# [[MFP04 - “Sometimes Your Job Really is to Play a Video Game” with Michael Koczwara]] Transcript This transcription was completed on March 4, 2026 with the application MacWhisper on macOS. This was done automatically, without human input during the transcription process. The transcription used the Parakeet v3 model. My hope is that by offering this transcription – however accurate it may be done by a machine learning/AI – will help you, the listener. I’d love to offer full, proper transcription some day, but that is not feasible at this time. Thank you for listening and reading. I hope you enjoy the show and that this document was helpful. Enjoy. --- Hey everybody, welcome back to the Max Frequency Podcast. *00:00* And I was just sitting there waiting for the right moment for him to get up and get away from this this game so I could go talk to him and introduce myself. *00:00* And it wasn't until I started my website last year that I really kind of came back into it full swing. *00:00* You can optimize them for mobile just like you want them. *00:00* The things that made that game a little more challenging, I think that's a pretty straightforward game, and people who played it probably, you know. *00:00* I'm talking to you now about this because, you know, once again, a publication, I have to stop working with them. *00:00* uh a video game they give you digitally, you download it, you're you're playing it at home. *00:00* And I'm at a point right now with this randomizer where I st I've been streaming it and I I actually don't know what I'm gonna do on Friday. *00:00* So that's mainly why I want to play on computer. *00:00* I think it is worth it to have a community, to have people that you can Well, this is what I end up doing a lot, but to vent to. *00:00* So it's really just those two, Twitter and Twitch. *00:00* Like I didn't get a digital code early, I got the game physically early. *00:00* Uh I'm in a different Discord channel for this podcast network uh that I listen to Relay FM and I'm a member, so I I get in their Discord and they have a games channel and and someone was asking for like Switch *00:00* Like that. *00:00* Uh yes please. *00:00* If I was doing video that would be a different story, but Yeah, that you that would be unusable video. *00:00* Okrine of time, I know pretty well. *00:00* and you know, got the table set up and the laptops and everything and you get to watch these press conferences live with all these people and everyone's just getting so excited and cheering and you know it's it's just all this commotion and and what have you. *00:00* And Friday, Wednesday are those Banjo Kazooie streams where I model the level and people watch me work on it and they give me comments and and tips and it's it's cool. *00:00* I was assigned to that as my first wiki guide project for IGEA and that's where it all started. *00:00* And um since I'm I'm from Arizona, so I'm very close to California. *00:00* I only have like little artifacts from E3 because of uh Logan, my friend Logan Moore, he's gone a couple of years. *00:00* Uh, I think it was Andrew Eason, if you're familiar with him. *00:00* Oh, but it was a lot. *00:00* Part of me feels bad for stopping, but the other part of me's like, well, I wasn't paid for it. *00:00* Ooh. *00:00* I could do it on my own and it just in gener like I'm my origami king guide from last year *00:00* It's IG and they were gonna beat me no matter what I had. *00:00* I I mentioned that to someone and they they said that they used the guide. *00:00* uh to Indiana for like a Christmas vacation break or whatever, and I brought my PS4 with me. *00:00* Sure. *00:00* And that you know, so I have to pick and choose there. *00:00* So it's just this one tiny trophy in my list that's missing. *00:00* uh they compensated me for that extra work and then I helped with the first DLC as well. *00:00* And then I get it. *00:00* So that w those were always kind of the better returns, but you know, Zelda, like Breath of the Wild is pretty big. *00:00* It's not very healthy. *00:00* I don't know if you've ever helped with their Black Friday wiki. *00:00* just like I can't I can't do it this year. *00:00* And I got that email and I was actually at an art show with a friend and Abby. *00:00* Yeah, I think it's different when you're doing something on your own. *00:00* I've definitely experienced that. *00:00* How can you say no to something like that? *00:00* their hitman content was promoted for with someone at that time. *00:00* You dressed up as a witch doctor and like poisoned this person in the Italian level. *00:00* I'll find out. *00:00* Sometimes it's kind of just vague and you're like, I feel like it's done. *00:00* I discovered this person who was selling 3DS capture cards that you would attach to the bottom of your 3DS and *00:00* But I'm I've gone through a a PS TV rabbit hole lately and just figuring out how to get that stuff out to the TV is um *00:00* Was Katsukitty, I think, was in Japan, she was doing a lot of or they, I should say, was doing a lot of it. *00:00* uh that and the Vita, but believe Japanese law like changed the laws surrounding modifying consoles and that had to go away unfortunately. *00:00* If it's not like all uniform, uh twelve eighty by seven twenty, whatever the resolution is. *00:00* I would have a timestamp for myself that I could go back and just find that screenshot rather quickly. *00:00* I part of me enjoys having my first time through playing a game in a weird way. *00:00* So it didn't require me to use my computer to capture, which was great for playing personally. *00:00* Um, there's no music because YouTube copyright is weird and I get scared of that very easily. *00:00* I got time. *00:00* Yep. *00:00* I don't know, when there was like a team effort, it just felt I want to use something besides good, but it felt really good. *00:00* F most of the games I got to do were ones that I personally r was gonna play regardless and like really wanted to work on too, but just I was gonna play no matter what. *00:00* I gotta do or play a game I was really looking forward to early. *00:00* We're just annoyed with the aesthetic and it wasn't challenging and it was just kind of basic. *00:00* And then afterwards, I would have that video file, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour, and I would go through it and write everything down, having the knowledge of everything that's happened and *00:00* I do it all at the same time so that once I finish the level, it's it's done. *00:00* But I'll play for hours at a time. *00:00* I'm just more conscious of my time like I just I can't I can't spend 'cause usually if I remember correctly, it was always like, oh we expect generally two weeks to finish a game *00:00* And now Daniel Dwyer's back on the West Coast, so maybe that failed. *00:00* And it's actually quite liberating because no one's telling me you need to write about this big article because it's gonna get a lot of clicks. *00:00* Uh again, I'm maybe projecting on other people, but how much crunch do you think is really there? *00:00* That does bring in some revenue, low amounts, but over time that adds up. *00:00* I'm gonna do this weekly mobile games column 'cause I I like I think this is an important part of the industry. *00:00* Gaming. *00:00* Yeah and it's in a good way though, of like holy smokes. *00:00* I mean it it already happens, but like the N64 PlayStation 1 era, I don't know how many of those are gonna hold up and continue to hold up *00:00* They were doing what the DualSense was doing just without feedback. *00:00* The N64, the console itself, loading up whatever it needs to load, it's it could chug, it could lag more. *00:00* H how do you as a fan and not primarily a developer? *00:00* This is the thing I stream, so like this is my thing. *00:00* Same thing with uh w what do you call it? *00:00* uh 3D randomizer. *00:00* I was already like blasting away blocks that you could not access until the end of the dungeon. *00:00* Uh I love Tui. *00:00* Because there's a hundred notes in each level, but there's also collectibles that you don't really have to collect like eggs, feathers, and things like that. *00:00* mixing up enemies. *00:00* That sounds really dumb. *00:00* This time I was not in the war room. *00:00* It was a big day. *00:00* And I had I'm in my cubicle at the time and I have to like silently con I had I had to be quiet. *00:00* Because it can be frustrating. *00:00* Six, seven years I did some um Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was technically the first one I worked on, but that was back when I was a fan and was just like *00:00* And we've never really spoken. *00:00* That I currently still run, I have my own website. *00:00* Let's see, it was Paper Mario Sticker Star, uh New Super Mario Brothers You, Luigi's Mansion, Dark Moon, a lot of the like 3DS *00:00* He snagged me one of the Zelda coins from the Breath of the Wild channel. *00:00* a Miyamoto quote about, you know, in rewarding the player that goes left instead of right, probably in a two D plane. *00:00* d when they w the next day when I could play it just started writing doing the first level and somehow I *00:00* And it dawned on me one day while listening to podcasts Beyond that people get paid to talk about video games and write about them and and do this stuff. *00:00* I don't know how it was working, if they had a code beforehand or not, but I was putting things up there, trying out this new capture card I had gotten and *00:00* I start tweeting back and forth with Sam, like how do I do this? *00:00* I guess I would have been just in the end of high school, uh beginning of college. *00:00* in my head, especially earlier on, like one game I did was Until Dawn. *00:00* Um still super early on in my wiki writing deal. *00:00* the idea of being a helpful resource, not so much reporting or being critical. *00:00* uh that whole world speaks to me. *00:00* is just so thankful for, right? *00:00* That was a rough one. *00:00* Yeah. *00:00* I did really well with that and I I think I'm like the second result on Google when you search for that and only beaten by IGN, you know, like *00:00* And that just feels good. *00:00* I don't know. *00:00* You don't know how long it is, you don't know how much commitment is required. *00:00* you know, uh the Korok seeds for example, big big trend, well also big, big, big commitment, you know? *00:00* You can do that in an hour or two. *00:00* And I was in the I was in Skelega and they were like, we really need like this end boss content, which makes sense. *00:00* for a return for myself. *00:00* p pro problem sounds harsh, but we had a new uh a puppy at the time. *00:00* There's been a lot of recent talk about crunch in the games industry. *00:00* The original season three to season eight. *00:00* Ugh, I mean it was fine. *00:00* of what I've worked on in the past of just um you know, cuphead. *00:00* When I beat that pirate boss, I shouted so loud. *00:00* Like sometimes that that there is that happy marriage of personal game time and work and and writing. *00:00* Like I didn't say, all right, time to go. *00:00* For example, one year I did the McDonald's Monopoly. *00:00* uh using their commerce links, that kind of stuff. *00:00* I did that. *00:00* There I'll put a link to it in the show notes, but it was something about like committing psychological torture and I think the victim like it involved of uh their parents somehow, so there was a really bad *00:00* It was really cringy. *00:00* you know, she's done a million videos. *00:00* But here's the thing, someone I'm sure someone looked over your script. *00:00* But man, I just did not enjoy like I had a terrible time. *00:00* Things have changed, you continue, I don't know. *00:00* Sam was interested in having me on because I had my Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion guides and they had these nice images that even they didn't have access to that kind of stuff. *00:00* I guess my favorite part would be I really do like making location lists. *00:00* Uh doing that list, uh when it comes together, seeing a page like that come together, having it nice and easy, have links that uh at the top that will jump you to different sections, the images are nice and clear, locations are *00:00* easily identifiable that kind of stuff uh makes me so happy because I'll I imagine myself as someone who just looked it up is on this page and like how quickly would they be able to get the information they need *00:00* like how to uh get this artifact like answered the the the the raw question answered but it looks good *00:00* And maybe that was just because it made production easier, but uh for me, I I enjoyed that. *00:00* I don't have any of it anymore. *00:00* Well that and that's a cool thing that you did that. *00:00* fell in love with it. *00:00* 4K60 S it's the standalone one. *00:00* You're right. *00:00* So I worked with Casey on Pokemon Sun and Moon when she was still a freelancer, and we were like going back and forth, constantly communicating on what we're working on, and hey, let me help you with this, or vice versa, and *00:00* With sword and shield most recently it was another a lot of people on this guide and we're all working together and I just I love that kind of stuff *00:00* It's good. *00:00* And I was like, why am I collecting this? *00:00* I feel like I got that with Breath of the Wild and the d doing a lot of the deeper side stuff that I normally wouldn't have. *00:00* while I was at my at the at the at the at the time girlfriend now wife's house, um, she wasn't feeling well. *00:00* So I was just flying around the island on my Vita over the internet and I'd pause the map and I'd write the name of the island and like all of the stats or whatever you had to do on