say, "This is a site that needs to be cleaned up." There's so much waste.

• 17:02Speaker 03

  Oh, man, I have I I limit myself to 200 devices at any given time. Like, that's that's what I keep on hand for.

• 17:09Griffin McElroy?

  I can't tell if you're joking or not, because that number is so high, it feels like a joke.

• 17:14Speaker 03

  That's true. So everything else I give away to like other YouTubers or, you know, that kind of stuff. So I try to get those out of the house, but I keep.

• 17:20Russ Frushtick?

  Do you have a spreadsheet? How are you tracking that number?

• 17:23Speaker 03

  It's just in my head. Like, I'll count.

• 17:25Speaker 01

  You got 200 Cubbies?

• 17:26Speaker 03

  All right, let's go and see what needs to go. And so, yeah, around 200.

• 17:30Russ Frushtick?

  Are your neighbors appreciating the benefit as well? They getting some of these?

• 17:36Speaker 03

  Friends and stuff, yeah, like Christmas, like, hey, here's a bunch of handhelds.

• 17:39Speaker 01

  Rushes up at your door, 2 o'clock in the morning, pow, pow, pow. Hey, listen, good news for you, bad news for me. I'm up to 201, I got a fully crunk. It's like smoking. It's so full of nasty, nasty wrongs.

• 17:54Russ Frushtick?

  I had a question about Flip devices. You mentioned the 35XX SP earlier, and we have a new one, the MIU Flip, which just came out.

• 18:03Griffin McElroy?

  Oh.

• 18:03Russ Frushtick?

  I don't, you haven't put out the review yet. You'd put out an impressions video as of today. I don't know when the review is going to go up. Do you think there's anyone that could ever come up with a Flip device that would sustain, like, long-term use without essentially falling apart?

• 18:19Speaker 03

  No, I don't think so. I mean, these guys, they don't have that same engineering team as Nintendo. And even Nintendo stuff breaks, you know, like the DS gets cracked and all that stuff. So, yeah, I don't I don't see that happening. And it's just a matter of when with each of these. And it's always been that way. I will say that they're getting smart and not doing as many translucent or transparent colors, because those are brittle. The plastic is brittle on those, and they'll crack more easily. Yeah, there's just, there's nothing you can fix about that, I think. It's just time.

• 18:44Griffin McElroy?

  The worst, I haven't, I've been out of the this scene for a while. It was very much a like COVID hobby sort of situation. But I was like doing, you know, shell swaps for like a Game Boy Color or, you know, building a metal, switching a GBASP into like a single metal case. So it had sort of like that DMG form factor. And doing that with the Game Boy Advance SP was the biggest pain in the ass of any, because they tuck little ribbon cables up in that little, like, I don't know what they make, the little bolts that they secure the hinge of the SP with. But it's like, it's unobtanium. It is like such a pain in the ass to crack one of those apart and not shatter it into a million pieces.

• 19:26Russ Frushtick?

  Is there a device in particular that's like a real pain in the ass to work with, Russ?

• 19:31Speaker 03

  Those SP ones are really bad, like the clamshell ones because of that ribbon cable like like Griff was just saying like it's it's bad. It's it's weird because it's a trade off because those are so fun to take around because a clamshell protects itself. It protects the screen and the buttons. You can just throw it in a bag and so, but that's the one that's going to break the fastest. So it's it's just a catch 22.

• 19:49Speaker 01

  Russ, for yourself, when you're looking at these, the the different systems, like, do you have a a sense in your head of an audience that is just focused on tinkering? Like you're talking about someone who is just like a tinkerer, who is not necessarily interested in playing the games. Do you sense like a bifurcation in the audience where there are people who just want to like fool around with these things and get to understand the works? And then there's a segment that just wants to set up their thing so they can play the games. Do you sense that like sort of split?

• 20:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, totally. Like so my videos are always geared towards the newcomer because I'm just like, you know, if you're just stumbling on this, let's let's start from scratch every time. But there are those guys who are just they're they're in the scene, you know, they're just they're heavy into Reddit and Discord and whatnot. So I make videos for them on the side as well. But hey, here's the setup I'm using right now. And it'll be like a 20 minute video and just kind of talking through the details of that kind of stuff. And I also think that sometimes those newcomers will graduate into those other guys too. And so I kind of try to bridge that gap as well.

• 20:51Russ Frushtick?

  Is it kind of a bummer that because of the speed of the releases, like are you still seeing traffic from older videos? Or does that stuff kind of just fade away?

• 21:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, there's still, especially in like the outside of the Western world, you know, especially down like South America and whatnot. A lot of these devices will get really cheap and then people pick up on them, you know, a year or two later. And so they're they're still getting some good traction. My my big kind of regret is that they come out so fast that I don't get enough time to really live with each one, you know? I'm just moving on to the next one. And so I miss the old days of 2020 when I only had like one handheld and I made 20 videos about it, you know? And it's just impossible at this point to keep up. Instead, I've got a stack of things to review.

• 21:32Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, it does seem exhausting. Quite honestly, I'm kind of baffled that you're able to keep up the pace. You don't feel like you're hitting a wall anytime soon? Like, this is still bringing you joy? Or is it getting a little old?

• 21:44Speaker 03

  For me, it's a service to others. You know, so I just think about, you know, anytime I make a video, like, who's this going to benefit and how can I make that easy for them? And so I don't even think about it along the lines of like, oh, I'm not having fun with this device. It's more about how can I make sure that I unlock the fun for everybody else?

