Pod 'em Up! - The Video Game "Book Club" Podcast

We're taking you on a trip to space this month, with a brief stop at the delightfully odd town of Sprankelwater where we join Tiny Terry for an excellent little collect-a-thon, and plenty of laughs along the way. Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip is our book club game of the month, for PC, Switch and PS5.Meanwhile, our own Tiny Tibbs has bought himself a new VR setup and has lots to say about it. Sticking with the acronyms, we also have a lot more to say about AI in what we hope is a relatively balanced view of the current state of it.For good measure, we also finish off the first chapters of our two Sega Power video game novels!podemup.com | @PodEmUp | [email protected]

We're playing Tunic this month in the book club!.. well, as much of it as we can, at least. We're getting on a bit now, you see, and we struggle with challenging combat - especially parrying for some reason. But we give an an honest take on this beautiful but deceptively tricky game for modern platforms.The show is packed to the brim with other goodies though, including two separate hands-on previews! Ollie went to London to have a go on the upcoming Evercade Nexus console and its pack-in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie double pack! He also found his way onto the closed network test of Sega's new Crazy Taxi game too, and has much to say about both!Plus Word Factori, Super Woden: Rally Edge, an Incoming Indie that leaves us feeling a bit awkward, and perhaps best of all, Tibbs found his Golden Axe and Road Rash unofficial novels that came free with Sega Power magazine, and you bet he's going to read them to us!Incoming Indie: Lightspeed Lina (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cornflowerblue/lightspeed-lina)podemup.live | @PodEmUp | [email protected]

As it's episode 80, we thought we'd mark the occasion with a bunch of 80's games! The book club is a triple decker this month, with Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Master System, Metal Gear on the MSX2 and the arcade version of Golden Axe!The first half of this huge episode gets a bit more serious mind you, as we discuss Sony's extremely controversial decision to cease all production of physical media from 2028 onwards, and the kind of ripple effects this will have on the industry going forward. Once again, we outline the importance of video game preservation and what an all-digital future means for still being able to play games even four or five years after their release.Luckily, normal service resumes in the second half, as we discover how Alex Kidd once completely scuppered Tibbs' chances for romance, Ollie quickly loses interest in Tellybugs, Twitch blatantly lies to use by pretending we have friends, and we laugh at another Sony gaff, as they introduce their newest mascot - an anxiety-ridden cartoon bear designed to take the Hello Kitty fanbase by storm.. Yes, really.Plus, Denshattack!!, Penny's Big Breakaway and gardener's corner asks can plants feel pain? (no).podemup.live | @PodEmUp | [email protected]

GTA: Vice City is a well-loved title in the franchise, so we thought the perfect game to introduce to Ollie, who has never properly played a GTA game before. Find out how it goes down, as we play and discuss Tommy Vercetti's 80's crime spree, and the appeal of gaming's most notorious series in general.We've got loads more too in this lengthy episode, including our impressions of 007: First Light and Star Fox, and we sift through the recent game announcements to discuss the likes of Crazy Taxi World Tour, Rayman Legends: (didn't need to be) Retold and a new Cassette Beasts?! Plus, we have our first ever listener-submitted Incoming Indie, and we find out about magpie funerals!Remember, one in eight of every download of this episode is imbued with Chaos Emerald energy..!Incoming Indie: Nova Swarm (https://store.steampowered.com/app/4765070/Nova_Swarm/)@PodEmUp | [email protected] | podemup.live

This month we're playing a delightful metroidvania called Ufouria: The Saga for the NES. Yes, that's right, the NES! "Where's the NES??"... is what 40-50 year old Americans constantly shout at us, in regard to its lack of appearance on our British podcast. Well, finally, you've got it! We're doing an NES game... that wasn't released in America.If that doesn't tickle your fancy, we've also got Tibbs bemoaning the exposition dump of an ending that he received upon completing Death Stranding, and Ollie has a fine time with cosy new train game, A Bumpy Road. We also discuss just what it is that Bubsy needs to do to finally turn himself into a success.Plus, there's a new Neo Geo console, a new Star Fox game, and we catch up with the Stop Killing Games campaign (insightful comments about which include "they're probably doing good stuff"). We also discover the fate of Ollie's Gordon the Gopher puppet, and Tibbs tells us about his run-in with a mysterious gravity-defying spider.@PodEmUp | [email protected] | podemup.live