the island and stuff. *00:00* The way I used to write my guides, I would play a chunk, say a level or a world or whatever. *00:00* Uh the note-taking is kinda where I is what I would do now. *00:00* And then I'll just stop moving and I'll take notes of roughly the timestamp I'm at in the video and what that was. *00:00* You've done the thing that I didn't slash never could really do, um, which is you you do freelance stuff. *00:00* I would I want to say until about 2016 and that's around the time where I realized hey if you know if I want to get anywhere in this industry I'm gonna have to I have to branch out. *00:00* Um and so from there I started writing for other websites and I started branching into some news and doing some reviews and features and whatever. *00:00* Even just with IGN not even looking at other outlets, I've like just think of any kind of editorial content and I've I've done it in some fashion. *00:00* A lot of these are like one offs with like Kotaku I did a feature one time. *00:00* You know, we're already in the stages of like being accepted or I've already written an article and things have just had to be killed, just circumstances outside my own. *00:00* Uh if that was ever your goal, I don't want to put that on you, but like a is freelance for you? *00:00* I'm just I'm sitting here now thinking, okay, so I'm I guess I'm just jumping to another place and I don't know. *00:00* uh stuff for narrative design within games, there's copywriting for different websites, there's marketing, there's community type roles, and I've been really focusing in on *00:00* uh you know, this was the goal and at the time, uh d again, following Greg Miller's advice, uh maybe too much to a T *00:00* was he had a journalism degree. *00:00* I feel like these media companies still want people there together in person. *00:00* And I see all the stuff that you've you put out and you write, I see your tweets and things. *00:00* you're putting out really good work. *00:00* But I'm also just a little bit different of a freelancer just because I have the luxury of my outside sources to keep an income coming and *00:00* Yeah, I got it. *00:00* But you you, sir, have a big love for Banjo Kazooie. *00:00* failing, doing it over, and just imagining these worlds in my head on my own and just thinking what's beyond the boundaries and what's *00:00* I think it's just such a just such a step up in what uh uh collect a thon can be or 3D platformer, right? *00:00* This sounds really dope. *00:00* Playing on an emulator versus playing on real hardware, the limitations are different. *00:00* And everything, you know, checks out and works, but I did not personally test on hardware. *00:00* Yeah which is totally 'cause the the closest I've gotten to designing a game would be something like Mario Maker, you know. *00:00* So I'm trying to think of some like Super Mario 64 HD, that was like a they created that engine to replicate. *00:00* I'm I honestly haven't checked if uh did you see that Metroid Prime 2D demo? *00:00* Yeah, I s you have this concern. *00:00* Doesn't necessarily mean I'm making something some kind of game or mod or whatever. *00:00* Those Link to the Past, Super Metroid, remix like that stuff's mind blowing because it's it's an idea I personally never would have thought of putting two Super Nintendo games together and then randomizing items across both of them. *00:00* Randomizer is probably not gonna be the best for you. *00:00* Then you throw in the randomizer mix and everything gets swapped around. *00:00* What? *00:00* I just I love being able to play dungeons backwards. *00:00* Because you'll see people post about some cool mod and then you'll get comments about like why don't these people just make their own game? *00:00* they probably should make something on their own. *00:00* Mm-hmm. *00:00* Uh but then I of course own it on Xbox now through uh I actually have rare replay, like the disc. *00:00* Some randomizers let you do that, but that's like chaos edition. *00:00* It's kind of pointless. *00:00* When this happens, the randomizer follows a logic so that you cannot like soft lock or you cannot just end your game because happen chance says so, right? *00:00* additional items. *00:00* So that would actually that would instill confidence in me. *00:00* Look up a guide. *00:00* Playing on the computer, there's some nice tools that let you just speed up the game. *00:00* But, you know, my my Wii, uh the Wii U is currently hopeless as far as so 3DS, just figuring out how to back up *00:00* like a ninety dollar game. *00:00* I maybe. *00:00* Uh is there do you have a soft spot for nuts and bolts? *00:00* The game starts off you're like in Spiral Mountain and you see all your characters and you're in this new big open world and you get to the first level and they're like race to that bunny over there with this car and it's every time I get to them *00:00* Uh I'm just like I kind of look and I maybe I might even smile. *00:00* Come on. *00:00* Um, but thank you so much, Michael. *00:00* So I'm glad we're talking after six years or seven years or whatever. *00:00* Plug away, my friend. *00:00* We'll we'll see how that pans out, but for stuff that's actually consistent, I am on Twitch. *00:00* you know, what I'm blogging and writing about over there. *00:00* discussion like there is now this is the first time after what like six, seven years? *00:00* How do I do this? *00:00* Just b orange fire and blue fire. *00:00* that little picture pop up everywhere in every every wiki all over the place. *00:00* I've never I've never talked to another wiki person besides the actual IGN people. *00:00* Until last year. *00:00* I I was there with my friend and I was saying like oh there's someone I want to go talk to I know who this is you know I admire their work and blah blah blah *00:00* kinda pushed me into that situation to talk to him and that's exactly what I did. *00:00* made a blog at Go Left Gaming, which is still up there. *00:00* this guide and he puts me in touch with Andrew and I'm helping out with that and I'm was 2014 I would have been *00:00* Mobile was an in uh a place they were experimenting with with wikis and they didn't have a lot of people, so that was good. *00:00* Which was perfect place to start. *00:00* be paid to make money for this. *00:00* I don't I I don't want to say I respect myself enough because it's it's a different you know what you're worth. *00:00* I don't know, you're just so grateful for everything and you're just so happy for these opportunities that I totally agree. *00:00* I'm halfway through this game. *00:00* And I definitely would not do that now. *00:00* Record or maybe it was the IG I don't remember. *00:00* I in a weird way, I feel like I was one of the people that saw, hey, Celeste's gonna be really good and popular. *00:00* And then you're like, how do I do this? *00:00* Whew that game. *00:00* One of the things I think for writing for a big site is when a game comes out, especially bigger-ish games, when they first come out, there is a rush. *00:00* To trend on Google, to generate more clicks, which generates more you know, it's a business. *00:00* at the time weren't paying or paying very little. *00:00* A very tiny paycheck. *00:00* One of the the better ones for me on just the financial end was the Witcher three. *00:00* thing and this puppy needs my atten it was two things pulling at me and I was just like, come on, come on. *00:00* I guess compelled to do that. *00:00* Um and he was getting further than I was. *00:00* 'Cause, you know, that's what Black Friday had turned into and and still kinda is to this day. *00:00* And I remember Thanksgiving Day and the day after and just being sucked into they need me to do this like *00:00* on me and my family that year and it wasn't fair to myself and them. *00:00* to like play that game. *00:00* I mean, I've maybe you I've had the same thing. *00:00* You don't stop. *00:00* Yeah, Sam wanted to do it one year, and so I I did it. *00:00* I didn't go all the time. *00:00* Do you have stuff like that? *00:00* Was it during Star Wars celebration? *00:00* Rounded up people to help create new new wikis for new announced games with just like stub articles *00:00* It f I think it was really bad. *00:00* I think by the end I I had a grasp of how everything worked and how what to tell people to help them *00:00* Think of Monster Hunter on a little tiny screen like that. *00:00* Not so much in everyone else's book. *00:00* I mean it would like hook into your game. *00:00* And then they send it back and you just plug it in and it works. *00:00* Fascinating. *00:00* the community there uh the the people have figured out a way to basically stream the three DS screen to the Wii U. *00:00* where they talked they went to Japan and talked about three uh uh try got one his three DS modified and then shortly after that uh that business shut down because of the loss in Japan. *00:00* video output. *00:00* Y I'm I'm with you. *00:00* And if the answer is pretty quickly and pretty easily and they can understand it, then great. *00:00* While telling that information and it's clear and communicates it, ugh. *00:00* I'm a hundred percent sure different in the way that we do things. *00:00* my particular capture setup, uh I would just record along chunks and I would write in a notebook what I was doing *00:00* I just like being able to find what I'm looking for quickly. *00:00* I don't have any of my footage. *00:00* I wish I could have kept some of that stuff, but obviously you can't because it's just it's so massive. *00:00* Part of me thing wants to know what would happen if I took that video, put it back into to Final Cut, and then slowed it down five thousand percent, like what would happen uh to the video quality and detail and stuff. *00:00* Uh I'm sure it would just be absolutely cracked. *00:00* I've never talked to another freelancer about this. *00:00* guide work like this. *00:00* How do you uh do this thing with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mortal Kombat? *00:00* Um, but no one I know has done the full scale of it. *00:00* One of the big highlights through I wanna I have to count, but I'm pretty sure I've done minimum 50 full guides over the course of smokes six or seven years. *00:00* Throughout since 2013, I've been a part of the Pokemon guides every every major release, starting with X and Y, and then what is it? *00:00* I've always looked for something more. *00:00* But then you sometimes a game is just so good or so special or you really enjoy it that you come back to it and it's still *00:00* Hold this sounds sappy, but like that magic. *00:00* incredibly tight platforming controls and just a a heartfelt story and a great world and I think when *00:00* Your job really is to play a video game and that always made me happy when it turned out that was really what I was getting *00:00* my hate for this game because it usually goes one way or the other. *00:00* Yoshi's New Island, that 3DS game that a lot of people didn't like. *00:00* Uh so that that made it worse. *00:00* The mission structures were so similar that I just I didn't know what to write about anymore. *00:00* justify that purchase. *00:00* And I'm recording at the same time, so I'll do the thing. *00:00* I guess I was doing what you used to do. *00:00* Oh gosh. *00:00* Never happened. *00:00* news and reviews and all sorts of articles for different outlets or did wikis kind of come in the middle? *00:00* Uh and all within that I was trying to just expand my experience. *00:00* Oh man, who else have I written for? *00:00* And then more recently I've been writing for a website called Venn. *00:00* Two weeks ago. *00:00* Your job, your freelance work, your contract assignments, they are not there to last forever. *00:00* Where could I take my games media experience and talents and fit somewhere a little more stable? *00:00* drawn to and now with this most recent like oh you're out of work again I'm just really honing in on that and looking looking to see what I could do to make steps *00:00* for a bit. *00:00* To live in very tiny spaces. *00:00* for a year or two over here. *00:00* being in person with everyone and and knowing your team and working together. *00:00* That was also kind of part of why I I stepped away was I needed to figure out personally just what I wanted to do and how I could do that. *00:00* um like some places typically require. *00:00* Maybe I put up a good front, I don't know, but well, uh if I may, sure how how *00:00* uh put out a lot of quality work, I think, and it sounds like you've you're you manage your time well for yourself too. *00:00* keep me financially stable. *00:00* I have lots of opportunities to be like daily news, just constantly outputting news, but I didn't I didn't have to, so instead I chose to do *00:00* They were daily, right? *00:00* I don't know what else was Metroid time. *00:00* But it was just there were a couple of anniversaries coming up that people were talking about. *00:00* I actually don't remember if that was the case, but it did have an anniversary recently, and I think it's just cool to be reminded about these games and just to remember like, hey, that was actually *00:00* A really long time ago. *00:00* I wish I I wish I had this pulled up to look at, but there were a couple of anniversaries that I thought, whoa, I thought that game was like ten years old, it's only been like four years actually. *00:00* Hey man, some of those games will never die. *00:00* Um I even just I just played Paper Mario for the first time uh through the Wii U. *00:00* And it was f I like it. *00:00* See, I feel like adding a D-pad for maybe puzzle D does not cut it. *00:00* Not an Astro. *00:00* in addition to it being just a really solid collectathon, 3D