• 21:58Russ Frushtick?

  So I'm right, but I guess I'm going to ask that again. Are you having fun in the production of these videos? Not so much the playing them, but it does seem like a grind as useful as they are to people.

• 22:10Speaker 03

  I don't mind that. So I, you know, I'm retired military, so I'm used to doing crappy things for a living, you know? So I don't really mind that at all.

• 22:18Griffin McElroy?

  And how does, how does this compare to military, would you say?

• 22:23Speaker 03

  You know, it's actually very similar because attention to detail is super important. And I was a linguist in the military, so not like a grunt or anything, you know? And I was a master chief for most of my career as well. And so I was in the higher ranks, working on policies and, you know, that stuff like that. And so that attention to detail just completely carries over to my videos too. So it's really important thing for me.

• 22:44Russ Frushtick?

  You mentioned the brick as the like lower tier recommendation currently. Would you say it's the retro pocket 5 for the higher tier?

• 22:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's the mid-tier for me. So it's like kind of three tiers where I would say, you know, brick is like the good one. And the Mew Flip is really getting there too. Like, I'm really.

• 22:58Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, I'm very excited about that one particularly.

• 22:59Speaker 03

  And then, yeah, the retro pocket 5 and kind of that $200 tier, PS2 tier, you know? And then for the beyond, if you're just going nuts, then that would be like the Odin 2. Or at that point, I'd just say, like, get a Steam Deck because the price point is kind of bridging that. And so it's like, well, you might as well also play PC games at the same time.

• 23:16Griffin McElroy?

  Are you anticipating like Steam OS, the release of Steam OS really just blowing this whole, this whole sort of niche like wide open again? Because it seems to me like. Everything's going to kind of change when you can legally and somewhat effortlessly put Steam on one of these things.

• 23:36Speaker 03

  Uh, it's, it really depends on the architecture. So something like a Retroid or whatever, that's not going to be able to run SteamOS unless they make an ARM version, right? Cause there's ARM versus x86. I do see SteamOS being still kind of niche because you're going to have to flash it yourself onto whatever, like the ROG Ally or whatever. You're still going to have to do that extra effort to actually install it onto your device. So I don't see it really breaking the mainstream, except for that new Lenovo device that's coming out that's actually going to have it already on it. And if they put that in Best Buy, that's going to be a big thing. You know, that's the one thing about Steam Deck is you have to actually order it yourself. There's a bit of effort there, but if you can walk by and be like, holy crap, that's a SteamOS device, then that's really compelling to me.

• 24:14Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. That area in particular, the like Linux to Android divide is really where I get hung up because in my experience, it has seemed that once you set up a Linux device with a custom firmware and it's all done, it kind of does its own thing. And Android, I feel is like constant tweaking and adjusting power perimeters and shit like that. And I, my patience goes out the window.

• 24:37Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 24:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, totally.

• 24:38Griffin McElroy?

  Every time, every time I end up in an Android menu, I feel like I want to get out of it as quickly as possible. Just take me to some other UI, please.

• 24:46Speaker 03

  You're basically putting lipstick on a pig, right? Like you're just taking this like house of cards and stacking a bunch of emulators on top and throwing a front end to hide all of it. And then hoping that all these updates and whatnot are not going to break what you have set up right then and there. Whereas Linux, you can just take that thing offline and you'll never have to worry about it again.

• 25:03Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. Does anyone, is anyone getting close to like solving the Android problem? Like is Retroid's front end coming close or not really?

• 25:10Speaker 03

  No, no one's there. I mean, we now have Emulation Station Desktop Edition, which is a nice, really robust front end. We now have that on Android, but even then that's an effort barrier because you gotta join their page, because they won't list it on the Play Store because it asks for too many permissions. And so they have to join their Patreon for one month only. Then you'll get the code to be able to download it. And that's, again, you're just putting layers of effort into the setup process. So none of it's easy, none of it's simple. I, I prefer the Linux stuff, you know, like the MIUI Mini where you just buy that thing and it already works pretty well and you can update it later if you want to.

• 25:41Speaker 01

  Uh, is there any sense that these, like, the people that are making the platforms will ever come up with tools that make like easier migration and stuff like that? So where like, it's not always a huge pain to switch from one or the other?

• 25:55Speaker 03

  No, I don't see that happening. I mean, so you guys might be familiar with MU Deck, which is like the emulation setup guide for Steam Deck. That developer made something for Android where you basically plug it into a Windows computer and then it will download all this stuff and then transfer it over for you. But even then, he's taking all these disparate parts, you know, like all these different emulator apps that are made by different people, putting it all together with all their set of rules, plus all the layers of security that Android keeps popping on everything. I don't, I don't ever see this being an easy task on Android in particular.

• 26:28Russ Frushtick?

  Last question for me, who, who do you think is currently winning the custom firmware race on Linux? There's a number of options. You got, what is it? Nully and Mule OS and a few different ones. What do you think is doing it best?

• 26:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, I, I really like what Nully is doing, which is basically Batacera, a very emulation station focused operating system. It's been working for a while. It's a Linux based one. But then I also am a huge champion of one called Min UI, which is a minimized like text based operating system. I really love that one because that's the one I actually put on for friends, you know, like I'm going to give them a device. I'm going to put Min UI on it because you cannot break it. And that's the biggest thing for me and it is limited. It basically only caps out at basically PlayStation one. But for those, you know, if I'm giving it to a casual friend, they just want to play Dr. Mario. And so it's like a perfect setup for them.

