Play Comics

Yu-Gi-Oh Destiny Board Traveler & World Championship Tournament 2004 with David (Anime Field Guide) Some duels are fought with cards. Some are fought with dice. And then some… are fought with the Game Boy Advance’s eternal struggle against decent menu navigation. This week on Play Comics, we’re shuffling up and drawing into Yu-Gi-Oh! Destiny Board Traveler and World Championship Tournament 2004, two games that take everything we love about Yu-Gi-Oh!, monsters, strategy, friendship laser beams, and cram it into a tiny cartridge that smells faintly of childhood and battery corrosion. Joining Chris for this summoning circle of digital nostalgia is David from Anime Field Guide, who brings the kind of anime expertise that makes you question whether your life points can drop below zero if you cringe too hard at English dub dialogue. Together, they’ll explore why these particular duels feel like being trapped in a friendship-branded fever dream, complete with turn-based confusion and more “draw phase” puns than anyone asked for. So grab your duel disk, blow into that GBA cartridge like it owes you rent, and prepare to enter a world where forbidden memories and confusing mechanics go hand-in-hand. It’s the heart of the cards… but maybe also a faint cry for a player’s guide.

Yu-Gi-Oh Destiny Board Traveler & World Championship Tournament 2004 with David (Anime Field Guide)

Some duels are fought with cards. Some are fought with dice. And then some… are fought with the Game Boy Advance’s eternal struggle against decent menu navigation. This week on Play Comics, we’re…

It's Godzilla. In mini gig form. And blue translucent.

Say hello to my little friend

@derekbgayle.bsky.social @ickybooley.bsky.social @kaijucomiccast.bsky.social

OMG I hate writing words so much. That's why I podcast.

Did the great Bards Aerosmith day that the rich are only good for one thing?

I wonder what that thing was....

The Monitor Tapes – Tape #14: Crisis on Infinite Earths Animated Films The Fourteenth Tape: DC Dave and Doug Adamson play Tape #14, which looks at ... Crisis on Infinite Earths 2024 Animated Films With co-host Chris Osborn from Play Comics

I was on a podcast and made @themonitortapes.com edit it.

Which makes sense since it's their show.

www.themonitortapes.com/14

Lucky Luke (1996) with Dr. Queso de la Muerte Lucky Luke might be the fastest gun in the West, but nobody warned him about being jammed into a tiny Game Boy cartridge where his biggest foes are stiff platforming and whatever that enemy AI is trying to do. This episode of Play Comics moseys into the dusty frontier where classic European comics meet tiny Nintendo screens, occasionally in glorious Game Boy Color if you were lucky enough to live in the right place or know the right import guy. It is pixel dust, cowboy hats, and the eternal question of “Is this a faithful adaptation, or did someone just hear ‘cowboy’ and wing it?” Riding into town for this one is the legendary Dr Queso de la Muerte from Chris's real life internet friend group, bringing a big-brained breakdown of handheld nonsense and exactly the sort of opinions you get when people have spent way too much time thinking about comics, games, and what happens when you mash them together. Together, they’ll pick apart what the game borrows from the Lucky Luke comics, what it completely makes up, and how well it all survives the journey into a two-button wild west. Expect detours into cultural differences, cartridge weirdness, and at least one moment of “why did they design the level like this on purpose?” So grab your favorite handheld, adjust your imaginary cowboy hat, and get ready for a trip to the Old West filtered through green-ish screens, tiny sprites, and the unstoppable force of licensing. This is an episode for anyone who ever rented a random game from the video store, stared at the box art, and thought, “Yeah, this is either going to be secretly amazing or the funniest mistake I make all weekend.”

Lucky Luke (1996) with Dr. Queso de la Muerte

Lucky Luke might be the fastest gun in the West, but nobody warned him about being jammed into a tiny Game Boy cartridge where his biggest foes are stiff platforming and whatever that enemy AI is trying to do. This episode of Play Comics moseys into…

This is why we need cloning technology

One Piece Grand Battle with Janine Juliette (D’ohmance Dawn) Janine Juliette from D'ohmance Dawn stops by to attempt to explain One Piece. Do we have time for this one?

IT LIVES!

@janinejuliet.bsky.social from @dohmancedawn.bsky.social stops by for our first look into One Piece. It's kind of a big thing, maybe you've heard of it?

Promos from @iaytd.bsky.social and @longboxreview.bsky.social

playcomics.com/one-piece-gr...

