Pursuing Pixels

Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We're breaking the mold once again this week, as we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to chat with Aivi Tran & Sabrielle Augustin—two of the composers of the fabulous Ikenfell soundtrack!
We talked about Ikenfell on the podcast a few week's back and the OST was certainly one of the standout feature of the game, for a multitude of reasons! 
We keep it (mostly) *spoiler-free* as we dig deep into the inspirations behind the soundtrack, how this masterful team of composers & musicians came together, and get to know two of the artists behind the game a little bit better!
Thanks again so much to Aivi & Sabrielle for taking the time to sit down & chat with us!  Please check out their work(s), Ikenfell and beyond.
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We are absolutely jam-packed with video game goodness this week, so let's get right to it...
John kicks us off with some more Control talk, which leads into a general discussion about aerial combat in games after he tracks down his Daemon X Machina cartridge.
Kevin's been streaming a whole bunch of games on our Twitch channel lately and specifically carves out some time to discuss a couple more games that were included in the itchio Bundle for Racial Justice & Equality, Zone of Lacryma & Eves Drop.
Dj's been bouncing around a little bit himself, first polishing off Watch Dogs 2, and then plowing through Rise of the Tomb Raider in no time flat—let's just say, Nathan Drake is no Lara Croft!
Everyone but John has been sinking some serious time into Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair and the three of us have some widely differing opinions on this modern 2D platformer.
Randall closes things out by selling all of us HARD on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, one of the latest additions to the mini retro console lineup...though there's a pretty good chance you missed out on the vast majority of these games the first time around, just like we did!
 
Timestamps:
Control  -  00:03:41
Daemon X Machina  -  00:07:23
Kevin's Been Streaming..... -  00:13:46
↳  Alan Wake  -  00:13:46
↳  Kero Blaster (Omake mode)  -  00:15:04
↳  Donut County  -  00:15:17
↳  Zone of Lacryma  -  00:16:21
↳  Eves Drop  -  00:19:03
↳  10S  -  00:22:48
Watch Dogs 2  -  00:23:59
Rise of the Tomb Raider  -  00:24:59
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair  -  00:27:37
TurboGrafx-16 Mini  -  00:45:02
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We're back with a full house again this week, and we kick things off with a little gaming session in the clouds!
John snagged Control on Switch immediately after it was announced, during the most recent Nintendo Direct.  He shares his initial thoughts on both the game, and the prospect of streaming games over the interweb.
Kevin & Randall are getting their asses handed to them by Sky Racket, a tennis-inspired bullet hell shmup that's bursting with character!
Kevin also circles back around to briefly mention a couple of games he's finished off recently, Gato Roboto & Kero Blaster, before digging into his latest arcade obsession, Null Drifter.
DJ closes us out with a trio of games as well, beginning with follow-ups to our conversations on Undertale & Haque, before getting into his initial thoughts on Watch Dogs 2 after checking out the trial...
 
Timestamps:
Control (on Nintendo Switch)  -  00:01:44
Sky Racket  -  00:17:23
Gato Roboto  -  00:26:48
Kero Blaster  -  00:28:07
Null Drifter  -  00:29:22
Undertale  -  00:34:04
Haque  -  00:39:57
Watch Dogs 2  -  00:43:40
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  DJ & Kevin are both getting their resolution games from 'Episode Number Holiday Edition 2019' in under the wire this week, before we start thinking about wrapping things up for 2020.
DJ gets us started with Deadbolt from Hopoo Games, stealth-driven action platformer that (mostly) lives up to our lofty expectations from the mighty Risk of Rain 1 & 2 devs!
Before Kevin gets to his own resolution, he takes a stab at Transistor from SuperGiant Games—after being both in love and overwhelmed by the intense combat in their latest release, Hades—and ends up plowing straight through it.  It was also John's resolution game, but he already talked about it earlier this year like a responsible human being.
After that, it's onto Undertale, which Kevin, unfortunately, bounced off of pretty hard.  However, it did get Randall to fire up the game for the first time and he ended up playing all the way through to the end, while DJ dives deep down the rabbit hole of 'multiple endings.'
Finally, we close things out with Ikenfell, another cheeky turn-based RPG with its own set of unique combat mechanics, pulling heavily from series like XCOM & Paper Mario.
*Ikenfell also has an INCREDIBLE original soundtrack and we were fortunate to sit down with two of the game's composers, Aivi Tran & Sabrielle Augustin, for a fun and informative conversation!  The interview episode will be coming SOON...stay tuned!*
 
Timestamps:
Deadbolt (DJ's Resolution)  -  00:01:04
Transistor (John's Resolution)  -  00:05:27
Undertale (Kevin's Resolution)  -  00:08:26
Ikenfell  -  00:32:02
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  This week, John kicks things off with a new arcade puzzler, Petal Crash, and he's certainly got the rest of our attentions!
Kevin spotlights Yin and Yang, the latest release from mmatt_ugh, and it's yet another slam dunk puzzle platformer.  After that, it's onto the buttery precision platforming of RITE.
Speaking of slam dunks, Randall is back on his NBA2K20 bullshit, this time digging deep into the depths of MyGM mode!
 