• 27:15Russ Frushtick?

  If you're, just as like a friend gift, what do you think? The A30 is like a good, like eh, I don't care. It's 30 bucks or whatever it is. Is that like a good starting point?

• 27:24Speaker 03

  I honestly think the clamshells, like this Mio Flip in particular is probably going to be the best one because that clamshell thing is like, hey, when you're done with the game, just close it. That's all you have to do, you know, and that's just such an easy thing to just convey to anybody.

• 27:36Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. The last time I gave someone a gift, I put like sticky labels on the back, like hold start and select to exit the game and shit like that. It's fucking insane. So that's a good point.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  But if they ever become easy to use, then we won't need Russ. So we need them to stay complicated and a pain. You don't want to make yourself obsolete, self obsolescence.

• 27:59Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, Russ, any closing thoughts before we get over to Indiana Jones?

• 28:02Speaker 03

  No, that's it. I think that, you know, the biggest thing is just check out, you know, my channel or other channels and kind of, if you see a form factor that really kind of jives with you, you know, keep going, investigate a little bit more and it's under a hundred dollars is really the place to go. Maybe not jump right into a retro pocket five. Maybe get your feet wet with something else instead.

• 28:20Griffin McElroy?

  Especially because it's an Android device and it's kind of a pain in the, I would definitely, definitely recommend price not being like the first concern. I would say get and get a device that is famously easier to set up because that is the worst thing is buying one of these and then getting it and feeling like, oh shit, I don't know. I don't know how to get this.

• 28:38Speaker 01

  Hey, here, here's a quick question. Just, we were talking about the Odin two and I noticed I was looking at your, the video that you, you had on it is, is over your old now. Uh, October of 2023. Do you have a sense of like a pace of these devices? Like if I'm thinking about making the jump into one? Like, is there a, a pace at which these are getting released? Do I maybe want to hold out for, for Odin three at this point?

• 29:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's, uh, so it really comes down to the chipset. So for example, Ambernic releases a new device every three to four weeks. Like it is all the time, but they use the same chips for the most part. So it's really a form factor thing at that point. Uh, but when you're looking for a generational leap of the chip, then it's usually every year and a half or so you'll see a big jump. So the Odin two portal, which is coming out basically this or next month, has the same chip as that original Odin two. It's just a different form factor. It's really about, you know, what really appeals to you in terms of the power and then the form factor.

• 29:33Speaker 01

  All right.

• 29:35Russ Frushtick?

  Take a quick break and we're going to talk a little bit about Indiana Jones, which we didn't get to talk about in December because of timing.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  And then, uh, so we'll be right back. Let's take a break.

• 29:45Russ Frushtick?

  Indiana Jones.

• 29:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:47Russ Frushtick?

  Let's do it.

• 29:47Speaker 01

  Okay. Indiana Jones is a new game from Bethesda, from a lot of the people who worked on Wolfenstein games. And they've got this new Indiana Jones game, which if, this is a comparison that was immediate to me and a lot of other people, but maybe has missed a generation. And it's not unlike Chronicles of Riddick. It is a first-person, I guess you'd say like, a first-person exploration and brawling game. I wouldn't say it's a first-person shooter. I wouldn't say, but that is about where I'd put it. And that's similar to Chronicles of Riddick, which if you've never played it, was about basically a big prison break.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  And you are like sneaking around through a prison with whatever sort of like hand-to-hand weapons you can scrounge up. It's really good. It was like really surprisingly, kind of shocked everybody how enjoyable it was. And this is kind of similar to that for me. I feel like where I'm really kind of surprised by how closely they've sort of like captured what the, a really good version of an Indiana Jones game might be.

• 30:57Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 30:58Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah, I mean, starting with Troy Baker's performance as Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones is genuinely one of the most impressive, I think, like video performances I've ever seen in a video game or animated feature or anything. It is, you really, he really gets lost in it. And just constantly you will forget like, oh, that's not actually, that's not Harrison Ford, uh, cause he sounds like it. But he also brings his own thing to it. It's not like a, an impressionist that you hired for a birthday party.

• 31:32Russ Frushtick?

  No.

• 31:33Griffin McElroy?

  Like, he, he sells it in a way that is, I think, if you had asked me before the game came out, I would have probably assumed it was like an impossible needle to thread.

• 31:44Russ Frushtick?

  He fucking, there's a moment where you're like climbing up a rope or whatever, and the grunt that he makes is a Harrison Ford grunt. And I have no fucking clue how you do that.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  What really impresses me, honestly, and this is a credit to the technology too, I think, and not just Troy Baker, but like, There are tiny, like, micro-expressions that he does that carry over. Like, for example, there is an upgrade you can get where if you get beat up, you can, and you get knocked out, you can grab your hat and put your hat back on, and then you're back in the fight, you get another chance to do it. But when you put your hat back on, every time, there's like this tiny one-second cinematic where he kind of looks at the guys he's fighting, gives them a little, like, smirk, like, and it, it's, it's every time, it's so small and specific, but it feels like exactly right.

• 32:36Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. Russ, I knew you got into it a bit. What was your initial reaction?