platformer, right? *00:00* I think comparatively to something like Super Mario 64, which which is really great too, and plays differently as well. *00:00* Um so I love it for all those reasons and today I love it especially because I *00:00* things like that. *00:00* edit objects and import your own levels, I became very involved in that scene and and I still am to this day. *00:00* It's kind of banjo is part of my life at least once a week and it has been for years and years. *00:00* Childhood Michael, if you could have told him at the time would have been like, hey, someday you'll be able to m actually make your own banjo levels on the computer and it probably would have blown his little mind. *00:00* the ocarine of time ROM and you know patched the whole thing and played it and it was so much fun. *00:00* Yeah, so the answer is probably it'll work, but it needs to be tested and then optimized if you actually want to focus on hardware. *00:00* These mods are they are you have the base game and you create a patch that will add and change things but you're not actually making something *00:00* download this patch file and apply it to Ocarina of Time. *00:00* No one's gonna go after you because you made a patch for something. *00:00* so quickly. *00:00* Yeah, so like that just gives you a little bit more confidence in in making sure that it's not all going to go down the drain, right? *00:00* make new ones or new experiences and things. *00:00* Just and a few years ago I found out like Metroid Fusion has this the Japanese version of Metroid Fusion has a hard mode that the US didn't get. *00:00* But the English the English script is in the Japanese game. *00:00* Yeah. *00:00* in the the Great Deku tree and you can use that, but y it's just I love the concept of that. *00:00* Most of the water temple and forest temple. *00:00* that's your own out of it. *00:00* that the creator of AM2R actually now works at Moon Studios and was working on Ori and the Blind Forest. *00:00* That's kind of a really it worked out really well, sort of in the end for for them. *00:00* It's not a stable condition, but I don't know how that one would work. *00:00* I never owned Banjo or Tui for the N64. *00:00* The one I actually really played the most was Grunty's Revenge on the Game Boy Advance. *00:00* I just I I I'm having trouble remembering because the idea of a randomizer is really well, you can correct me if I'm wrong. *00:00* where an egg collectible might be so that would make it kind of different but beyond that I don't know you you probably have to focus more on like *00:00* Or gear type of thing. *00:00* when you compile your randomizer for the first time and you create your your seed, your version of the game that's unique to you, these items that have been randomized that it's actually random and you're not playing a version that somebody else is playing *00:00* The answer is somewhere. *00:00* I might might have something happening with GameSpot. *00:00* Say it right again? *00:00* What was it? *00:00* And it was you just got to circumvent a lot of the lines and the busyness and and all sorts of things like that. *00:00* Um so I had started going to E3 in 2012 and I would go I have since gone every year since until you know *00:00* And I believe that was the year where they they had like a media hour where one hour before the show floor opens, they let media into the Nintendo booth. *00:00* Email him later and ask about wiki work and I think by it would have been August or September when the Wonderful 101 came out *00:00* It's you know, for the longest time it's probably been a lot of people's dream to go, not just as a fan, you know, but as someone in the press. *00:00* newspaper that they did for that. *00:00* Uh your your story actually isn't too far off from mine, except for the fact of meeting him in person, in the sense that *00:00* I kinda it dawned on me one day I was working at a Kmart and I I used to work stock, like, you know, putting things on the shelves and organizing the stock room and when you're in the back of the store I'd I'd listen to podcasts. *00:00* And uh one thing that Greg Miller always said on that show was start your own website, you know, get in front of a camera and do all this thing. *00:00* threw myself out there and said, hey, please pay me if that's an option. *00:00* we recognize that this is the amount of work, this is what I'm getting paid to do, and you know, as amazing as it is to be able to write about games and to and to guide people, like I really love *00:00* b getting a lot of uh traction even when they launch. *00:00* I I was fortunate enough to do God of War uh 2018 and I I remember getting the email that I had gotten a code early. *00:00* And before the game came out, I had just replayed God of War one through three. *00:00* I wanna do this and get this done and be the best. *00:00* especially I really struggled with that kind of balance and then I I took a break for for two years of from like podcasting and and writing *00:00* This is so random and I love that you did this. *00:00* Coolest slash funniest things I've done was Monopoly. *00:00* There's never like a point where you just you're officially done. *00:00* to see Super Mario 3D World on the TV, which is fun. *00:00* Something going on in in Japan. *00:00* I don't want to use 900 Koraks as an example. *00:00* Oh I put I put the whole game. *00:00* I just I I like when it's a big wiki, when it's a collaborative effort. *00:00* Which one would it have been? *00:00* When that love of game because sometimes, you know, people always say, Oh, your job is to play video games. *00:00* I'm playing you know, you get a you get a code early. *00:00* There there are those games where it's there are parts that are so repetitive and you you're trying to think of how can I reinvent the same thing. *00:00* I I felt like that with Dying Light, there were these just statues to collect. *00:00* while she was awake, comforted and just hung out with her and spent time with her, but when she fell asleep, I just I'd use my Vita for remote play. *00:00* Whatever. *00:00* I do one thing, I move a couple of steps, I play for one minute, and it's back to typing. *00:00* Uh but yeah, that's my process now. *00:00* uh something to cut off on the end to like fade out of so I'm not just standing there at the end. *00:00* Watch I guess yeah, I'd watch the video of what I was doing and write out that process of just where to go, what to do, what to expect. *00:00* That's you're you're definitely handling the use of your time much better than I I ever did. *00:00* Full time, right? *00:00* What else what else do you write about? *00:00* doing things for social. *00:00* So if I'm not doing that, then I'm freelancing. *00:00* more toward what you would expect out of a journalism degree today with with the media and TV and things like that. *00:00* Which is super unfortunate 'cause it seriously was one of my favorite things throughout the year so far. *00:00* Okay. *00:00* To see that I don't know, Dante's Inferno is having its fifteen year anniversary this year. *00:00* things and I don't know, I always look so fondly back on the N64 and we'll Oh me too. *00:00* I don't know. *00:00* Please tell me about your love of Banjo. *00:00* Like w what could be added to this game? *00:00* I'm very interested, and I don't want to say involved, because I'm I do a lot of lurking, but I'm a huge lurker of N64 mods and hacks and *00:00* Are the things that you make on the computer in your banjo tools and stuff, is that playable on real N64 hardware? *00:00* I could be totally off base here, but I feel like because Microsoft owns Banjo, maybe they're a bit more lax about it than Nintendo. *00:00* a little more supportive of things like this. *00:00* There are people out there remixing, modifying, changing games to *00:00* You get the gumption to be like, I'm gonna do this. *00:00* With your own unique work. *00:00* I don't want to say band is linear, but I would say it's Well, I don't know. *00:00* Early as well. *00:00* I think that's why I like controllers so much. *00:00* This is when like when I said I played Paper Mario and I used an adapter to play with a real N64 controller. *00:00* Well, in Banjo's defense, for at least the Xbox versions, well they are the X they're the Xbox Live versions, so they are you know technically they're Xbox Live games. *00:00* no longer in the realm of impossibility at that point, but it was still a really big deal when it happened and it Oh yeah. *00:00* Um nuts and bolts. *00:00* I think we've been doing this for two hours now. *00:00* worked adjacently together for at least a few years at IGN when we did wiki guide writing stuff. *00:00* I used to always see uh Michael has this icon uh that he d had on IGN and it's actually his icon here on Discord of like some fire and *00:00* writing wiki guides because I feel like a lot of people use guides but don't necessarily know how they're made and how they come about. *00:00* doing wiki guides. *00:00* era games. *00:00* Junior high, high school, something in that range. *00:00* I somehow, again, because I wasn't paid for that, I I just put them all on my YouTube channel. *00:00* Well thankfully I didn't end up on that. *00:00* There are some there are some guides that I really probably did more than I should have for it. *00:00* I either go to bed and just restart it in the morning or I go get some Red Bull and I play it I get back to where I was and I got the Red Bull. *00:00* ignoring, you know, friends and a and family, like, sorry, I gotta do this work. *00:00* I realize this is probably a bit much, but like I did I helped with Red Dead Redemption 2. *00:00* Mmm probably could have waited, or some way they could have given it to someone else, or whatever, but um I've done my fair share of probably giving too much to *00:00* just you know, writing for other people in general, not just wikis for IGN. *00:00* Because my friends were there and it was a way in and like I got to go to my first packs through them, which is great. *00:00* It is. *00:00* unne n I don't know about unnecessary, yeah, unnecessary stretches of work that that we just feel *00:00* And I would also cover the season launches. *00:00* So I did a Black Friday one year. *00:00* But you know, I want to do my very best and I push myself to do that and I've for a long time in college *00:00* I don't know if I'm pretty sure I finished it. *00:00* unscrew the bottom of the 3DS, attach this extra capture card on, uh, has a little USB output thing. *00:00* Yeah, being able to capture especially odd or not odd, odds hard, not the right word, uh difficult hardware or difficult games definitely makes it more enticing. *00:00* had slash have at the time. *00:00* One of my and the inverse of that is th one of the saddest things is I just don't have I didn't have the external hard drives at the time and so *00:00* I I maybe starter just wanted to kind of compile everything into one large video, low quality, and then upload it somewhere just so it exists. *00:00* Man, this is it's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. *00:00* Just coordination feels good, like having a clear direction. *00:00* Thankfully, ironically, I don't know how you want to look at it. *00:00* So I got to do the story, frankly, at my own pace, and that felt really good. *00:00* Because it's so interesting. *00:00* That was just so silly and fun, and I just kept going from Island. *00:00* I've in my I I do almost what you so I guess I'm taking notes while I play. *00:00* And then I would sit down and just go, uh, Fafnir's Horde. *00:00* But like how did you become like a regular not a regular, but you know, a freelance writer? *00:00* It's always you're always walking on thin ice. *00:00* So I feel like I'm going into a whole different direction. *00:00* Or are you still um I don't know if you ever were working towards just finding one website and being there as a writer, editor, whatever? *00:00* is the the road to go where I want to go and yeah I do want something full time I want some editor position you know that's all that stuff has been the goal *00:00* months now, or at least not months, at least a year where I've been I've been looking at other parts of the industry, you know, it's not just games media. *00:00* What I could do to lead myself in that direction. *00:00* those courses vanished. *00:00* uh the industry as a whole is in California. *00:00* Is this really what I want to do or is there a way I can do this remotely? *00:00* That maybe everyone doesn't need to be in an office in San Francisco to do this kind of work. *00:00* But what are we really reporting on and writing about? *00:00* Um I've never watched, like I've never done a TV review or anything like that, but as as far as I understand it, you're given like access to a screener website. *00:00* Freelance is not f sist it's not dependable. *00:00* do anything for it. *00:00* I saw I think this I think this week Link to the Past had its twenty-ninth anniversary, which just *00:00* There are some good criticisms to to be had. *00:00* It do you I have so many questions because recently I've dipped my toes into like the world of mods and just things and playing them. *00:00* by one of your tweets uh last year mentioning um Zelda the missing link this *00:00* uh this fan game for but like uh what was the idea it was set between Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time. *00:00* More fog, uh yeah, I'm sure. *00:00* Not fair to say, but just how do you design for like a 3D space and doing that? *00:00* I I haven't checked if that's still up or not or if Nintendo has come and said take this down or else. *00:00* Well okay, so to acknowledge what you just said, yeah, with Microsoft I I I am uh less worried. *00:00* Well, by