CGRUndertow video looking at The Darkness. It's a PS3 game. How the fuck can the video be 14 years old? That's disgusting.

@sarahofmars.bsky.social LOOK HOW OLD THIS VIDEO IS!

I'm going to go fall into a pile of dust now.

One Piece Grand Battle with Janine Juliette (D’ohmance Dawn) Set sail, button-mashers, because this time Play Comics is diving face-first into One Piece: Grand Battle! that PS2 and GameCube special where early Water 7-era drama gets smooshed into a chaos-filled arena and told to play nice. Expect stretchy punches, loud special attacks, and exactly the kind of character balance you’d expect from a game that assumes “pirate” and “fair” don’t belong in the same sentence. We’re talking Straw Hats, shipyards, and the eternal question: “Is this actually good, or do I just really like yelling ‘Gum-Gum’ every five seconds?” Joining Chris on this voyage is Janine Juliette from D’ohmance Dawn, here to bring big-brain One Piece insight and just the right amount of gremlin energy to keep things interesting. Janine’s got thoughts on how this slice of the anime translates into a brawler, where the game nails the Straw Hats’ personalities, and where it feels like someone skimmed the wiki five minutes before coding a super move. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a deeply thoughtful One Piece fan is forced to reckon with PS2-era anime jank, this is absolutely your kind of chaos. So grab your controller, your favorite questionable snack, and maybe a backup controller for when Luffy’s rubber nonsense finally pushes you over the edge. We’re digging into how far the game actually gets into the story, why some characters feel terrifying and others feel like they snuck in as a joke, and whether this one belongs on your “must-play” shelf or your “fondly mock from a distance” list. Treasure, friendship, and highly unsafe maritime workplace practices await. Let’s see if Grand Battle! can keep its ship together.

One Piece Grand Battle with Janine Juliette (D’ohmance Dawn)

Set sail, button-mashers, because this time Play Comics is diving face-first into One Piece: Grand Battle! that PS2 and GameCube special where early Water 7-era drama gets smooshed into a chaos-filled arena and told to play nice. Expect…

Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Perry Constantine (Superhero Cinephiles, Japan on Film) – Play Comics Perry Constantine from Superhero Cinephiles and Japan on Film stops by to take a look at all that Marvel Ultimate Alliance has to offer.

IT LIVES

@percivalconstantine.com from @superherocinephiles.com and @japanonfilm.com stops by to take a stab at the EVERYTHING that is Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Can we even pull this off?

Promos from Coffee and Comics and @onceuponageek.bsky.social

playcomics.com/marvel-ultim...

Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Perry Constantine (Superhero Cinephiles, Japan on Film) This week on play comics we ask ourselves what happens if you you can't decide what you want to make a game about. Should you just give up? Should you really dig into your soul and decide what you're super passionate about? Should you look and see if there's any other related media coming out that you can tie this game into? Or should you act like you're at the end of five different boxes of sugary cereal and justice dump the mall into a single bowl and see what happens? There's certainly one thing that I made my mind up about this one, and that's how Perry Constantine from Superhero Cinephiles and Japan on Film needed to come by and help me make sure that I kept everything straight here. And it's a good thing too because with more playable character than I want to count spread out across 7 consoles upon release and a few more as back catalogs were taken advantage of it would have been really easy to miss something here. So was there an actual story for this game? Or was it just a giant excuse to squeeze in as many tidbits as they could so the other kids would think they're cool? You'll have to listen to find out!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Perry Constantine (Superhero Cinephiles, Japan on Film)

This week on play comics we ask ourselves what happens if you you can't decide what you want to make a game about. Should you just give up? Should you really dig into your soul and decide what you're super…

Due to the fact that I was down with the sickness over the past few days (gotta love stomach bugs), release timing of the next episode with @japanonfilm.com is a little up in the air.

I'm working on it currently, but know that there's a chance you can't hear it until Monday.

I keep meaning to do a bonus thing about separating art from the artist and new stuff just keeps happening in the world. Time to just accept that new things will happen and dive into this.

Who are some people that made stuff you love, but they're garbage people that you can't support anymore?

@spawnography.bsky.social this is why I can't argue with your feelings about South Carolina

NotMe: But what about this surprise 3rd option that shouldn't even be possible but we can still pull off because [magic]?

Me: Oh fuck dude want to just make it a big ole party and double up?

NotMe: BOOM LET'S DO IT

A very vague conversation that's happened via email over the past day-ish.