• 32:41Speaker 03

  You know, I played the Riddick game back in the day, but then also The Darkness is the same Starbreeze Studios from back in the day.

• 32:48Russ Frushtick?

  Sure.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  And I, I found that that one is a really close analogy, because you know, you have like those snake whips in that one.

• 32:53Russ Frushtick?

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:53Speaker 03

  Uh, while you're playing like melee, and that's very similar to holding the whip as Indiana Jones, so very similar. And even the vignetting that happens when you go into stealth mode, like, super close. And so it took me a couple of days to really figure that out, but yeah, I really enjoy it.

• 33:06Russ Frushtick?

  Apparently, a lot of the developers actually were from Starbreeze and they came over and joined this studio. So, so.

• 33:12Griffin McElroy?

  It's machine games, right?

• 33:14Russ Frushtick?

  Right. Machine games is, uh, they made Wolfenstein most recently.

• 33:18Griffin McElroy?

  Right.

• 33:19Russ Frushtick?

  And, yeah.

• 33:20Griffin McElroy?

  It, it is truly, um, it is wild to me how often I feel like this Game Bucks, like, modern, uh, sort of game design and world design convention, uh, in order to present an authentic, sort of like, uh, globe-trotting Indiana Jones-esque experience. It doesn't feel, I feel like this game would have been tarnished greatly if it had felt more like a video game at times, instead of feeling like a, like a, a quest to raid tombs. Uh, the first thing you do, really, as Indiana Jones, is you go through, uh,

• 34:04Griffin McElroy?

  the scene of a break-in at a museum, and you have to go and pick up relics off the ground and identify their nation of origin and put them. Back of their display cases and it's so boring, but it's also like cool that like you are, you know, history, archaeology professor, Indiana Jones, like cleaning up a mess. And that's the first thing you do as you're sort of like intro. Well, I guess the introduction to the game is, is the, uh, the introduction to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but.

• 34:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it's also, um, a lot of good performances in it. Um, there's a priest.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  Enrico Colentoni plays from, uh, Veronica Mars and just shoot me.

• 34:44Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, I didn't know that's who that was.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  It's wild, right? It's like really.

• 34:47Griffin McElroy?

  Wow. I know.

• 34:48Speaker 01

  Right? It's really impressive. I had to look it up because I was like, who is this? And it's him. He does great. Uh, he's, he's killer. He's really good on English teacher too. If you guys haven't, anyway, we'll save it for honorable mentions.

• 35:00Griffin McElroy?

  It's not like, I guess the point I'm trying to make is like, it's not like dishonored where you have superpowers and you can like, zoom around. It's like, if, if you see a building and you know, there's a thing up in there, getting to it is going to be kind of slow by most game standards and like sort of, uh, unspectacular. It's, it's, but he's like a guy, he's a human being man. Who likes history and you really feel like the game is, is going to great pains to not make it feel like he is, uh, an action hero, which is like the thing with Indiana Jones is that he gets his ass kicked sometimes and he gets hurt and he's not invincible.

• 35:38Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's, it's, it's interesting because I feel like, I feel like you were absolutely right. And I feel like it was so, such a really like smart and for like way of envisioning Indiana Jones. And here's, here's, and the, I played it. I started playing it the first day it came out and I'm still playing it. I'll check back in on it and I'll play for like another hour or so. And it's like, I so respect it. And this is probably just a comment on me maybe, but like, I, because the power curve has to, has to be tamped down in such a way where like,

• 36:16Russ Frushtick?

  It almost has to be flat, like practically.

• 36:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, like I'm trying to be generous, like, yeah, a hundred percent, man. There is no point where, which he's going to be like, yeah, with two whips, I can really get some stuff done, right?

• 36:27Griffin McElroy?

  Now I can double jump, right?

• 36:29Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's not going to happen. And, and I will admit, there's a part of me that's like, as cool as the things are sometimes. The like, the feeling that I'm like progressing, or it really like, everything you do has to be like, really, really fun and nothing can feel like grunt work because the rewards for doing it aren't good enough, right? So it like, it has to be really engaging and I have found myself for whatever reasons, just like, pretty easily distracted while, while playing Indiana Jones. That's what I would say.

• 37:00Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. What was your, what do you think, Russ? Have you noticed any of that?

• 37:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, for me, it's, uh, I found myself stumbling into the progression of the game where I'm, I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I'm just kind of poking around, pushing on things and then all of a sudden it works and then I'm moving on the next part. But that's very much Indiana Jones, right? Cause he's like that too. He just stumbles into success. And so that, that has actually been something I've really noticed. Like I'm in Egypt right now. I just got dropped into the map and I have no idea where I'm going and that's exactly what he would be doing if he was there too.

• 37:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 37:29Speaker 03

  So I've enjoyed that realism.

• 37:31Speaker 01

  That's very cool.

• 37:31Griffin McElroy?

  I, uh, yeah, I, I really enjoy.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  It really gives you a lot of freedom too, just to pile on that. When they give you a new, new environment, they'll kind of let you like walk around, see, which, which does add to that, that immersion.

• 37:42Griffin McElroy?

  And it's like, I think they incentivize exploration in a way that is like really quite smart. Mostly like, I think it is fun when you find like a little puzzle and you're like, oh, okay. I'm going to do a little, I'm going to do this little puzzle. And the reward is like, you know, uh, whatever adventure points that you could spend to unlock little perks that you find in these books scattered all around. But those perks are not like huge. It's like when you hit somebody with a candlestick, it breaks after three hits instead of two. It's like very, very, very small stuff.