people who no longer work everywhere, but you know, it's not a good thing. *00:00* That honestly playing something like Ocarina of Time Randomizer sounds daunt. *00:00* almost all the settings so it's I'm at a point now where I just I don't know what to do. *00:00* Is this on your like for Ocarina of Time, for example, you're playing the 3D version. *00:00* It's funny that I'm about to say this because I'm playing a randomizer, but I don't like wasting time. *00:00* Just in a video game, if I have to redo a whole section because I died at the end, like that stuff will drive me bonkers, right? *00:00* First of all, I totally get not wanting to redo things. *00:00* There's still a part of me, and maybe this is loosening up, because I recently, like earlier this year, kind of went on a *00:00* It's the thing I actually own and I I enjoy that. *00:00* real hardware versus software and stuff, because I just it tricks my brain into thinking it's more real, even though logically I know it doesn't matter if the game is the game, like use what you want to use. *00:00* And I don't know, I'm I'm not really that person. *00:00* Connect with people. *00:00* That's at uh that's at my username Super Zambazy uh Z-A-N-B-E-Z-I, and that's the same thing for my Twitter *00:00* Uh for those listening that want to see more of my work, you can head over to maxfrequency. *00:00* But go go as far back as you would like. *00:00* That that's awesome. *00:00* These wiki guides are th things and they seem fun, and I'm thinking, how do I do this? *00:00* All those things have mentioned, yes. *00:00* And so I'm playing this game and it's decision-based, it's constantly saving, you know, that type of situation. *00:00* One hundred percent. *00:00* person for this and then actually funny story they really wanted me to get to the final boss *00:00* And I I just feel um I feel more comfortable saying this. *00:00* So someone else wrote that, like that was being handled by someone else, but personally I never got that trophy or experienced that part of the quest. *00:00* Just because that game is so bad. *00:00* From well, I wouldn't sleep all night. *00:00* Hard i yeah, really hard. *00:00* There's a push man and it it's weird. *00:00* I definitely did more than I probably should have. *00:00* So I did the first three episodes of that. *00:00* Ooh, I just I could not get into that game. *00:00* I've seen uh even on the wikis like the and I understand not everyone has access to all sorts of capture cards or even the programs or whatever, but sometimes I see images that were *00:00* We're not taking directly maybe a video is playing on your screen and you kinda have to crop like crop it out of your desktop and that's your image and like that stuff drives me crazy. *00:00* Gathering all the images and renaming files and uploading them and inserting them into the wiki, that's really that's a very turn your brain off kind of moment. *00:00* When a page comes together, there's just a feeling of I did it. *00:00* With timestamps, and then I could go back into the video and if I was looking for like in God of War, uh, Odin's Raven number twenty-seven. *00:00* But it's a lot of uh I had a lot of fun with that. *00:00* Done that and maybe that's my million dollar idea. *00:00* positive, not the most exciting to talk about. *00:00* Yeah, but when I worked with Casey on God of War. *00:00* That freelance lifestyle of just bouncing around from publication to publication with pitches all over the place and *00:00* I never did freelance full time in a capacity like you. *00:00* I don't know, I guess well first off, I I don't feel like I even do that much really. *00:00* Oh man. *00:00* It's s so my first, I guess, train of thought to try and keep this organized in my brain *00:00* Well, the nice thing here is that and I just want to make it clear that this is all like for fun. *00:00* more of a like a a legal problem, but I think it's actually the opposite. *00:00* That size I don't think before I really before last year I really hadn't thought about it a lot in this sense of *00:00* fat I'm like ex I'm discovering a whole new world. *00:00* What a perfect fit as far as just that genre of uh a Metroidvania and going to actually work on arguably one of the great modern Metroidvanias. *00:00* Uh to t to be fair, I've not played uh the blind force, I've only played Will of the Wisp. *00:00* items banjo would mix up on you. *00:00* saves and games. *00:00* But I have now, you know, digital copies of all my DS games with the save data, all my Game Boy games with the actual save data. *00:00* And I've honestly I've looked up ways to hook up an N64 controller somehow to an Xbox. *00:00* Right. *00:00* I saw you have the banjo amiibo and I have it. *00:00* I have one one little minor minor minor gripe because the whole thing's beautiful. *00:00* Imagine if we had done this so much sooner, we could have had some of that coordination we were talking about earlier that we enjoyed so much. *00:00* I remember seeing Sam Claiborne from IGN. *00:00* It's it's a job. *00:00* I don't know how this works. *00:00* It's a separate layer of the this side of the work. *00:00* No, so I I did my own. *00:00* To get as many pages up as possible that cover the top hits, secrets, trips, tricks, the trials, you know, all that stuff. *00:00* Yeah, I I know what I'm worth and I know what a guide would require of me *00:00* I should probably be compensated for that extra work. *00:00* Unfortunately, as freelancers, we just don't really know how to or are too scared to say, hey, like this actually is gonna be a lot more work. *00:00* And when I look at a game um that I'm working on, let's say uh I have like my list here and kind of scrolling through of *00:00* That was kind of why I talked to Jared Petty about the Hitman Go one at the time because recording on the iPad um was easiest if you had a Mac, which which I *00:00* Which then would allow you to capture it. *00:00* But p yeah, I I've always wanted to capture like the th the the three D S and D S have always eluded me as capture. *00:00* But it's I thought I had f I had a lot of fun with that. *00:00* And whatever, the whole thing. *00:00* My desire has always been to be a part of some kind of team, some kind of group, you know, freelance life as much as I've enjoyed my time in it. *00:00* Also it's it kind of is liberating when you're playing the game because at least I th *00:00* All very good questions. *00:00* And I really my moment for me, uh, to go on a slight tangent was in college. *00:00* You can't necessarily rely on it all the time. *00:00* 50% like 60-70% of it is just this was my childhood game. *00:00* No-ish, but probably no. *00:00* of your like you're not making a brand new game. *00:00* I'd love taking something that you know so well and either creating something new out of it or reinventing it in a way that makes it interesting again. *00:00* And I would go to their house and I would play. *00:00* My interest drops so quickly. *00:00* I don't get excited too often. *00:00* During actually happened three times. *00:00* Uh and I happened uh to be the one that did Celeste back w um when it launched, I guess *00:00* I'm out of I'm that's where I'm at with that with Igin wiki. *00:00* It's something I think about doing sometimes too, like finding a game and and doing a guy, almost doing like a guide for myself in that way. *00:00* It's weird because there's a there's a compulsion and desire. *00:00* Playing uncharted, you find your little treasures, whatever, and you put the scatter them through the the wiki, right? *00:00* That was just me playing the game before The Last of Us Part Two came out. *00:00* Yeah, the the little map detail thing. *00:00* Over a year. *00:00* We've probably been a little m more negative than I even really originally intended. *00:00* The technology is there now for those childhood notebooks full of ideas to come to fruition. *00:00* But so what I was saying earlier that this might sound a little silly, I as far as my streams go, and as far as like this project that I'm working on *00:00* You know, that point of why don't these people just go out and make their own game? *00:00* a mission to back up all as much of my video game save data as possible. *00:00* And I like having some sort of immortalized digital copy of my actual physical game, not just something I googled online and and pulled from the internet. *00:00* It's more what's the word? *00:00* I just I find it interesting because we don't really look inward and look at some of the things we do for media and there is a lot of like extended *00:00* And I I don't know if you feel the same way or if you've done that for yourself in any way, but people gotta figure out this balance. *00:00* So they helped me workshop it a bit, but I there is a video out there with Naomi Kyle uh saying a really bad joke that I wrote. *00:00* Do you remember exactly? *00:00* I mean those can also be fun in hindsight. *00:00* Outside of another company you get to like stylize the everything, the the graphics, the whole layout, it doesn't have to fit in the wiki format. *00:00* Um All the tedious stuff, the very um like getting the images and this is I'm going into what I don't like apparently. *00:00* It I don't the only pressures were my own and it just that stuff feels good. *00:00* Florida Florida versus California. *00:00* I can't afford this and it's not just me. *00:00* Trying to figure out where you fit in that space. *00:00* Yeah, you would go and just celebrate anniversaries of games and things that came out. *00:00* It's in your i I I know now. *00:00* You know, this this engine, this Banjuzue engine, is not mine. *00:00* It sounds almost like a just like a legal gray area that they don't uh companies don't seem that aggressive about pursuing. *00:00* I'm just I'm creating banjo levels. *00:00* I wish they would acknowledge Metroid. *00:00* Um like how do I go through the torture of it all or how did I find No, not how you find it, because I feel like that's just a Google search away and sinking your teeth in. *00:00* reproduce on I don't know if reproduce is the right word, but like replicate. *00:00* D is there a a banjo randomizer? *00:00* really sunk my teeth into banjo i in my adult life because it's on Xbox now and in my head I just can't get over the fact that it does it's not an N64 controller. *00:00* I I yes, I'm especially some of the guys that we overlapped on, like in Iff *00:00* Did you do uh Origami King? *00:00* It's just I guess not to get into too many details, but it's not as financially it doesn't make a sense financially to uh to write guides for another website when *00:00* I always liked logging my so I'm sure our processes are *00:00* I feel like slightly to lean back to the the negative side just for a moment. *00:00* Exciting times. *00:00* That that was part of what was interesting to me about Missing Link was it wasn't go here and download our game. *00:00* Stoked were you when Banjo was announced for Smash Bros. *00:00* hard uh shift there. *00:00* Uh that's the only but yeah, amibo's great. *00:00* Didn't do any guide work there, but once I started to branch out beyond just covering Mario Party, I started to include guides. *00:00* I'm I'm so close to the platinum too. *00:00* And I feel like that would be a good platinum to have. *00:00* reduced like the that product doesn't really it's harder to get that now. *00:00* Oh no. *00:00* Um, so there were a couple, I think this year in particular there's a lot of anniversaries with Zelda floating around and *00:00* The resolution will be a lot worse and um that's kinda just a given, but in terms of *00:00* And my friend who is a lot more is extroverted the right word? *00:01* Working for free, payment, things like that. *00:01* If you can capture it, it makes it even more enticing. *00:01* It was never done in Twitter. *00:01* So I actually get this question a lot from people. *00:01* Yeah, you're in better company because Microsoft seems slightly more chill about it. *00:01* What what am I supposed to do? *00:01* See it in person or see it in video form. *00:01* I So no, I don't think I I thrive on freelancing. *00:01* I feel a little more comfortable working at a developer or a studio, or I'm assuming here. *00:01* So when I found out that Banjo Kazooie was going to have a modding tool released that will let you *00:01* Like this enemy should not be in this world, but here it is. *00:01* I've since stopped doing that mainly for time-consuming reasons. *00:01* I was playing Spider-Man, but even then I'm not sure. *00:01* 2020. *00:01* Yeah you can be I'm very picky about that. *00:01* There's so much good in it. *00:01* And then immediately did some Twitter stuff and then immediately talked to my friends and just was in shock. *00:01* I'll get on that right now. *00:01* You you don't really take breaks. *00:01* Like this is your job, not just guides, but freelance riding, correct? *00:01* Um and that was because Logan Moore was an editor there. *00:01* I would like on Twitter I would say, hey, these are the anniversaries for this day, just to keep it relevant. *00:01* Or hey, it's not as long ago as you thought. *00:01* I've o maybe it's my ignorant child brain, but I've always loved the N64 controller and have never had like qualms with it. *00:01* But I I always like the N64 controller. *00:01* Uh then these ROM hacks, these mods, it's just it's a different it's a different mentality, it's a different approach, and I think that's what keeps them alive *00:01* I've been going through all the grottos, I've been doing the minigames, the gold sculpture tokens. *00:01* Maybe I just have to trick my brain even harder. *00:01* And then I was always thankful to do a a Telltale one because that had a a set rate per