Timestamps:
Petal Crash  -  00:02:28
Yin and Yang  -  00:12:49
Apple  -  00:16:07
RITE  -  00:16:46
NBA2K20 (MyGM mode)  -  00:22:00
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  Although we're missing John this week, all four of us have been playing some Killer Queen Black thanks to another ludicrous deal on the Nintendo Switch eshop!
From there, Randall & Kevin have mixed thoughts on The Gardens Between, which we discussed digging into a few weeks back on the podcast—once again, thanks to Xbox Game Pass.
Kevin tackles Zangyou mode (aka 'New Game +') in Kero Blaster and moves onto another game with an amazing 'New Game +' all its own, Super Mario 3D Land—Randall also joins in on the gush-fest!
DJ ended up picking up Super Mario Bros. 35 again and is seemingly trying to '100%' the game, in typical DJ fashion.  Please don't take this game away from us, Nintendo!
 
Timestamps:
Killer Queen Black  -  00:01:09
The Gardens Between  -  00:14:15
Kero Blaster (Zangyou mode) - 00:24:05
Super Mario 3D Land  -  00:29:55
Super Mario Bros. 35  -  00:41:13
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels. It's a full house once again and you know we couldn't talk about Hades for only one week!
DJ & John are digging deeper into the depths of hell this week, but before we get there, we've all been dabbling in the newly released Super Mario Bros. 35—another addition to Nintendo's ongoing celebration of Mario's 35th anniversary!
Kevin's doing his usual thing and highlights a couple of little indie gems!  We stick with the devilish theme first, and discuss yet another game entitled Imp, this time from developer Andy Miller.  After that, it's time to deliver some pizzas to some cute lil' rabbits in Bunny Eats, from Securas, aka 'SunshineMan'.
John closes us out with another overlooked indie, Super Crush KO, from Vertex Pop—a side-scrolling, high-score chasing beat 'em up that sounds right up all of our alleys!
 
Timestamps:
Super Mario Bros. 35  -  00:01:38
Hades  -  00:14:28
Imp  - 00:29:17
Bunny Eats  -  00:31:59
Super Crush KO  -  00:35:46
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We're breaking the formula a bit this week, as we had the pleasure to sit down with Lewmoth, a game composer & sound designer who's worked on a number incredible indie games—with even more still in the works.
We had already played stuff like Lianthus & Control Co., but Lewmoth has worked on an incredibly wide variety of games, as well as within many different musical styles & genres. 
We'll be back with a normal episode next week, but we're looking forward to lining up some more guest interviews in the future.  Stay tuned!
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  This week, we're finally getting into some of the recently released heavy-hitters on Nintendo Switch, starting things off with a discussion on Super Mario 3D All-Stars.  Continuing the Mario celebration, John checks out Mario's Super Picross, which recently came to North America for the first time via Nintendo Switch Online.
From there, Kevin highlights Guardian Sphere and a few other indie gems from a team of brothers, Pixel-boy & AAA.  He also gets his first taste of a Project Touhou game & is really digging the insanity that is Touhou: Luna Nights.
DJ follows up on his brief DOOM: Eternal experience from a few weeks ago now that he's polished it off and he loved it from start to finish!  We stick around in Hell for the rest of the episode, as we're all still trying to escape from Hades, the recently released action roguelike from Supergiant Games—well, all of us except for DJ!
 
Timestamps:
Super Mario 3D All-Stars  -  00:01:07
Mario's Super Picross  -  00:10:02
Guardian Sphere  -  00:13:45
Touhou: Luna Nights  -  00:18:01
DOOM: Eternal  -  00:22:13
Hades  -  00:26:35
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  Kevin's been gushing about New Super Lucky's Tale like crazy lately, so Randall & Tina booted it up this week to plow through a few more levels; once again, thanks to Xbox Game Pass. 
Speaking of Game Pass, Randall & Kevin are loving the retro-arcade vibes of Hotshot Racing, which hearkens back to SEGA's best low-poly arcade racers, Outrun & Virtua Racing.
After that, DJ & Kevin dig deep into a couple of turn-based roguelikes, starting with Invisible, Inc., just before Kevin's PS Plus subscription expires.  After that, we finally get around to discussing Haque from Kevin Cole & the rest of the team at SuperTry Studios.
Randall & Kevin close us out with a commitment to play & discuss The Gardens Between in the near future, once again thanks to our Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
 