• 38:13Speaker 01

  It is great though, when you find those ones, like, just wait till I find a candlestick. Then you got in big trouble.

• 38:20Griffin McElroy?

  But it like, I don't know. I just like exploring. I like, as soon, one of the first like big areas you get dropped into is Vatican City. And it's like humongous and there is so much stuff to like poke around and find. And it goes against sort of my nature as like what I like from games, which is like heavy progression hooks and like carrots and sticks. And this game doesn't really do a lot of that. I just like. Going around as Indiana Jones, like it feels pretty cool. And sometimes you'll find something that helps, but for the most part, it's just exploring for exploring sake.

• 38:55Russ Frushtick?

  It also has, I think, I can't think of a game that has done melee combat better than this game.

• 39:01Speaker 01

  It's fun. Yeah, the counters are cool. Like it feels, it's very well animated. It looks very natural.

• 39:07Russ Frushtick?

  And just the like, oh, I got spotted. I'm holding a vase. I'm gonna throw the vase in his general direction and hope for the best and then just charge him. That is like such an encapsulation of what Indiana Jones is about.

• 39:17Griffin McElroy?

  I will say, and this soundbite I hope doesn't get pulled out of the context of this show. I wish that they just hadn't put dogs in the game.

• 39:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:27Griffin McElroy?

  Because clearly they were trying to be sensitive to the fact that, you know, there's fascists all over the Vatican. And some of them have dogs that will attack you if you get too close to kind of like mix up the sort of like stealth stuff. But if a dog gets too close to you, it'll jump and bite you and you have to like push him off. But you can't harm the dog. You can only crack your bullwhip to like scare it and cow it sort of to the ground where it will just kind of sit for an idle animation of about 10 seconds before it gets back up and tries to bite you again. And it's such an insane like contrivance where like if a Nazi rolls up on you, you can punch him 10 times in the face. And then that's, he's done. You don't have to worry about him anymore.

• 40:09Griffin McElroy?

  But if you see a dog, it's like this infinitely regenerating like danger.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  And it is also a wild, the implication is also insane. Like the implication is like, well, yeah, you can snuff that out. It's just a human life, but that's a puppers. Like you don't wanna kill the puppers.

• 40:26Griffin McElroy?

  I understand why they did that.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  I'm saying it's crazy to do. It's like the whole thing's wild, man. But yeah, it is, it is wild. They don't stay down. The fact that they come back and they're like, well, fuck you.

• 40:38Griffin McElroy?

  I'm not like hungering for dog violence. Just don't put the dog in the game if you're gonna make it an invincible, unkillable sort of monster.

• 40:46Speaker 01

  It is funny though, or kind of bumping up against is like, part of this game I do feel like is you can meet it. I think you meet it a little bit of the way with role playing. There's just like, you know, you have a pistol. And every once in a while, I will get frustrated enough to like walk up to some Nazis like, hey, I'm not actually a priest. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And I'll walk in and the Vatican does have a very thorough response plan for, for any college professors that walk into the Vatican do that. But it is like, I didn't even fire a shot. I mean, I really, until several hours in, I didn't even use the gun like it.

• 41:22Griffin McElroy?

  I forget I have it. I, I, I will press a button trying to pull out a biscotti to eat it and I'll draw a revolver and be like, what the fuck?

• 41:29Speaker 01

  It made it actually kind of, I'm at a point now where there's a lot more like well armed Nazis. And it makes it, it's a little less like, I don't really want it to turn into that. Like, I really don't want to get into a bunch of gunfights, but it's, I'm feeling like more pressed that way. The more guys I run into with like automatic, automatic weapons.

• 41:47Griffin McElroy?

  Well, that was what was so great about Riddick, right? Is like in Riddick, if you find a sharp toothbrush, it's like, fuck you. It's like pulling the master sword because like what you have available to you is so limited. Yeah. And, and yeah, I think it gets a little bit less special. But it's also like, I think that also accurately reflects the Indiana Jones movies where he is not a gun toting guy. He will use a gun sometimes, but most of the time it's punching and whipping with, with some gun mixed in for seasoning.

• 42:17Speaker 01

  He often uses his whip when he could probably reach with his hand. There's like switches where he's like, all right, all right.

• 42:25Griffin McElroy?

  Just settle down.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  Just take it at your tiptoes.

• 42:29Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, where do you fall, Russ? Are you like fully in? You're gonna actually finish it? Or you think this is more or less what you've played?

• 42:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm gonna finish it. I'm, uh, I'm, yeah, I don't know where I'm at in terms of progression. Probably 30% through the game and I'm enjoying it. I, I wish it wasn't so stealthy, you know? I feel like Indiana Jones wouldn't stealth as much. He would, uh, spend more time bonking people on the head like you can do, right?

• 42:52Speaker 03

  But I, I usually devolve into fisticuffs anyway. Like I just, I'm not good enough at, uh, sneaking around that I get caught and then I just beat everyone up and then move on to the next thing.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  Which is surprisingly effective strategy to just like get a wrench and go start hitting people.

• 43:04Griffin McElroy?

  It just feels wrong. It feels like you're doing it wrong.

• 43:09Griffin McElroy?

