Episode 971: Professor E. Gadd’s Mean Bean Machine – Radio Free Nintendo
It’s legally distinct and even if it isn’t Congo Bongo doesn’t give them a lot of leg to stand on.
Getting stranded on an island seems to be a literature trope in all seafaring societies.
I doubt much of Western Liao’s Khitan-language literature dealt with the struggles of sailors – not that we’ll ever know; we can’t read it.
Go look at ancient Greek literature. The sea-fairing people of the Aegean, Black, and Mediterranean Seas included the idea in some of their most cherished works. Both Odysseus and his predecessor Jason each suffered numerous shipwrecks in their respective stories.
It was really the Age of Sail, mass literacy, and the printing press that made dramatic stores of stranded sailors part of mainstream fiction. This tread continues to this day in literature, film, and TV.
It also shows up in video game formats, both literally and also as an architype. Think of Samus, or Olimar. They’re not stranded on an island, but they may as well be. So it’s not surprising that all these names come up with the RFN crew is tasked to construct their island survival team.
It might be more surprising that Jon is the one who really leaned into a team of former marooned space mariners. He constructed a team of experience, focus, and ingenuity.
Greg accepted the conditions as they were; we are told the island cannot be escaped and he accepted this. He opted for comfort and companionship. He drafted a team of man’s best friends. Horses, cats, and dogs. This is about staying sane and saving his body.
James challenged the world. James challenged himself. Jon wanted experience escaping the island. Greg opted to make the island home. James wanted a warzone. Tyrants, malcontents, adrenalin junkies. People who look nature in the face and don’t just challenge – they demand it bend the knee. They each have immense power, skill, and strength but their temperaments are toxic. He believes he can channel this and he is wrong. His island will erupt. Escape is declared impossible but this crew fears no god. They should. It is a lesson Odysseus could teach them, but I’m not sure Raymond Bryce can read.
This week James channeled his inner Saw puppet and asked his colleagues to play a game. He grabbed three Nintendo characters who have never starred in their own games and who have known personality traits to draw from. The goal is to design a game that fits this character. He had a list in the dozens and he used random chance to whittle it down to three. You tell me how to make a game about Groose!
Two Point Elementary School w/ Principal Groose has a ring to it.
After a break, we tackle two email. The first is the aforementioned desert island problem. The other asks us what events from gaming history we’d like to see someone research. You can ask us to research your island here.
That sounds lewd.
- (00:02:04) A silly game about Nintendo characters: James and Groose, together at last.
- (00:29:59) Jon and E. Gadd and some coffee.
- (00:43:08) Greg and General Pepper: ruthless accounting.
- (00:59:03) Listener Mail: A silly game about being stranded on an island with Nintendo characters.
- (01:34:03) Industry stories we would love to read about.