episode. *00:01* It's not good. *00:01* So I do wanna I feel like I've been generally negative about this whole process. *00:01* I will take this. *00:01* But but that's a use. *00:01* Game facts, they have like uh here are the anniversaries of the day uh list and I was looking through that I just thought it was so cool to *00:01* In some regards. *00:01* But in banjo, if you learn a move early, well, that move's not relevant until World Seven, so *00:01* It could be a frustrating industry and it could be very challenging and you can put yourself down a lot. *00:01* Uh the the the floor is yours. *00:01* I really looked up a lot of stuff online for strategy and and things like that. *00:01* It's not that the game's broken like I hit a dead end. *00:01* And they had some of enough budget in the freelance uh to hire me and they brought me on board and my first game was supposed to be uh Dragon Age Inquisition. *00:01* Yeah. *00:01* Cause these games, especially the bigger ones, I think, like, you know, uh sure we've done I'm well, I'm sure both of us have done games that are probably not *00:01* Maybe the Korox seed stuff started to wear on me a bit. *00:01* How do I how do I download this? *00:01* It was a g I remember that. *00:01* And they obviously they understand and there are other people that are willing to do the work or or can and are content with it. *00:01* I can relate. *00:01* But also at the time I had gotten a new capture card and so I wanted to play with that. *00:01* What do you call the triggers? *00:01* It's it's absolutely worth it. *00:01* It's just that I was getting so sick of it, just having to do it every week and cover every event and c cover every new set of challenges that were for winter or for Halloween or whatever. *00:01* Or did you always work on like real s good serious games? *00:01* And she said it. *00:01* Oh no, I don't feel bad. *00:01* Uh unfortunately in games media or any media in general, things are not stable. *00:01* If were they daily or weekly? *00:01* And now it's really expensive to get those games on the system and I'm Yeah. *00:01* It's just not Yeah. *00:01* I was just watching on my own. *00:01* I I don't have anything f I wish I had something like Monopoly. *00:01* I think it was Sun and Moon. *00:01* I just remember I'm just I see the name. *00:01* I did like a Snapchat feature one time and in 2019 I was managing their homepage. *00:01* ASM ASMR two, the Metroid another Metroid Two remake, yeah. *00:01* I'm just gonna do it. *00:01* And so I I wanted to reach out to you, Michael, uh to actually get to know you and talk with you because *00:01* I want to keep saying Days Gone. *00:01* Yeah. *00:01* Yeah, I'm trying to that that's definitely happened. *00:01* And it's hard to put into words. *00:01* I'm always scared when I'm about to do a guide is I'm wondering, is this going to amplify my enjoyment or is it going to amplify my *00:01* And in my head this makes sense. *00:01* So I have this backbone that allows me to focus on the writing content that I want to do. *00:01* Yeah. *00:01* So I if I that's why I put homebrew on my 3DS was so I could copy all of my DS games. *00:01* Whoops. *00:02* You have to do it. *00:02* Now you can look back at it and I mean you probably will never look back at it, but just knowing it exists, it's that's cool. *00:02* I think I have some friends that have done guides in the sense of buzzfeedy click style articles of *00:02* So then I got put into co I got the degrees, the long the short version of it. *00:02* Well, to me that sounds right, actually. *00:02* Um I got so into I forgot what I was my point was. *00:02* So whenever I got to experience that in the wiki sense, that was always uh just a really cool experience and I I had something similar with that. *00:02* And so that's why I kind of that's probably why I use the word thrive, because you seem ac you're excellent at it. *00:02* Uh so I have like my website and those guides that I've written. *00:02* What games use the D-pad? *00:02* That you've actually been not only you went to E3 once, but you've you had been going for years. *00:02* It's maybe eight, nine o'clock at night, and I'm like *00:02* We feel that must be done. *00:02* Oh, that never happens. *00:02* I know w where all the items are located. *00:02* If they have these creative ideas and can implement them, they should try to do something on their own. *00:02* Nope, that sounds great. *00:02* I actually have the Spider-Man paper frame. *00:02* But so I did the full story in this the straw the first round of strawberries. *00:02* Yeah. *00:02* I don't remember. *00:02* And watching Death Stranding at like 5,000% speed is pretty hilarious. *00:02* I think it feels good. *00:02* So that one's tricky. *00:02* And with Mario Party Legacy, it was successful enough that I was able to get myself some press tickets to E3. *00:02* And then one night or I guess it was a day, I emailed Sam just kinda out of the blue and said, Hey, is there an opportunity like how can is there s way I can *00:02* It's not a Korak commitment, but equal levels of trending, right? *00:02* Same things with um have you heard of Agents of Mayhem? *00:02* There's no purpose to this. *00:02* Like I said, you have ascended. *00:02* I don't I really love this whole world. *00:02* This was a blast. *00:02* That's mainly where you'll find me. *00:02* I'm not quite maybe you can tell me the origin of the picture, but this is this ball that kind of meets halfway in the middle with these colors, and I would see *00:02* It's called Mario Party Legacy. *00:02* And I thought, I want to do that. *00:02* Sure. *00:02* I would agree. *00:02* Most recently with sword and shield. *00:02* And I I don't remember you were bringing up your process. *00:02* You just never know when things are just gonna go poof. *00:02* I would say that Thrive is a very it's it's a big word. *00:02* Yeah. *00:02* Uh you know, I f I finished my commitment. *00:02* But yeah, I've written for those websites and I I do a whole bunch of stuff. *00:02* Which yes. *00:02* There's just something different about taking like a childhood game, taking a Zelda, and making something. *00:02* I'm just gonna write the guide for Donkey Kong. *00:02* I would say I will do this in the morning. *00:02* Oh yeah, I wrote this. *00:02* And after that I I didn't do a a a commerce like Black Friday one again. *00:02* It is. *00:02* My thought if I see any of this stuff, I just go download it now, worry about it later. *00:02* It really just escaped me. *00:02* And the thing with Zelda is that if you the if you get an item early, you might be able to access a different location. *00:02* But there are people who play on hardware and it's it's more authentic that way. *00:02* And I mean I'm not saying that that's not how like there's that eagerness is maybe not as extreme. *00:02* I'm like, I could have done that. *00:02* It was something like psych like psychological torture or s like it was along those lines. *00:02* And so that made it a bit more enticing. *00:02* It's not all negative, I promise. *00:02* Do I want to be there? *00:02* I see your posts and stuff and you and you stream, but how did this just stem was were wiki guides first and then *00:02* That sucks. *00:02* It's uh that that stuff's good. *00:02* They have such a long name. *00:02* Well, almost a year. *00:02* What what's the what's the name for them? *00:02* Not vertical, but it's the lines are just very 90 degrees. *00:02* So I've gotten back into writing guides on my own website and it's I think this is part of like the know your word thing because I just I'm at a place now where I *00:02* Um you know, but now I kind of feel like *00:02* Not healthy at all. *00:02* It might this might have been like a around Black Friday. *00:02* Like I no none of my friends that also write uh video game news or for websites and stuff have really done *00:02* And that game was a hoot. *00:02* So I have a really big video file. *00:02* I've seen some Banjo Kazooie mods that were like retweeted or liked by *00:02* That's another name I haven't heard of in a long time. *00:02* And the tricky thing with guides is that sometimes you just don't know until the game's out. *00:02* You know, they're probably one cringy hitman joke probably didn't make an impact on her life, but it certainly did on mine. *00:02* So I wouldn't attach it. *00:02* That's terrible. *00:02* And it wasn't just me anymore. *00:02* And then you're out here running around without a sword, but you have this hookshot that you can't use, but you also got the lens of truth. *00:02* I haven't finished Jabu Jabu yet. *00:02* So I played it as a kid on the N64, mostly Tui. *00:02* And then uh follow me on Twitter at Max Roberts143. *00:02* But that I uh that's kinda how I started. *00:02* Maybe it was the IGN wiki Discord. *00:02* Yeah. *00:02* That's not very fun, but it was different. *00:02* It's incredibly laggy, like it's not um feasible for production purposes or even like game streaming on Twitch or something, but it is kind of cool. *00:02* You wouldn't know there's a Metroid anniversary though. *00:02* What's cool is that you take this game that you know so well, that you love, and that you could quickly breeze through on a normal playthrough because you just you know it all *00:02* And so in my head, I do always enjoy running off real hardware when I can. *00:02* It's yeah, it's really but you know like I still I benefit from that to this day. *00:03* You know what you don't know what trends are going to need to be covered. *00:03* I really just have to beat it on the hardest difficulty and collect all the cards *00:03* And I at the time and this is a personal this is a personal uh *00:03* It's it's unclear sometimes. *00:03* That actually reminds me, uh we brought this up earlier about your process. *00:03* Like you can't trick me with this banjo game and then throw me into a racing game. *00:03* I don't think so. *00:03* And I was like, come on. *00:03* Uh it was a one-year experiment for them, um, but like I would go to McDonald's. *00:03* And I just I've eternally felt bad for that. *00:03* That's all I remember. *00:03* Um it's unlisted video. *00:03* I know that so I tried playing it twice and it I'm sure it's a great game. *00:03* And heck, I've gone back and used my own guide. *00:03* I was just up all night until the next morning, um, just getting everything in as quickly as possible. *00:03* It just it never clicked. *00:03* I'm just sitting on it. *00:03* I have like a whole list. *00:03* Yeah. *00:03* Like you what can you do with that? *00:03* Oh that's what we're that's what we're there for, right? *00:03* But in my my brain, it just doesn't feel real *00:03* Like one of the cool experiences I've had working with IGN is that *00:03* Oof. *00:03* Have you done that before? *00:03* I don't know if I completed all of it. *00:03* How did you get capture on the 3DS? *00:03* I want to do that with more stuff, I think. *00:03* Um is it okay if we talk about some things that you know that that we had a great time with guidewise. *00:03* How do I play this? *00:03* People like this, cool. *00:03* I don't know. *00:03* But anyway, the w it turned into obviously a much bigger thing and game with other things outside of the main quest. *00:03* And my roommate at the time, he bought it just for fun on his PC. *00:03* What um do you have like a funny guide you've done or f guide story like I *00:03* No. *00:03* I I can't think of one. *00:03* I had like notebooks of ideas for new levels and the whole thing. *00:03* That one's a little tricky. *00:03* Beautiful. *00:03* Please tell people where they can find your work and all sorts of stuff. *00:03* And suddenly we're we're DMing back and forth ideas for the design of this *00:03* And you know, I understood that going in. *00:03* I don't know if you had a chance to work with Casey, for example. *00:03* Journalism is what I should get. *00:03* Yeah. *00:03* Same thing. *00:03* I'm modeling them on stream. *00:03* That's the thing. *00:03* Financially feasible to go out and buy these things. *00:03* When banjo was announced, I I'm pretty sure I like audibly yelled something. *00:03* I was at my desk, um, you know, had E3 on one monitor and work on the other. *00:03* Go left gaming. *00:03* Like I did Metal Gear Survive. *00:03* Sometimes I work too hard on personal stuff. *00:03* I dreaded it every time I had to boot up that it was on a 3DS by the way, so *00:03* I don't want to do the long list. *00:03* Like Celeste, I've played three, four times, and it's still such just a wonderful game with *00:03* I still get s excited when I get review codes. *00:03* Like we talked about, having that cohesive teamwork when you're working on a project. *00:03* Yeah. *00:03* Depends on what. *00:03* Like do your two loves cross over at all? *00:03* Nice. *00:03* It's just. *00:03* Oh my gosh. *00:03* I did I got Cyber Shadow early. *00:03* Doesn't matter what the game is. *00:03* I really thought that was gonna be a moment that proved gaming could happen outside of the West Coast. *00:03* And then I thought last year, with COVID and everyone working remotely, that that would also prove *00:03* And it sounds like you've been in this world for a while. *00:03* Well, okay, so randomizers first off, I love randomizers, but they only work for games that you really you know. *00:03* I don't know if you want that. *00:03* So, I mean honestly, that's really kind of the main th one thing I wanted to talk to you about was our stories *00:03* That is not the name of it. *00:03* Yep, episodic. *00:03* And or do the best I can, not be the best, but this isn't Pokemon per se. *00:03* And so uh just being able to talk about that with you, you know, probably unearthed a lot of the *00:03* It works. *00:03* It's a