  My, I feel like games that dabble in stealth are usually do so pretty wrong headedly and that like if you're gonna have stealth in your game, like have a lot of stealth stuff. Like you get a costume, you get a, a disguise to appear as like a priest while you're at the Vatican. Let me beat up a Nazi and take his clothes so I can go in like the restricted areas. Like, give, give me some other tools.

• 43:32Russ Frushtick?

  Well, you do get a fascist outfit also in the Vatican. So that, that is true. It's not a Nazi outfit. I know you wanna, you personally want a Nazi outfit.

• 43:40Speaker 01

  That's cool, Russ. That's cool.

• 43:43Russ Frushtick?

  I do like for one thing on the stealth thing, like we've talked about a little bit about Dishonored, which is a game I absolutely love. But if you get spotted in Dishonored, you're reloading that save. I certainly have like saved scum my way through those games. And if you get spotted in this by like a crowd with weapons, you can legit run away.

• 44:01Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 44:01Russ Frushtick?

  And the way the AI is programmed, like it's possible to get like escape without having to reload a save. And that is awesome. I wish more games would do that.

• 44:08Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah. Unless they have a dog with them who will pursue you till you are dead. And there's nothing you can do about it.

• 44:16Russ Frushtick?

  Cool.

• 44:17Griffin McElroy?

  Why do you think Microsoft, uh, buried it?

• 44:21Russ Frushtick?

  I don't know that they.

• 44:23Griffin McElroy?

  It's an insane time of year. I, I, I don't think you have to be particularly well versed in the industry to know that releasing a game, you know, a couple of weeks before Christmas is.

• 44:32Speaker 01

  I will say, this is my best guess. And Russ, you're smarter about like.

• 44:37Russ Frushtick?

  Very smart.

• 44:37Speaker 01

  Industry stuff than I am.

• 44:39Russ Frushtick?

  Yep.

• 44:40Speaker 01

  My best guess would be Microsoft wanted to release it so they could say they released it in 2024.

• 44:45Russ Frushtick?

  That was my thinking as well. I think it's a fiscal financial thing. Um, because you're right. Like.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:51Russ Frushtick?

  Right after the game awards, everyone's on vacation. I mean, they, I think they also view this as a game pass game more than anything else.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  If they could have gotten it out earlier, I mean, they probably could have, but I feel like I bet they was coming in really hot and they didn't want to wait another delay, another game pushed out of this year. I think they want to be able to say this came out this year. We released.

• 45:10Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. I will say it doesn't feel like it came in hot. It feels pretty fucking smooth.

• 45:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:15Russ Frushtick?

  Like not buggy, uh, runs well, gorgeous on PC, looks pretty good on Xbox.

• 45:20Griffin McElroy?

  They released it in a way that they, that a company would usually release a game that they were trying to put at the, you know, Friday, Friday at 4:55 PM.

• 45:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 45:30Griffin McElroy?

  Like skip the news cycle, sort of, uh, really taking out the trash as they call it. And that is not this game. This game's fucking good, man.

• 45:37Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. I thought it was really great. Um, and it, it does give me hope for the other stuff they have in development. We have a lot of like Xbox games that should in theory come out this year.

• 45:46Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 45:46Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, avowed and, um, maybe Fable, who knows? Uh, so maybe this, this is an upswing.

• 45:54Griffin McElroy?

  Uh, do we want to do honorable mentions?

• 45:58Russ Frushtick?

  Sure.

• 45:58Speaker 01

  Sure, yeah.

• 46:00Russ Frushtick?

  I'll start. I've been playing a game called Bellatro. It's a card game. I want to mention Bellatro. I mentioned this on the, the Resties, which is a Patreon only thing, but I wanted to share it with the wider audience because I think it's important. I came up with a rule for playing Bellatro on my phone. And I couldn't recommend it more highly to everyone else out there. I cannot start a new run of Bellatro when I'm in my house. So if I'm on the subway.

• 46:26Griffin McElroy?

  Interesting.

• 46:27Russ Frushtick?

  A waiting room or anything, I can start a new run. I can start as many runs as I want. Second, in my house, I can continue and finish the run that I'm currently on. I can't start a new one. Two things it does. One, time management, great for not like sinking an entire night on just playing Bellatro. And two, it makes me play the game in a really interesting way where I know that I can't start a new run. So I'm gonna make the fucking best that I can out of this run, which I think is very true to the rogue-like.

• 46:54Griffin McElroy?

  Is there a daily challenge mode of Bellatro? Cause it seems like that would be hot.

• 46:58Russ Frushtick?

  It does seem like there would be. I know they're working on a content update this year. And it wouldn't surprise me if, I mean, they already have seating as an option. That's the hardest part of that.

• 47:08Griffin McElroy?

  Sure.

• 47:08Russ Frushtick?

  So it seems like they would add it, but currently I think they just have the like set challenges. So that was my Bellatro pro tip for everyone.

• 47:16Griffin McElroy?

  Wow. Excellent. Um, I wanna recommend the Circle France, season one. We were jonesing to watch the Circle. There's a bunch of international seasons on Netflix. I looked up what's the good one. Circle, season one of Circle France was highly recommended. Watched it. Good shit. If you enjoy that show, uh, it hits hard. Everybody plays hard and strategic from day one. And it's a very, very entertaining watch. Uh, I also.

• 47:45Russ Frushtick?

