The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

We're off this week, but here's our MGS2 episode from August. Support us at patreon.com/backpagepod if you enjoy what we make! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Probably the least relevant and most tangent-heavy mailbag episode to date, and that's saying something. Here's Samuel's piece on game names for PC Gamer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our third and final attempt to tackle the big games of September reaches Sony's biggest release of the year and the latest Silent Hill entry. The developer of Orbitals is Shapefarm, not Shapeform as Samuel incorrectly stated. Duh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Been quite a while since we did a 'games journalism craft' episode – this is one of those, as we're joined by former music journalist and Vice senior editor Mike Diver for a lively chat. Hear about the time Mike met Paul McCartney! Sadly, it wasn't about his terrible Destiny song that Matthew rather likes. Mike's book, Aliens: The Video Games, is available now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emergency Nintendo Direct chatter, powered by the reveal of sequels to two of our favourite Switch games (Metroid Dread and Kirby and the Forgotten Land), then another pile of games from the September 2026 mountain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The September release schedule avalanche begins. Games discussed: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Star Wars: Zero Company, Guns of Eschaton and Super Mario Sunshine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From outlawing the L3 and R3 buttons to combat-oriented games with bad platforming sections, our listeners have submitted 12 more possible game design crimes for Room 101...sorry, Room 64 (double copyright infringement!). Our returning guest, actual game designer Jamie Smith, helps us judge the innocent and guilty. Want to submit a game design crime for a future episode? Head here to the relevant Discord channel, or ping us at backpagegames@gmail.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four giant men select their favourite DS and 3DS games in our latest 3-hour draft episode. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into both consoles. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of our Discord server. These are the categories: Game featuring Mario Game featuring Link 90+ on Metacritic Game with novel touchscreen controls Game made in Japan Game made outside Japan Port or re-release Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic) Free pick Was advertised on the telly by a celebrity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More of the games we've been playing recently, before the September avalanche of big titles crashes into Back Page headquarters. Samuel's games: Denshattack!, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Motorslice (a tiny bit) Matthew's games: Splatoon Raiders, The Message from Deep Space, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some thoughts on the Halo remake, then almost an hour of total nonsense that we will never, ever speak of again. This week's music is from the Halo: Combat Evolved by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many ideas get saved from the original game when you're making a sequel? Does it cost more money to make a follow-up? How do you make sure an indie sequel doesn't vanish without a trace? Our returning guest Jay Baylis answers these questions while discussing his next game with Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts 2002. This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stepping outside our 2000s comfort zone, this week we're sharing our two top 10 lists from 1997 in the first of a new quadrilogy of pods. Expect 1998, 1999 and 2000 episodes in the coming months. This week's music is from The Curse of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land. You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com. Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta, Howard Lincoln talking about Rare, Nintendo's Space World, Games World's segment from the Sega booth at E3 1997 and B-roll of the games shown at Space World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if IO Interactive made an Austin Powers game? Which game has been called overrated and underrated so many times that it's now just 'rated'? And why do some big games only get 1-page reviews in magazines? All that and more as we melt to death in the endless UK heatwave. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our monthly attempt to make a normal video games podcast. Games played this week: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Duskfade, Super Scram Kitty, Dimhaven - The Lost Source, Virtue and a Sledgehammer (mistakenly referred to by Samuel multiple times as 'Virtue is a Sledgehammer', the buffoon). Here's the thread on naming games by Hannah Flynn, as discussed at the end of this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The worst format in podcasting is back, fresh from the Castle Island Backrooms. This time, we've got even more moral conundrums for Judge Castle to figure out. Find the image referenced in this episode here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026? This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 categories, 30 picks – time for another draft, this time about first-person shooters and related games. Vote for the winner here. We'll update this post with who picked what later today. These are the 10 categories: Single-player shooter Multiplayer shooter Sim (including immersive sim) Game with emphasis on movement or platforming Narrative or horror game Game from the last 5 years RPG Free pick Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic) Game with notable first-person animations (either involving your hands or the faces of other characters) This is the Deus Ex: Invisible War-like game Jeremy referenced during this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all survived another week-plus of