certain point you're just like, I get it. *00:03* I I just want to say it's honestly it's probably my favorite amiibo. *00:03* Okay. *00:03* Uh but yeah, in 2013 I was in the Nintendo booth. *00:03* You just it all relies on you and you feel like I like there's a sense of *00:03* You just you you keep going until it kind of I don't want to say until it fades or until you fade, until you're done. *00:03* So I got sucked in to actually help write scripts for one of their like tips shows. *00:03* But toward the end, I really kind of found a system that I enjoyed where *00:03* I I would have to have like dozens and dozens of terabytes to keep both. *00:03* I just remember doing these quests and thinking, why am I doing who's what is the point of this? *00:03* So the anniversaries that were included were daily, but the column was weekly. *00:03* That's that's how I approach some puzzles like in a game. *00:03* It was 2008, so whatever that was for me. *00:03* Yeah. *00:03* I it's just something really nice about providing a page, uh a help guide that somebody greatly benefits to from and *00:03* Like I I don't know if you keep your your raw footage and old stuff, but I *00:03* I I don't often find that it's just my experience writing a guide is the same as if I played it normally. *00:03* I you know speaking of Dan Sixty Four *00:03* Really the only fan-based projects I ever really thought of were translations. *00:03* Three times I got to go to their war room during E3 where everyone's there. *00:03* Of my own fault. *00:03* I'm actually I'm very bad at social media and I try. *00:03* Um they didn't as far as I know, maybe they did. *00:03* My worst wiki, and I always say this whenever anyone asks me, was my Monster Hunter 4 wiki. *00:03* Yeah. *00:03* For Red Dead, I wasn't on any of the story content. *00:03* And I act I really when Danny O'Dwyer moved to the East Coast and did no clip *00:03* My favorite's the GameCube though. *00:03* Yeah, I love it. *00:03* Um it depends how far you want me to go back because I could go I can go way back. *00:04* So all of season eight completed and like oof. *00:04* It was so great. *00:04* And then do you remember when Hitman the f I guess the reboot of Hitman was actually episodic? *00:04* Exactly. *00:04* But if you kind of delve deeper for guide purposes, I that ended up helping a lot. *00:04* It's written and I have it recorded for the screenshots, not doing video. *00:04* Get this I'll go get this red coin. *00:04* So it's it feels like a stepping stone to somewhere else. *00:04* I no longer remember what the question was, but here we are. *00:04* I'm looking at you, controller. *00:04* I do get excited, but I have my own way of showing my excitement, so I'm not, you know, sh hollering over here when something happens. *00:04* Nice. *00:04* Like my perspective has changed on that. *00:04* Uh and I still have it, and the barcode is like punched out on the back. *00:04* So like the Witcher actually turned into like a substantial guide, not j both just in work, but *00:04* But it's the one that you can just plug in and it records right to an SD card. *00:04* I did it June of last year is when that video was published. *00:04* Oh right. *00:04* It's really scary. *00:04* Banjo didn't really have items, right? *00:04* Uh mixing up maybe moves, that would make it too complicated. *00:04* I forget exactly when we started. *00:04* I really had a ton of fun. *00:04* That's fun. *00:04* It's a balance of personal like I have a desire to do this. *00:04* It's it's one of my favorite like I did that stories. *00:04* It's not like they Oh they did. *00:04* I had to send my 3DS in to some guy in Utah, the guy that was doing this, and he would *00:04* And that makes me feel good. *00:04* I I needed kind of something to occupy my brain. *00:04* I actually ended up liking that a decent amount because I had to find all the collectibles and I was able to focus in on *00:04* And so when you say that you're looking at different aspects of the industry or where you can go and fit in, I get it. *00:04* Resident Evil was coming up. *00:04* Yeah. *00:04* So I got, you know, an N64 emulator on my computer, found uh *00:04* I'm sure that'll just boost boost performance perfectly. *00:04* It is possible. *00:04* Kazuwara. *00:04* It focuses on the Mario Party series. *00:04* But it it got me to it got my feet wet. *00:04* And actually, it's the only game I ever got mailed early physically *00:04* I was doing Fortnite. *00:04* You know, Abby's a part of this too. *00:04* This is this is a modification. *00:04* That one might be a little frustrating. *00:04* That's just like a mega drop of season. *00:04* I I'm gonna have to you'll have to send a link. *00:04* Um I so I'm still thinking of anything that's fun. *00:04* And this could be the you could this could be your test run. *00:04* Video games, movies, TV shows? *00:04* You are modifying an existing game. *00:04* Like I got into the fire temple and I already had the the hammer, so *00:04* Joining me this time, Michael Kazwara. *00:04* That's awesome. *00:04* And so that that became my goal going forward there from high school and stuff. *00:04* wordpress. *00:04* I'm just trying to think which ones were like that for me. *00:04* Oh, did I? *00:04* Oh yes. *00:04* Uh but then on the other end of that, there are games, you know, like you said, that really it enriches your experience of digging in deeper and *00:04* It's just like, why is this extra arm that the left the left arm that no one actually ever held *00:04* Analog? *00:04* Um, and it's and I do recognize that this is *00:04* No. *00:04* It's a six hour drive. *00:04* Um not on the the media side. *00:04* But if you could really capture 3DS or Vita *00:04* I recently f put homebrew on my my 3DS and my Wii U and part of *00:04* Like I can't do that. *00:04* So I'm for I've worked I've worked with her on that and *00:04* That's where it is. *00:04* Well it does sound right, but also w it it's crazy that we still talk about that game and hold it up in such high regard. *00:04* Okay. *00:04* Ha ha you know, the only time I ever see that stuff is at a GDQ. *00:04* So if I have to run across high roof field, I just click a button and I'm zipping through and I don't have to do that whole thing. *00:04* Controllers give are the physical way you connect with the game and there's a level of *00:04* No, so origami king. *00:04* You know? *00:04* I know what you're talking about, because I've definitely had it where like when you get into that zone when you're working on something and things are just going they're just hitting just right *00:04* That's actually really cool, I'm jealous. *00:04* Okay, well number one, I wrote that's a lot of nice things to say. *00:04* Well they won't die, but they might like well anymore. *00:04* Which that was another wild thing when I felt that on the DualSense for the first time. *00:04* Well, I well okay, so you have to understand that *00:04* So when I create something, I test via the computer. *00:04* So, you know, I I th I've looked for into that and how to do that on my own and this stuff just seems *00:04* I I love this stuff so much. *00:04* It's good looking. *00:04* Um someday I will go back and replay The Witcher 3. *00:04* Uh every time I turned it on just nauseous. *00:04* I even actually used remo this was maybe in hindsight this was unhealthy. *00:04* I might even let that out. *00:04* He was just he was there playing a 3DS game. *00:04* The Witcher I started out ended up kind of really being the main quest *00:04* Yeah. *00:04* But covering the dragons in that game, that was so much fun. *00:04* Yeah, there was a my life in gaming video. *00:04* Did you say that that's how you used to do it or how you currently do it with uh the note taken and organizing? *00:04* You're in the next plane of wiki mastery. *00:04* And if you do rely on it all the time, you've got to have a ton of ideas. *00:04* And then there's my the YouTube channel that I have associated with that, and that brings in a lot of revenue and I really don't even have to *00:04* Uh a couple of like the inverse. *00:04* Uh but so like when you say like am I a developer? *00:04* Actually. *00:04* I'm ho have my fingers crossed. *00:04* I guess uh the first one I was paid for was uh Tales from the Borderlands and Dying Light. *00:04* And that's just it's hard. *00:04* But then that's where the my timestamps come in to help me trim it up and spit out whatever video I need. *00:04* That's interesting. *00:04* Um and you made me feel old a lot. *00:04* And it's interesting because you would think that that would be *00:04* And it turns out it was. *00:04* For the most part, your work is there in some form of perpetuity in in as far as the internet can go, I suppose. *00:04* Um so please t share w the stuff you love. *00:04* I started writing for the Hollywood Reporter. *00:04* tv. *00:04* I really my freelance was IGN and I I did dual shockers. *00:04* I know where w what the general structure of every temple and dungeon and where the minigames are and things like that. *00:04* I just I don't have access to it yet. *00:04* com if you name rings a bell. *00:04* Now of course in the back end, IGN already has a writer. *00:04* You really just gotta play it twice. *00:04* I don't know how that happened. *00:04* And I told them, I was like, I got got a war. *00:04* Um, but when I got home, I was so excited, you know? *00:04* And if you're writing a guide for it, that's that is bad. *00:04* I did the final boss, so is that is that it? *00:04* And that was also under my own website, and I didn't have I mean I had the deadline of embargo, but I didn't have *00:04* Mm-hmm. *00:04* I'm not That's correct, yeah. *00:04* Your website has a big picture. *00:04* Yeah. *00:04* Oh, oh wow. *00:04* They have a structure. *00:04* Is that on your 3DS? *00:04* Perfect. *00:04* And then I Brendan Graeber, who writes wikis over at IGN *00:05* I'm the one that needs to be good at this game. *00:05* That's awesome. *00:05* Um the Sapienza. *00:05* And I liked organizing that information on my end. *00:05* You you have ascended, my friend. *00:05* I don't know, but you've you've definitely have developed a much slicker, faster process, it sounds like than what I would uh what I was doing. *00:05* Actually not terribly far. *00:05* It's when people create actual fan games and engines with IPs that are not their own. *00:05* Uh it was very exciting. *00:05* And I you know, when they asked the following year I just declined. *00:05* So I'm just I'm trying to scale it back. *00:05* It was me and Abby. *00:05* None of this actually really requires us to live in California. *00:05* I've I you know I've written for Dual Shockers and I've I did my fair share of commitment there, maybe overcommitting to stuff and they *00:05* I needed to take a break and kind of check myself. *00:05* I probably should just list it for kicks and giggles. *00:05* Like, you know, very I mean, honestly, that would be a page in a wiki at IGN. *00:05* Um not just with those are fun. *00:05* And videos, I love making videos it's for that stuff. *00:05* It's it it so yes, but *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* It's not it's not like it it randomly put what you need behind a spot you can't get to. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Um Th there's never a well, actually sometimes there's a now you're done, but *00:05* So hopefully, you know, that community could keep going because 3DS capture as far as I'm aware is kind of like *00:05* I love it. *00:05* To me you look like a machine and a and a good one at that. *00:05* Like I see I see other people in this industry and they just they pump out stuff, quality stuff on a regular basis. *00:05* Windwaker's how old? *00:05* You'd have to remind me because yeah, exactly. *00:05* I do indeed. *00:05* I've completed the Spirit Temple and the *00:05* And I th th that depends on the individual and w what they really want out of this. *00:05* And so I'm trying to play a game that involves R and G and like I have to commit to it until I get the certain monster quest *00:05* I can't do the camera. *00:05* Oh no. *00:05* Some sort of action to fade out in the editing process for the video. *00:05* Um have plenty of pitches that *00:05* We need to talk about more and it needs to be spotlighted more. *00:05* I'm making cool ideas *00:05* And d I w I never played nuts and bolts. *00:05* I don't know. *00:05* So I've I've known about Michael for a long time. *00:05* I introduced myself, uh chatted for like two minutes, and we exchanged business cards, and from there I was able to *00:05* I'm like, where was this strawberry or how do I get this? *00:05* I did a whole list of Star Wars toys, like old ones, new ones, where can you buy them? *00:05* So I was writing for CGM magazine, I was doing news for them for a while, and then I was writing for *00:05* The people that were there when banjo was being made. *00:05* I did that the first first thing I did was break those blocks. *00:05* I I could have waited till I got home maybe. *00:05* Uh Michael is a freelance writer, and him and I have actually *00:05* Okay. *00:05* There's like this side of just of being aidful and just *00:05* And that's just always there's a part of it, even though it's a wiki and anyone can go in there and change things and add things, which is a whole *00:05* I think that yeah that makes a ton of sense, especially bigger games like that. *00:05* The whole thing. *00:05* Um and at the time UCF's journalism program really went through a lot of changes. *00:05* Um, you just have to change some of the hexa really. *00:05* You're at the start, you're in Kokiri Forest, and you go to the chest where the sword's at and you open it and you actually get the hook shot and you *00:05* At least I have a desire to like deliver the best whatever I'm working on, the best guide, the best story. *00:05* I didn't do the the spin-offs, but I I did one through three. *00:05* There's always something extra. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Oh, sure. *00:05* I was like people are out here making this stuff? *00:05* So I don't I don't want to take up any more time of your evening tonight. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* And that made it suck so bad *00:05* I can't wait to see what devs do with that controller this this generation. *00:05* To me that sounds hard. *00:05* How do you even approach that? *00:05* But I played it because neighbor kids had it. *00:05* Either way, someone was saying that they were gonna play Celeste for the first time. *00:05* It's unfortunate. *00:05* I I was part of the sometimes during E3 they *00:05* And if I had ever met Naomi, I would apologize. *00:05* It's it's weird. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* But when you make a list and a location list of all *00:05* I think that would be a funny Honestly, that's probably a really funny video series that would work out really well, and I just haven't *00:05* I d I don't I I'm doing a lot of thinking this month and I don't I don't know if that is something I want to do. *00:05* Like if they're cranking out that much w you seem to have *00:05* In the sense of they went cartridge-based and the limitations that provided and *00:05* That's my favorite controller of all time. *00:05* Yeah, and I This is gonna sound a little silly after everything I just said, but for *00:05* Me too. *00:05* I stream every Monday, Wednesday. *00:05* Um, this horror decision based game. *00:05* Yeah, because uh uh when you're first starting out you're so you're so willing to just do everything. *00:05* Mm-hmm. *00:05* I don't know if you've done it. *00:05* Even things like I've seen *00:05* Like it I don't know. *00:05* Yeah, that's that's me. *00:05* That was my that was my console. *00:05* I played this non-stop. *00:05* Uh you're going to *00:05* Because you are just creating a patch *00:05* And just to make it clear, when you do these randomizers *00:05* Yeah. *00:05* No, yeah, and it's same stories. *00:05* Um it wasn't like this huge cost thing to to go, minus hotels and all that. *00:05* Please let me do that. *00:05* I just go back and I type and I just *00:05* Unfortunately, not writing for them anymore as of *00:05* I understand there's a level of serendipity and just *00:05* And I the other day I saw you were streaming Ocarina of Time *00:05* I'll throw links to the uh both of those in the show notes so people can click and check that stuff out. *00:05* It is so good. *00:06* That was rough. *00:06* I just get in this zone of *00:06* Oh what? *00:06* But I went to McDonald's and we'll like get a Coke. *00:06* So I would just every time I played Death Stranding, I recorded it. *00:06* I would say that that is not my thing. *00:06* Well, it's in your Twitter uh bio if I remember correctly. *00:06* I still look for 'em all the time. *00:06* And then I did all the videos for Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. *00:06* And there's a push. *00:06* Or it could be just a a simple trending page on Pokemon where how to catch this one specific Pokemon. *00:06* I did Fortnite wikis from *00:06* I love that. *00:06* And sometimes you want to say, no, I I do this, this, and this, but sometimes *00:06* Just go a little bit back to *00:06* Yeah, yeah. *00:06* Like I knew the guy and he brought me in and I knew a couple other people on staff as well. *00:06* And so I I I chose to *00:06* Uh not at that time, but I knew it was this year. *00:06* It's just a cool fun thing that I'm doing. *00:06* Uh I gotta walk here or I gotta do this again. *00:06* This one's more curvy and more exaggerated. *00:06* Come on, Sakurai. *00:06* And so I only did the first four worlds of that game, but I also wasn't paid, so I don't *00:06* Maybe I really forget why they didn't give it to me. *00:06* But go ahead. *00:06* It's not a fault of theirs. *00:06* Oh I did cup head. *00:06* And I realized what that did *00:06* I'm looking at 25 hours. *00:06* There's still just uh absolutely *00:06* Uh Yacht Club was ever so gracious to Yeah. *00:06* Mm-hmm. *00:06* Um I will go back over a decade ago. *00:06* Like I I did it well. *00:06* Yeah, and I I it's not weird because I I relate to that. *00:06* Sun and Moon, yeah. *00:06* And I I develop a shorthand usually for each guide so that it's quicker on that end. *00:06* Is this like the life you you like to live as far as writing goes, or is this still just means to an end? *00:06* Okay. *00:06* Cause I'm trying to think of what *00:06* Well, I think that was really kind of everything I specifically wanted to talk about and we've *00:06* Of all things, the Mario Party series. *00:06* Right? *00:06* Oh Sha Sha it was when Sean Finnegan was there and and Destin Legary. *00:06* But I think I did Mad Max. *00:06* But you know, guides aren't really the only thing that either of us write, and you actually *00:06* I remember you were talking about, you know, Mario Party legacy. *00:06* This is true. *00:06* Um looks really great for the N64. *00:06* Uh but Will of the Wisp was incredible. *00:06* I've been trying to find everything and it I don't know what else to do. *00:06* Do you do you play these on real hardware kind of to tie back to your your mod and stuff? *00:06* net uh and check that stuff. *00:06* But I'm really pushing it. *00:06* I remember *00:06* Um I remember *00:06* I have to find like the direction. *00:06* It's almost like a video diary of just how I approached it. *00:06* Yeah. *00:06* And I don't think that has panned out as quite well as I've hoped. *00:06* I mean, for those listening, you whipped up *00:06* That's probably partially why I haven't *00:06* I am shocked that it took us this long to talk in person. *00:06* I don't remember how long ago you started, but that's kind of my range. *00:06* And I went *00:06* Well, I mean for the most part, yeah. *00:06* It's the the Elgato *00:06* I was fortunate enough to meet, you know, my wife and *00:06* And I'm uh you're in airs I don't know what that the living like price wise is like in Arizona, but *00:06* Well actually, yeah, it's pretty far apart. *00:06* And Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was coming out for the Wii U at the time. *00:06* It's usually the media that's, you know, really going after the the devs and trying to investigate what's going on there and condemn all that and *00:06* There wasn't this rush to to be at the end, so I really gotta soak up Red Dead, and that *00:06* What happened? *00:06* That's why I I prefer to use the word modification over hack. *00:06* I did and I was like, oh no, this is a fan game. *00:06* I still need to find Ruto's letter to get past the Zora King. *00:06* It's like there's a reason, there's a solution here somewhere. *00:06* I think that's a that that's a whole different discussion is *00:06* I've I've even and this is *00:06* Sometimes you *00:06* And *00:06* So what's your favorite part of making a guide? *00:06* I have maybe fifteen guides on there that people still look at years later and *00:06* And I actually used an adapter into a Wii Mote so I could play with a real N64 controller. *00:06* With the pressure? *00:06* Yeah. *00:06* But when Banja was announced and *00:06* Yeah. *00:06* Um and you and then Dying Light was my next game, and that was really big and *00:06* I I was always *00:06* I the way I do it now, I I will write the guide as I play. *00:06* But the stuff that I wanted to do, long form written pieces, critical thinking, reviews, that sort of stuff. *00:06* Like, okay, that's *00:06* This is just a nice little hobby that I have. *00:06* And I I love that. *00:06* Um could please go ahead and *00:06* They need the end of the game. *00:06* I'm I'm gonna have to *00:06* I enjoy organizing the information. *00:06* It felt like uh an actual *00:06* I will do the whole thing and I'll I'll play a little bit ahead so I have *00:06* I'm I'm thinking of God of War a lot, um, but Fafnir's Horde. *00:06* Exactly. *00:06* That was really cool. *00:06* Twenty years. *00:06* Yeah, it's like you need this to open this door. *00:06* I've been unsuccessful in these endeavors. *00:06* Like no really, and it's good to connect with like if if you're a freelancer and you're out there listening, like *00:06* I try to be on Twitter and interact. *00:06* I have done a lot of Nintendo ones and those usually take off, but not always. *00:06* You know, so I understood what I was walking into. *00:06* A mega dump. *00:06* There was no trophy tied to them. *00:06* You are you are the guy with a a hand on the keyboard and one on the controller and you're you're doing this *00:06* That's probably the right word. *00:06* That's that's what I I still have that one, and then I never played Nuts and Bolts. *00:06* I'm not a big fan of like doing really tedious stuff or uh *00:06* It just felt more authentic to me, even though I know I was playing an emulated version of the game, because Paper Mario is *00:06* Wait, so and somehow. *00:06* It's changed a quite a bit over the years, and I feel like I'm in a place now where *00:06* Um yeah, absolutely. *00:06* Great feeling. *00:06* And it's just interesting that *00:06* Sure. *00:06* I would I am correct me if I that's *00:06* You're tweaking the things that are already there. *00:06* Like how do you get into that? *00:06* There's actually somebody working on a banjo randomizer. *00:06* I don't know. *00:07* Yeah, yeah. *00:07* And you just you can't predict that. *00:07* I think, honestly, I think that's part of why *00:07* So like this is your job. *00:07* Yeah, so I was I was pretty much doing wikis exclusively for *00:07* I downloaded that as as soon as that went up. *00:07* Same thing. *00:07* I'd have n I'm out of ideas. *00:07* He actually snagged me like the Last of Us Part II vinyl they had there and the Spider-Man. *00:07* And *00:07* So I'll do a walkthrough, whatever, and you'll find *00:07* I not only is *00:07* Just not there's a focus to it and *00:07* Um they could shut down or whatever, whatever the case may be. *00:07* I had to contain myself. *00:07* It's just just *00:07* And then then I did the same thing for Hitman Go, 'cause I really liked that game on my iPad. *00:07* That's a guide for that? *00:07* Oh yeah, so before I even did wikis for IGN *00:07* I'm looking at that now. *00:07* Something you just said actually reminded me of this this story about another Metroid 2 remake, Return of Samus. *00:07* He had eggs. *00:07* I thought you were a man of detail. *00:07* And I remember once that media hour was coming to a close *00:07* And uh so he was the assigned writer and I downloaded the game the night before and *00:07* Um and I did, and that *00:07* I even with personal projects. *00:07* He asked me to do it. *00:07* That's actually kinda cool. *00:07* I would just play it on my own. *00:07* No, yes, that the that is fair. *00:07* I played it for hours and hours replaying the same stuff, getting to the really hard sections *00:07* I things you won't really run into on just needs more fog. *00:07* It's not. *00:07* Yeah, that *00:07* I don't I don't know what the that's thought process was there. *00:07* I'd used that recently, so I was just I didn't know if you did that one. *00:07* And I was like, I have to hunt this legendary cougar. *00:07* It could be *00:07* Maybe just 'cause the guide is it's been a while for this particular one, but *00:07* Oh boy. *00:07* There's always one little maybe an extra page you forgot to do or oh there's an update *00:07* Sometimes you play a game, you do a guide on it, and then you're like, I don't want to play this game again. *00:07* And I've I've found that balance now of well I can just do this for myself. *00:07* Uh I can write about whatever I want to write about. *00:07* Very simple two D tile editor. *00:07* I do think they are more chill. *00:07* But I just I don't like the shape of the jigsappies. *00:07* But I've done like commerce stuff. *00:07* And so I I finally went back to that game and *00:07* Uh I wrote a guide for that too and I just *00:07* Like that is valuable asset. *00:07* It was *00:07* And you can adjust uh how intense of a randomizer you want it to be. *00:07* This is awesome. *00:07* So maybe there, but *00:07* And *00:07* Yeah *00:07* He's very jump into the situation. *00:07* I'm extremely jealous. *00:07* He is, I'm forever indebted to Brendan for snagging me that *00:07* And so I I started to practice those things he told me to. *00:07* Yeah, it's *00:07* And I've I've definitely been guilty of *00:07* Because obviously Black Friday happens during the week of of Thanksgiving here in the United States. *00:07* Yeah. *00:07* Red Dead, I was all weird side mission stuff. *00:07* Whoop. *00:07* I don't know. *00:07* So having the support of other people is really important. *00:07* Yep. *00:07* I I actually kinda had that uh a reminder of that uh recently. *00:07* Yeah. *00:07* Like I remember the kill and exactly what the setup was, but the joke was *00:07* Um *00:07* Bad. *00:07* So that's why I have a love for that game. *00:07* Right. *00:07* So like my GameCube memory card. *00:07* And *00:07* So that's actually super dope. *00:07* I was doing it *00:07* I'm very, very specific with stuff like that, and that's part of why it's nice when you do your own guides *00:07* And uh like Just Cause 3 I did. *00:07* I get that feeling though, of *00:07* But there is something special and something that you can't *00:07* Uh *00:07* In my head a randomizer is just shuffling the items, but are they shuffling doors and like where you go