  I wanna know if Russ is a reality guy, reality TV guy.

• 47:48Speaker 03

  Not at all.

• 47:49Russ Frushtick?

  That does not surprise me.

• 47:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 47:52Griffin McElroy?

  I also have been messing around and taking a like beginner course in Godot, which is a game development platform.

• 48:02Russ Frushtick?

  That's cool.

• 48:02Griffin McElroy?

  I did a sort of a similar thing back when I was still at Polygon with Game Maker Studio 2, which had a sort of visual programming, uh, you know, dragging blocks, uh, sort of programming method, which was very accessible to me at the time and I really enjoyed. And I don't know, I've been kind of, I really enjoyed doing that and, uh, but I, but I wanted to sort of check out this other thing. And Godot is, uh, totally open source, free to like download. And lots of games are made in Godot. I can't think of any off the top of my

• 48:35Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, so Halls of Torment.

• 48:36Griffin McElroy?

  Yes, that is the one that I was just playing.

• 48:38Russ Frushtick?

  Really enjoyed. The Golden Idol games made in Godot. There are a lot of, lot of titles.

• 48:43Griffin McElroy?

  It's very interesting. I'm not going to get like super deep into it, but like it is very logically designed and a lot of it really makes sense. And the programming language that it works in is, is sort of designed to be very readable and very user friendly and all of like, anything I know from coding is from like doing Codecademy courses on Python or whatever. And I'm following, I'm finding it's like sort of fairly easy to follow. So I don't have any designs on like making a big game or anything like that, but I, I don't know. It's very satisfying to like have a challenge of like, make it so that when you click this treasure chest, it opens up.

• 49:24Griffin McElroy?

  And then like figuring out the like nine things you have to do in order to actually make that happen. I find that very puzzly and satisfying in a way. And it's free. So the course is not free, but the, the Godot software is so.

• 49:39Russ Frushtick?

  What's the course program that you're doing?

• 49:40Griffin McElroy?

  It's GD Quest, uh, which I think is associated with like some of the dev team on Godot. They have a few different ones. There's like a free one that like teaches you the basics of, of the sort of coding language, the programming language. But the one I'm taking now was something, I forget how much it cost. It wasn't crazy, but it just walks you through making basically like a, a 2D, very, very simple game. So it's very cool.

• 50:07Russ Frushtick?

  Cool.

• 50:07Speaker 01

  I wanted to recommend a comedy called Y2K. It is made by Kyle Mooney. And it is a sort of horror, not really a horror, sort of like a horror comedy, heavier on the comedy. That is sort of like, imagine Can't Hardly Wait or one of those like teen coming of age comedies. But set against a backdrop of Y2K in a world where Y2K was as bad as it could possibly be. And all of our computers and phones and all of our Our technology at the time rose up to try to to kill us. And that is like the the premise of the movie is like you have

• 50:49Speaker 01

  four, five kids that are being like trying to escape this like robot apocalypse. The the joy of the thing is really like it is so evocative of the time period. If you are of a certain age where like you are getting the references and hearing the references, I think that you will really get a lot out of it and enjoy it and get it's silly. It's not super scary. It's not like doesn't have a lot of like huge points to make. But for people who, you know, were teens at that time, it is, it feels like kind of a love letter. And we, Sid and I both really, really enjoyed it. It felt very, it was just very pleasant to see and it felt very nostalgic. So

• 51:35Speaker 01

  we liked it a lot. I know it has gotten some negative reviews, which I I think that if you are not someone who's going to enjoy the the sort of references this is doing and not just references, because it's not like referential humor, but it is very much of a time and of a place. If you if you don't click with that, I could see how you wouldn't love the rest of it, but I really enjoyed it.

• 51:54Russ Frushtick?

  It's interesting because the other movie of his that I saw, which was Briggsby Bear, is like so referential to the 80s and like 80s TV. And it's interesting to see him tackling a different genre. I didn't know this was his movie.

• 52:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's really, really, it's very well done. It's very funny and and it's really smart, I think, and well worth watching.

• 52:13Russ Frushtick?

  Ross, you got anything?

• 52:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, this one might seem kind of predictable, but I've been playing a game and it's a Final Fantasy 16, which I think, you know, is kind of last year's news, right? But what I've really learned about it, I just recently picked it up because it finally is on PC and it was finally at a good price, like 40 bucks or something. And it is a perfect casual dad game, I think, when it comes to just playing an RPG, because there's a couple of factors to it, but one is that you can use like these runes or trinkets, whatever they call them, to basically just spam one button to do all the cool special moves. So you don't have to memorize all of the the button configurations and stuff. So you really Really just mash on X and you can just do these amazing feats. And if you don't care about the mechanics of it, it actually is really satisfying. And the other part is they have like

• 52:57Speaker 03

  these pause context menus. So you can pause any scene and it'll show all the characters and the references and you can go and read up a little bit more about it.

• 53:04Speaker 01

  I do like that a lot.

• 53:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's been really good for me and just kind of like, because I only have, you know, 20, 30 minutes a day and not every day consistently to really play games and relax and whatnot. And that's the one I keep going to because it's just so casually minded, which you wouldn't expect from Final Fantasy. You would think you have to get immersed and kind of like live in it. And this is one of those where you can just jump back in whenever and you can just mash that X button and you're right back at it.

• 53:27Russ Frushtick?