We return to the Mario/Wario Land series as we take a look at Wario Land II for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Genius game design or unnecessarily annoying? You'll have to listen to find out!Elsewhere, we answer the burning questions: What's up with that baby in Death Stranding? Can an Xbox controller mount a hacked Switch? How was the Mario Galaxy movie? How is ScreenBound 5-dimensional? Who buys a game from a streaming service anyway? And why were there so many dodgy catchphrase animations in Catchphrase?Stay right 'til the end! Especially if you enjoy Ant and Dec's Wonky Donkey. No, that's not a euphemism.Our FOUR (count 'em!) Incoming Indies:- Pizzapocalypse 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4021890/Pizzapocalypse_2/- ScreenBound: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805070/Screenbound/- Dracamar: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3306480/Dracamar/- Data Center: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4170200/Data_Center/

In this episode we're playing a lovingly hand crafted treat for the eyes in the form of Harold Halibut for Steam, GOG, PS5 and Xbox, resulting in a very interesting discussion.Elsewhere, we're picking fights with just about everyone and everything this month, from arcade ticket machines and (especially) AI, to pessimistic Panzer Dragoon fans, online fighting game fanatics and speed runners! We also find time to cover such important things as Steam Next fest, State of Play, Dead or Alive, SegaGAGA and we even drop in on our latest feature, Gardener's Corner (yes, really) to see how Tibbs is getting on with his rapidly expanding collection of spider plants!podemup.live | @PodEmUp | [email protected]

We look back fondly on the days where a company could release a fun arcade racer with a cool gimmick, without it being a boring racing sim that's bogged down with licensing agreements - it's Split/Second (aka Split/Second Velocity) in the book club, for PS3, 360 and Steam!Meanwhile, Tibbs becomes embroiled in the latest argument to grip the Sonic community, and Ollie gets similarly angry at one of Nintendo's recently announced products. Plus more Metroid Prime 4, Dome Keeper, Bzzzt, musical rollercoasters and we reveal a new feature on Pod 'em Up; Gardening Corner!... Yes, really.If you would like one of Tibbs' growing collection of spider plants, please get in touch. Also get in touch if you know how to look after a chilli plant, thanks.Incoming Indie: Big Hops - https://www.luckshotgames.com/big-hopspodemup.live | [email protected] | @PodEmUp

On this final episode of 2025, we look back at Future Cop: L.A.P.D. for the PS1 - the entry in the Strike series that was never to be. Still a great game though, but how will it fare in our annual Pod 'em Up Awards, which of course is also happening in this very episode!Also in this bumper end-of-year episode, we're skirting around some sensitive issues in our analysis of those other game awards that usually happen to coincide with our own - though for some reason we also bundle into this our reviews of Animals of Farthing Wood and Babe: Pig in the City. Plus, Metroid Prime 4, Journey to the Savage Planet, Parking Garage Rally Circuit, and the surprising reveal of quite possibly the catchiest theme tune to a cartoon based on a video game of all time.@PodEmUp | [email protected] | podemup.com

Just how strange is life, anyway? Very, apparently, if you're playing 2015's excellent time travelling, episodic, narrative-driven adventure game, Life is Strange.I'll be honest, our anti-spoiler policy means that we can't fully delve into some of the more interesting aspects of this beautiful game during the normal discussion of this on the podcast. So for anyone who has already played the game in full, we've released a bonus chat, covering some of the plot twists and heart-breaking moments that we could only carefully hint at on the show. Please see this link for all the SPOILERS:https://soundcloud.com/user-557762286/life-is-strange-extra-discussion-spoilersWe've got lots more lighter content too though, including a general discussion about the GTA series, Sonic Racing Crossworlds, Donkey Kong Bananza and Yooka-Replaylee. Plus, Tibbs brings us the Incoming Indie this month because Ollie is too busy ranting about skill trees again.Goodnight, God bless, see you in the morning.Incoming Indie: Carpark Capital - https://www.microprose.com/games/car-park-capital/podemup.com | PodEmUp | [email protected]