Timestamps:
New Super Lucky's Tale -  00:01:55
Hotshot Racing  -  00:09:39
Invisible, Inc. -  00:17:40
Haque  -  00:30:18
Syncing up on Xbox Game Pass  -  00:46:04
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  DJ kicks us off this week with a trifecta of games that he's been playing since we chatted last.  He's conquered Civilization VI from virtually every angle, earned a victory in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and started up DOOM: Eternal—and he's encouraging us all to check it out!
Speaking of conquering games, Randall finally wraps up Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom and shares a few general metroidvania thoughts after seeing the credits roll!  And now that Monster Boy is wrapped up, he's hopping back on the board for some more Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 HD.
John scooped up inbento from Afterburn games right before we started recording and got sucked into the clever puzzle mechanics, wordless storytelling, & super cute aesthetics.
Kevin closes things out with Indivisible, a sidescrolling platformer with turn-based combat that draws close comparisons to the Mario & Luigi series of RPGs on Nintendo's handheld consoles.
 
Timestamps:
Civilization VI  -  00:01:55
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds  -  00:06:42
DOOM: Eternal  -  00:10:04
Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom  -  00:13:15
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 HD  -  00:17:50
inbento  -  00:24:04
Indivisible  -  00:33:30
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We've got a full house again this week and we kick things off with our recent Fall Guys burnout—after DJ wins 30+ crowns?!?!
Kevin's highlights a couple of retro inspired indie games: [Speer] is an incredibly crafty single-screen platformer & Out of Ammo is a break 'em up inspired by ZeroRanger.
John & DJ were squeezing in some Civilization VI before recording last week and they dig into their specific playstyles while trying to convince Randall & Kevin to boot up their copies.
After finishing New Super Lucky's Tale, Kevin has an answer to Randall's question as to where it ranks among the best of the best 3D platformers...
We close things out with a discussion of our general video game buying & collecting habits these days, versus the convenience and value of digital downloads & subscription services.
 
Timestamps:
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout  -  00:01:04
[Speer]  -  00:05:34
Out of Ammo  -  00:09:07
Civilization VI  -  00:12:56
New Super Lucky's Tale  -  00:28:15
Physical Copies vs Digital Downloads  - 00:32:37
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels...and welcome back DJ!  He's certainly been playing his fair share of games since he's last been on the show, and he kicks us off with a debriefing of everything he's polished off in the last six months.
After that, DJ & John take a deeper dive into Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, specifically highlighting some of the game's 'extra' modes.  Randall keeps us in the metroidvania realm a little longer, as he nears the end of Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom.
Kevin finally gets around to checking out The Messenger, which DJ praised on the podcast a while back, and he's been harping on the rest of us to play it ever since. 
We also gave Sea Salt another try after having some technical issues a few weeks back, and are happy to report that it was smooth sailing after reinstalling the game—and the game is still awesome!
 
Timestamps:
Whatcha been playing, Deej?  -  00:02:04
↳  Zombi(U)  -  00:07:04
↳  Outlast 2  -  00:10:23
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night  -  00:12:39
Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom  -  00:28:31
The Messenger  -  00:34:09
Sea Salt  -  00:39:00
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  We've got a trio of metroidvanias on the docket this week, but before we get to that, John dusts off Rune Factory 4 in an effort to achieve some feeling of progress.
Speaking of progress, Randall's still chipping away at Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom and now has Kevin along for the adventure!  John is looking for his next Metroid Prime fix and starts up Journey to the Savage Planet, but it's off to an iffy start.  Kevin gives Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight a second chance, and this time gets sucked right into its mysterious world.
Randall takes us back to the hardwood once again, and this time digs into some of the WNBA modes & features that were added to NBA2K20.
 
Timestamps:
Rune Factory 4  -  00:01:45
Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom  -  00:05:23
Journey to the Savage Planet  -  00:15:05
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight  -  00:22:26
NBA2K20 (WNBA)  -  00:27:25
 
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Welcome back to Pursuing Pixels.  Randall & Kevin kick things off this week with their first impressions of the new Battletoads game.  From there, we talk about a trifecta of games that were both announced & released during the most recent Nintendo Switch Indie World Showcase:
John journeys into the infinitely-repeating landscapes of Manifold Garden, Kevin scratches the surface of the waters in Spiritfarer, and Randall gives us his thoughts on the wonderfully charming A Short Hike.
Kevin closes things out with New Super Lucky's Tale and places it alongside the 3D platforming greats of the N64 heyday!
 
Timestamps:
Battletoads (2020)  -  00:01:29
Manifold Garden  -  00:19:59
Spiritfarer  -  00:18:35
A Short Hike  -  00:26:04
New Super Lucky's Tale  -  00:31:57
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen!  If you'd like to find us elsewhere on the internet, you can find us at:
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