  And what's cool is by 2030, you should be done with it. And then I know Final Fantasy game should be coming out right around.

• 53:33Speaker 01

  And Russ, you were telling me that you streamed that on your coffee maker, right? You set up the pro, the buttons. So the grind is jump and.

• 53:41Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, was that running on Android 13, the coffee maker?

• 53:44Speaker 01

  Now, let's get serious though, for a second. Are you taking care of your hands? Is that something you're thinking about a lot?

• 53:50Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh. It is something I do think about a lot. Like, uh, the way that I hold hand, my hands in particular for filming is not a very natural position, but it looks good on screen and it hurts after a time. So I got to take breaks and stuff. This is kind of back, back of the scene knowledge stuff, but yeah.

• 54:05Speaker 01

  If you've ever seen a first person shooter that zoomed out to show from third person, you'll often see the hands like that because they want it to look normal on the screen, but it's really just hands chopping through the air. That's.

• 54:17Speaker 03

  Right.

• 54:18Russ Frushtick?

  What we doing? Manny's, what are we doing? Keeping those nails clean?

• 54:21Speaker 03

  I take breaks and give my hands rest, you know, and I'll kind of space all that stuff out just to make sure because it starts to hurt my.

• 54:28Speaker 01

  Moisturizing at least moisturize.

• 54:30Griffin McElroy?

  Gotta be moisturized.

• 54:31Speaker 03

  I don't have to do any of that stuff. I live in Hawaii. It's like, you know, it's humid here all the time. So I don't have to deal with any of that crap.

• 54:36Speaker 01

  You think that now you're, you're still, oh man, you better be sleeping in gloves, lotion filled gloves.

• 54:43Griffin McElroy?

  You still, you want to still be doing this in 2080, right? You still want to be, uh, Russ, thank you so much. Again, where is the best place for people to find your work?

• 54:53Speaker 03

  Uh, so my YouTube channel, Retro Game Corps, C-O-R-P-S, like Marine Corps. That's, that's the place to start.

• 54:59Griffin McElroy?

  All right.

• 55:01Russ Frushtick?

  Um, I guess I'll recap, uh, the stuff we talked about. We talked about quite a bit, a few recommendations on the, uh, low end entry point. Russ mentioned the Trim UI Brick, uh, which is a new handheld in the 70 ish dollar range. There's also the Retroid Pocket 5, which is in like the 200 ish dollar range. And then on the high end, uh, we have the Odin 2, uh, which is around $300. Um, and probably is going to change by the time we

• 55:29Griffin McElroy?

  This episode.

• 55:29Russ Frushtick?

  Publish this episode on Friday.

• 55:33Russ Frushtick?

  We also talked about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is on Game Pass and Steam and everything else. Fun fact, the, if you're playing on Xbox and then you switch for some reason over to Steam, the save file carries over. You can actually connect to save file, which is awesome. I've only seen that with, uh, Microsoft to Microsoft stuff. So

• 55:50Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 55:50Russ Frushtick?

  That was cool to see. We also talked about my very handy Bellatro Pro tip for not ruining your life. Uh, we talked about Final Fantasy 16. We talked about, uh, the Circle France Edition, Season One, and a Godot game making course that Griffin has taken called GD Quest. And Justin talked about the movie Y2K from Kyle Mooney.

• 56:13Griffin McElroy?

  Thanks, Chris.

• 56:15Russ Frushtick?

  You're welcome.

• 56:15Griffin McElroy?

  For walking us through that.

• 56:17Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, we also have some patrons I want to thank. Thank you to the following patrons. Thank you to all the patrons, but specifically today, we're going to thank Jason, Christian, Dova Keen, uh, birth name and Harrison. Oh, Harrison, who knows?

• 56:32Griffin McElroy?

  Maybe.

• 56:32Russ Frushtick?

  Could be him.

• 56:33Griffin McElroy?

  Could be George Harrison. Or it could be Troy again, trying to fricking trick us.

• 56:38Russ Frushtick?

  Thank you to all the patrons for backing us. Uh, we have, uh, more exclusive content behind the wall. We have the Resteats episodes, bracket episodes every month, all sorts of great stuff there. So, uh, please

• 56:49Griffin McElroy?

  They're being patreon.com slash the besties.

• 56:52Russ Frushtick?

  Correct, correct. Uh, what are we doing next week?

• 56:55Speaker 03

  How would I have any way of knowing that?

• 56:56Griffin McElroy?

  Next week, we're going to be doing, I'm so glad you asked Russ. It's going to be Donkey Kong Country Returns.

• 57:02Russ Frushtick?

  And it's the second time it has returned, which is just confusing. So it's, it's, but it's coming out on Switch and it's a very good platforming game. So I'm excited to check that out.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  Gonna be going ape.

• 57:16Griffin McElroy?

  That's good, Juice.

• 57:18Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 57:18Griffin McElroy?

  That's good, man.

• 57:19Russ Frushtick?

  You did it. You did it. Ross, thank you so much for joining us. Go over to the Retro Game Core YouTube channel. Good stuff coming out every week.

• 57:28Speaker 03

  Thanks for having me. This is really awesome. I'm honored to be on here.

• 57:32Speaker 01

  Just an hour of happiness. That's gonna do it for us for this week. Until next time, for all the besties, be sure to join us again next week with the besties because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?

• 58:13Speaker 01

  Besties.