to? *00:07* Well, right now I'm kind of like in this weird limbo of where I work. *00:07* So no, nothing as cool as that. *00:07* So she was sick and I went to like *00:07* All of this stuff is distributed digitally now. *00:07* So I appreciate that. *00:07* And to remind people, I think anniversaries are a cool thing to celebrate. *00:07* Maybe what was that there for? *00:07* I mean they're analog because there's a spring, but they're it does sense the pressure of *00:07* So you could swap those so notes are in places *00:07* And so Probably th that was the idea uh there. *00:07* Like I I could never do that now. *00:07* I love because you know you forget, you you don't play a game for you, you come back to it for fun. *00:07* Really, I probably *00:07* Oh I love that. *00:07* I did um *00:07* I had that I think the *00:07* Yeah. *00:07* See, it's not too late. *00:07* No, it's I like I mentioned at the top of the show *00:07* Especially when there's like communication, right? *00:07* That lasted See come on. *00:07* I I I have that's like my nostalgic console. *00:07* Exactly. *00:07* I fe I fe I feel like it's weird to say you own an Xbox game now, because everyone just seems to have Game Pass. *00:07* It's so really well made. *00:07* It just kind of crazy. *00:07* Yeah. *00:07* Um, this that that pirate boss. *00:07* And I had to kind of do a check of hey *00:07* And I feel like you do have a ton of ideas and you're very good at it. *00:07* Let's do that. *00:07* Facts. *00:07* Um *00:07* But with with Banjo in particular, I feel like you're in a safer *00:07* That's the one I I like the most. *00:07* What a moment. *00:07* I can't imagine doing Fortnite. *00:08* And we stayed at the art show, but they could tell that I was like very excited to leave. *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* Do you know that one? *00:08* It's just been sitting unlisted on my channel for *00:08* And those those have always been *00:08* I'm not sure which one's my favorite, but that's that's up there. *00:08* Exactly. *00:08* It's crazy. *00:08* Like I've seen you around everywhere, I've seen you on Twitter, but like there hasn't been this actual *00:08* Be like, hey, it's okay. *00:08* Like really, really bad. *00:08* Does this count? *00:08* Exactly. *00:08* Um *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* It's so *00:08* I started that when I was in like *00:08* Uh that was inspired by uh *00:08* So you could count on at least five, you know, chunks there. *00:08* That's no good. *00:08* Those *00:08* Um *00:08* Um Metal Gear Survive *00:08* Uh oh right. *00:08* Every time I had a riot. *00:08* I think that's my favorite. *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* Do you like like do you thrive off *00:08* California costs a lot *00:08* But I digress. *00:08* So some of the first guides I did were *00:08* And I was up *00:08* Like God of War was on my mind. *00:08* Oh wow, I did was not aware of that. *00:08* So I did stuff for Nintendo Life, I wrote a feature for PC Gamer, did some TV stuff for Collider. *00:08* But yeah, yeah, it's you know. *00:08* Uh and until next time, uh just thank you so much, Michael, and uh bye everybody. *00:08* It needs to click. *00:08* Um *00:08* I didn't do um the guide for that. *00:08* Oh, that's what you mean by five-minute video. *00:08* Why should I even be writing about this? *00:08* That's their engine and that's why it was taken down so uh *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* Well that's what you could do. *00:08* Like people still I can go and check right now there's probably about ten people looking at different pages and that *00:08* There's like a hundred historic relics or something. *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* I do understand that. *00:08* It almost sounds like *00:08* The people that know banjo. *00:08* Um it works better with games that are more *00:08* But sometimes there's *00:08* I I just sent you a link, but it was just *00:08* Maybe they went to someone later, but as far as I I was only the first three. *00:08* Not that she would remember, because she's probably *00:08* I gotta do it. *00:08* And you so *00:08* So that's kind of where my mind has been has been *00:08* So even at Venn *00:08* And so I didn't do the main side I didn't do the main side quest in Skelega. *00:08* Um and it's it's gone to the point now where *00:08* Not you're not just cranking out stuff. *00:08* And then the the history stuff, uh, which was recent and is now gone. *00:08* So I I just I love *00:08* There's so many details that I could try not to include. *00:08* Mm-hmm. *00:08* I want to do this, or I'm playing this game and I'm loving it. *00:08* So if I'm uh if I'm doing a quest or getting a collectible, I will *00:08* Not seem, you are. *00:08* Yeah. *00:08* And I was like this is *00:08* Which I've incorporated into like *00:08* Um *00:08* Or is it on your computer? *00:08* Um and the urgency to get things done is kind of still there, but we also just *00:08* You got time. *00:08* Oh, you gotta spice up the writing for your own sanity *00:08* That's very nice. *00:08* So really you just uh primarily is you play you design and play for the computer. *00:08* And then that was not not long after that was followed up with Breath of the Wild too. *00:08* When especially when Breath of the Wild 2 came up, I oh that was a really *00:08* Um and I c I kinda just wanted to bring up how my process has evolved. *00:08* I was *00:08* And I I don't know. *00:08* Why are they using this IP? *00:08* But with *00:08* Things I deviated from games I did uh I *00:08* It's kinda like Breath of the Wild's like, here's where you've been *00:08* I didn't have to capture anything for this particular chunk of the guide *00:08* At least you're aware of your time for yourself, which I I think is a big step for a lot of people to begin with. *00:08* I I think it's I think it's dope. *00:08* I don't know where else to look for *00:08* I'm sure it's a fine game though, on its own. *00:08* It's not easy for me, but *00:08* Uh I have always I E3 is kind of always the *00:09* And the save got corrupted. *00:09* Which is totally worth it *00:09* Like it was a I remember the kill. *00:09* There was it literally was there were just statues to collect. *00:09* Like the hex code, yeah. *00:09* Exactly. *00:09* Just ex living and breathing in that world. *00:09* Um *00:09* Okay. *00:09* I know. *00:09* How do you watch this? *00:09* I mean those were terrible ideas, but Yeah, the right idea. *00:09* We've gotten into a lot of things that were not the most *00:09* But then I look at things like Mass Effect Andromeda *00:09* Um I was even *00:09* That lasted for about a year. *00:09* And especially with it being rare, I think rare is has always been *00:09* And having more control of the creativity. *00:09* I don't *00:09* I did that for Death Stranding *00:09* Um *00:09* And then at the end of it all, I took it all and uh put it down into a five minute video. *00:09* Um *00:09* Uh so I totally get that. *00:09* It's not right. *00:09* It's a cool thing. *00:09* Uh but *00:09* Yeah, yeah. *00:09* Um so *00:09* Uh it's a lot of uh please please tweak and edit any word I used. *00:09* And that's what these randomizers do, that's what these mods do. *00:09* I was I was in my twenties. *00:09* Hmm. *00:09* I can't do it *00:09* I I think *00:09* It's not *00:09* And technically 3DS games, but they're they're a bit bigger and my computer can't run them. *00:09* It's just *00:09* It was a shock. *00:09* That's the point here. *00:09* You need to know what you're doing. *00:09* It just it was terrible. *00:09* You just have to get it done. *00:09* Yeah, so I've done *00:09* I like how do we forget that? *00:09* Games industry as a whole, not the most stable thing, but *00:09* That was that was something. *00:09* He kinda dragged me over there while he was still playing this game and *00:09* You know, sometimes you just *00:09* And it it makes me cringe to this day. *00:09* But I do have some stories of where things went like really bad *00:09* Usually yes in my book, but *00:09* Yeah. *00:09* Uh on the page, on my end. *00:09* It's got great music, it's got humor, the characters are good. *00:09* And that was good because that probably went down pretty quickly because that was a fan game *00:09* You could *00:09* I only *00:09* Um welcome. *00:09* Puzzle League? *00:09* But that's why I'm so fascinated by *00:09* I *00:09* And that's fun. *00:09* Just because that's what these these *00:09* Oh of course oh my gosh, yes. *00:09* And like that's *00:09* And I wanted to do the best there, but then there are other times where it's just *00:09* Like people looked at it. *00:09* Because I do remember there was either the guy in Utah or *00:09* It just *00:09* So when I did *00:09* Um, but I get I used my Vita for remote play *00:09* Freelancing *00:09* Where did you get the idea for that? *00:09* Exactly. *00:09* But like back then when you're first starting out it's *00:10* And I had never written a s a script, at least for someone else to read. *00:10* And I was like uh *00:10* And that was kind of my moment of *00:10* And so but I do understand the mentality of *00:10* And that's mostly because of the infamy with Mother Three. *00:10* So then my first game ended up being Tales from the Borderlands. *00:10* You literally cannot go on. *00:10* Yeah. *00:10* Like it has to be done. *00:10* You can put images where you want them to fit *00:10* And so *00:10* And that's fun and give me an excuse to use my Vita for work. *00:10* So *00:10* You got it. *00:10* Yeah. *00:10* Ooh. *00:10* And I *00:10* There's writing and all sorts of places. *00:10* Just shuff um modifying or shuffling around to *00:10* I've just not seen it. *00:10* I feel like people still *00:10* But *00:10* So what what's your story with *00:10* And the night before the game came out, I kind of just said *00:10* And it can be as short or as long as I want it to. *00:10* Like yeah, I really do think that you *00:10* I was like, Well, I want that 'cause I I love Metroid. *00:10* And to a degree they're they're right that they *00:10* But I do remember *00:10* Um Yeah, and so this is making me think about *00:10* Yeah. *00:10* I still need to figure out my PS2 memory card. *00:10* I mean *00:10* Oh no *00:10* And I'm just looking through my list here and just looking at some of these games. *00:10* Um *00:10* I I believe I was on *00:10* I can't say anything bad about it, but they're you know *00:10* They they'll run like a race, a link. *00:10* It there is *00:10* It's on my computer, but it's mainly *00:10* I *00:10* Right. *00:10* You just watch whatever it is online there. *00:10* Maybe Puzzle League? *00:10* And I *00:10* So *00:10* Y uh yeah, I started *00:10* Yeah. *00:10* Uh honestly, I never so I've never *00:10* I stayed up all night just to get back to where I was. *00:10* I *00:10* And I will just *00:10* That's definitely up there. *00:10* Do it. *00:10* Okay. *00:10* It wasn't like I was blindsided by *00:10* Omega Ruby *00:10* You're done with the guide, and you're like, I'm done with this game. *00:10* Yeah, with video, totally different situation. *00:10* Like I did a ton of stuff *00:10* Yeah. *00:10* I mean like it was *00:10* Maybe it's from uh *00:10* I don't know. *00:10* Dying Light in twenty fifteen. *00:11* It was actually it's quite a bummer. *00:11* I I can't just keep doing this *00:11* You know pretty well *00:11* But there's *00:11* That's great. *00:11* Um *00:11* I was playing the game anyway. *00:11* Absolutely. *00:11* Yeah. *00:11* I was actually *00:11* They loved it. *00:11* That was uh *00:11* Oh. *00:11* Yeah. *00:11* I'm hoping I remember correctly. *00:11* In the actual games, it's like *00:11* It's just *00:11* And *00:11* But I still have it. *00:11* And they *00:11* Do you remember that? *00:11* So I think that was part of it. *00:11* What's my favorite part? *00:11* So I *00:11* There's *00:11* And maybe I need to step away and and figure it out or *00:11* I I *00:11* Uh I don't like doing the very tedious stuff, okay, like the *00:11* Ooh *00:11* Like, oh hey, can you also do this extra page? *00:11* And one of the *00:11* Like Breath of the Wild, I was extremely happy. *00:11* But that's not as clean as having direct *00:11* You know? *00:11* It's it's so cool. *00:11* Yeah. *00:11* Those are the ones that usually get taken down *00:11* Like *00:11* So okay. *00:11* Uh that lasted for about a year. *00:11* But *00:11* I think N sixty four is gets a lot of flack. *00:11* Yeah. *00:11* Like I lost the save. *00:11* That's *00:11* And at the t at the time mobile *00:11* And *00:11* Um in hindsight *00:11* So I've *00:11* I *00:11* It went through and it was approved, but *00:11* It's amaz how do you *00:11* It's gonna be interesting with uh the *00:12* 100% it would. *00:12* You know, it's *00:12* I love it so much. *00:12* It's kind of fun. *00:12* And *00:12* Actually quite frankly it was sparked *00:12* Um *00:12* There is always something you can do. *00:12* But *00:12* Um *00:12* I do, yeah *00:12* But how *00:12* Like they cancelled the contract after that because *00:12* Um *00:12* Because *00:12* And throughout *00:12* I did it with *00:12* So you can look at it that way *00:12* So yeah, about six *00:12* I am *00:12* And anyway *00:12* And I think that's why *00:12* Here's my deal. *00:12* There's no minimum word count. *00:12* Just more *00:12* If you don't know that then *00:12* I know *00:12* So it was it was a *00:12* Uh it's been a thing for *00:12* There's *00:12* I *00:12* I *00:12* So it's *00:12* Yeah *00:13* Yeah. *00:13* Yeah. *00:13* Just *00:13* Cause *00:13* I remember *00:13* Metroid's *00:13* I have *00:13* Like, oh absolutely *00:13* So *00:13* Mm-hmm. *00:13* Um *00:14*