marketing livestreams! These were our picks of the best upcoming games, including our thoughts on the PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo showcases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bond is done! Now for some other great games that landed in May, plus the new Onimusha demo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's here – the James Bond game we've been waiting almost six years for! How much Hitman is in First Light? And how successfully does IO borrow from Naughty Dog? We discuss these subjects and many more across almost two hours. We've done our best to keep this episode free of spoilers. You'll hear about none of the major story beats in this one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A What We've Been Playing and Mailbag combo episode, also featuring our own personal versions of a Mixtape-style music compilation. And a profane joke about chimneys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The four-person draft is back! Returning guests Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough fight Samuel and Matthew for the best picks across two beloved Nintendo consoles. And this time, Dave is on the booze (but for your sanity, we cut 30 minutes of drunken monologues out). Vote for the winner in the Discord's Announcements channel. This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack by Koji Kondo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew played IO's Bond game! Some other games are discussed, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our first two-person draft in ages! Listen to the picks, then vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord. This week's music is from the Sonic 4 soundtrack by Jun Senoue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New podcast format time! 10 of our listeners' biggest gripes with games get litigated in a Room 101-style format (except legally distinct), from tailing missions in open world games to mandatory stealth sections in non-stealth games. Joining us once again is designer Jamie Smith! The very last entry was provided by SAFC_Jack91, which Samuel forgot to write down in the original episode plan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Crimson Desert good? It's complicated, but not quite, according to Matthew Castle. Plus: Samuel apologises profusely for buying a PS5 Pro. Samuel's games: PS5 Pro (Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Rebirth), Returnal, Raccoin Matthew's games: Crimson Desert, Tomodachi Life, The Ratline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Matthew thinks of Crimson Desert, new DLC for old games, how 360-era classics would score now in reviews, dream Helldivers 2 warbonds and more nonsense in the latest mailbag episode. This week's music is from the Deadly Premonition soundtrack by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi and Hiromi Mizutani. This is the From Russia With Love PS2 clip mentioned in the episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent is our guest this week! What's it like doing actual journalism, rather than just dropping hot takes about Uncharted and Mario? That's what we ask Emma about in this one. You can sign up for the (free) Eteo Archetypes newsletter discussed in the second half of this week's episode here. This week's music is from the Valheim soundtrack by Patrik Jarlestam. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two top 10 lists from an amazing year for video games. This week's music is from the Tetris Effect soundtrack by Hydelic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

VGC's Andy Robinson is this week's guest. Andy discusses his days on PC Zone and CVG, and why he's made the effort to built relationships with Japanese game developers in the last few years. This week's music is from the Yooka-Laylee soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, David Wise and Steve Burke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What we've been playing lately that doesn't feature Leon S Kennedy. Games discussed: Reanimal, Dark Auction, Marathon, Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties, Pokémon LeafGreen, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined, Romeo is a Dead Man, Wild Blue Skies, Denshattack!, Dusk Index Gion. The two Pokémon-themed media projects mentioned in this episode – Matt Reynolds' One More Catch and James Batchelor's history of the series. Music in this week's episode is from the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen soundtrack by Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda and Morikazu Aoki, and the Dark Auction soundtrack by Yuko Komiyama, Tsukasa Masuko and others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deep dive into the year's first big game (sorry, Mario Tennis). Section one is spoiler-free, and the much shorter section two has clearly marked spoilers. But, you still might want to listen to this after you've played the game if you want to experience everything fresh. Pretty much everything discussed in the first hour is in Capcom's marketing materials for the game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Judge Castle tackles listeners' moral dilemmas in the return of podcasting's worst format. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our first draft episode of the year is here! Who can pick the best levels out of Samuel, Matthew, Dave and Ash? You decide. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Discord. This week's music is from the Sonic 2 soundtrack by Masato Nakamura, the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson, the Super Mario 64 soundtrack by Koji Kondo and the Mario Kart World soundtrack by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda and Yutaro Takakuwa. These are the categories if you need a refresh: First-person shooter level (singleplayer) First-person shooter level (multiplayer) Lightgun stage Multiplayer level (can't be an fps) Platforming level Mission in an open world or larger game Bonus level Boss battle Worst level and location I'd doom my worst enemy to live in Free pick Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five years later, The Guardian's Keza MacDonald returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, Super Nintendo (UK link here, US link here). We then close out with Keza's quickfire list of the 10 most underrated Nintendo games. This week's music is from the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack by David Wise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having conquered GTA III (kind of), Vice City and San Andreas (plus Bully, which is sort of a GTA), it's time for the definitive Back Page podcast on 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Joining us to dissect the first HD GTA is beloved third host and freelance writer extraordinaire Jeremy Peel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A mop up of some neat games we missed from 2025, plus Matthew's thoughts on the newest game from Inkle. Games discussed: TR-49, Skate Story, POPUCOM, Wheel World, Earthion, Routine, The Séance of Blake Manor, Demonschool and The Berlin Apartment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes a 9/10 game not a 10/10 game? Why do video games end up bad? Which NPC would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? What food do they serve at the hypothetical Matthew Castle-themed cafe in Shibuya? These are some of the questions tackled in our first mailbag episode of 2026. Feel free to submit future mailbag questions in the Discord, or to backpagesgames@gmail.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 (or so) predictions about 2026, based on nothing whatsoever. Plus: our 2025 predictions revisited, and our 5 picks for this year's fantasy draft. This week's music is from the Trauma Center: Second Opinion soundtrack by Kenichi Tsuchiya and Shingo Yasumoto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two top 10 lists of the best games from 2025. This week's music is from the Promise Mascot Agency soundtrack by Peter McCaughan and Ryo Koike. Want to play Matthew's number 3? Head here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Need a video game awards show with dumb categories no company would ever sponsor? We've got your back, once again. Thanks to all our returning guests from this year for dropping in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is all about the games that hit players with emotional gut punches. You get 50 minutes of nice preamble with returning guest, indie developer Lucy Blundell, then 1 hour+ of our combined 15 top emotional moments in games. After the 50-minute mark, this episode features spoilers (some light, some heavy) for these games: Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Final Fantasy X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Final Fantasy VII (and the remakes), Botany Manor, Ori and the Blind Forest (just the intro), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Fable 2, What Remains of Edith Finch, Halo: Reach, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. But...most of it is pretty topline, and it's well worth a listen. Find Lucy's latest game VIDEOVERSE on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya…

Cassette Beasts developer and all-round great video game thinker Jay Baylis joins us once again! In time for the release of Metroid Prime 4, Matthew and Jay each share their top 5 games in Nintendo's series. This is the Critical Hit article Jay mentioned on Metroid's possible influences. This week's music is from the Metroid: Zero Mission soundtrack by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast eats itself! The Back Page finally dedicates a whole episode to its namesake. How do back page jokes go wrong? And what about the less frequent times when they go well? Returning guest Phil Savage, Global Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, helps us examine the creation of these gags. There's also a 20-minute bit on ARC Raiders near the start if that's your sort of thing. This week's music is from the Yakuza 0 soundtrack by Hidenori Shoji. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The drafts return! Four giant men compete to pick the best games on the Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're American), SNES and Neo Geo across 8 categories – plus a 9th bonus category specifically for the Amiga. This week's music is from the Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro and the Chrono Trigger soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda (not Rick Astley). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest is Matt Leone, former Special Projects Editor at Polygon. Hear all about his new website Design Room, and his work on the oral history of Final Fantasy VII and and Shadow of the Colossus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deep dive into an all-time classic on Wii. We'll do this again on Monday for Super Mario Galaxy 2, exclusively for Patreon XL Tier members! This week's music is from the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Games discussed: Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4, Hell is Us. Then, Samuel butchering a bunch of Zelda quiz questions. It has to be heard to be believed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A deep dive on the demos we tried during Steam Next Fest, hopefully giving you a few things for your wishlist consideration. Samuel's games: Reanimal, Birdcage, Lumines Arise, The Killing Stone, Evil Egg, Skate Story, Ambrosia Sky, Cairn. Matthew's games: CiniCross, No More Work For Ito, Opus: Prism Peak, The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time, The Seance of Blake Manor. We won't list the duds, but one was Bubsy 4D. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following our moderately good episode about games set in Britain earlier this year, we assemble a list of the 10 key games set in Japan. Did we get it wrong? Probably. Plus: a mini 'What We've Been Playing' episode about two recent download games we've been digging! This week's music is from the Persona 4 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.