Me: You should come on the podcast. Former guest said so, and I have these couple of games that fit you exactly.

NotMe: That sounds good, and if you're going to make me pick I pick [this one].

Popeye Rush for Spinach with Ryan Estrada Grab your canned vegetables and your questionable licensed tie-ins, because this week on Play Comics we’re diving headfirst into Popeye: Rush for Spinach on the Game Boy Advance—the game that looked at a classic comic strip about a gruff sailor punching his problems and said, “Actually, what if everyone just… ran a lot instead?” This is a world where the Sea Hag steals the global spinach supply, the solution is apparently time-traveling track meets, and Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, and Wimpy all agree that the best way to settle things is to sprint through history like someone off-screen yelled “last one there buys lunch.” Helping us untangle this leafy green disaster is the wonderful Ryan Estrada from the comic-making side of the internet, a man who knows exactly what it looks like when characters escape the page and do something absolutely no one asked them to do. Ryan’s here to help figure out how a comic icon who started life in newspaper strips, got famous selling spinach, and spent decades punching sea monsters somehow wound up in a handheld racing game that feels like it was brainstormed during a very strange lunch break. So power up that tiny GBA screen, flex those forearms, and get ready for an episode that’s equal parts comic history lesson, adaptation autopsy, and incredulous laughter at the phrase “Popeye racing game.”

Popeye Rush for Spinach with Ryan Estrada

Grab your canned vegetables and your questionable licensed tie-ins, because this week on Play Comics we’re diving headfirst into Popeye: Rush for Spinach on the Game Boy Advance—the game that looked at a classic comic strip about a gruff sailor punching…

One of the best things you can do for your podcast is work ahead a bit. No scrambling for episodes to release or anything this way.

I had a guest get with me today because they have the reschedule away from tonight. And it's great to be able to tell them honestly that this isn't a problem.

Oooh relevant additional materials. I like that.

Be careful reading it in public. It's very much a product of its time.

Lucky Luke (1998) with Insane Ian Insane Ian moseys on over to help take a look at Lucky Luke. Does this one hold up today? Or should it go straight to the town jail?

IT LIVES!

@insaneian.bsky.social ambles on over to take a look at Lucky Luke. Will we shoot straight on this one? Or just fade off into the sunset?

Promos from Gender Pop and @lastcomicshoppodcast.com

playcomics.com/lucky-luke-1...

Lucky Luke (1998) with Insane Ian Have you ever wanted to live the cowboy life while staying comfortably parked on your couch with a controller in hand? Well dust off that old PS1 and join us on a tumbleweed-tossed adventure into Lucky Luke, the 1998 game that lassos the comic's wild west flair and corrals it into glorious mid-poly action. This week, Insane Ian from the comedy music frontier rides into town to help Chris figure out whether this comic adaptation shoots straight or ends up misfiring into nostalgic absurdity. We're mixing comic books, cowboy clichés, and just enough slapstick to keep the saloon doors swinging. It’s part retro gaming archaeology, part cartoon chaos, and part “why did this ever happen?” Come for the shootouts, stay for the laughs, and maybe learn a thing or two about how French cartoonists conquered the Old West one pixel at a time.

Lucky Luke (1998) with Insane Ian

Have you ever wanted to live the cowboy life while staying comfortably parked on your couch with a controller in hand? Well dust off that old PS1 and join us on a tumbleweed-tossed adventure into Lucky Luke, the 1998 game that lassos the comic's wild west flair…

We review one of the most famous #dccomics of the last 30 years with "Kingdom Come"! Plus the #movies, #music, #comics & more of 1996 courtesy of @shortboxsummary.bsky.social

Promos @playcomics.bsky.social @apdc.bsky.social

Website: buff.ly/usSRJCf

YouTube: youtu.be/o968QsKbGwc

Always a good time when I don't have to edit.

Fucking spot on

Robotech Invasion with Greg Sewart (Player One Podcast) Greg Sewart from the Player One Podcast stops by to give us an inside look at Robotech Invasion. After all, he did help make it.

IT LIVES!

@sewart.bsky.social invades to give me the inside scoop on Robotech Invasion. How does someone go from being a fan to working on the thing? And how is @cbake.bsky.social involved?

Promos from @mojoversepod.bsky.social and @invasionremake.bsky.social

playcomics.com/robotech-inv...

Robotech Invasion with Greg Sewart (Player One Podcast) Strap in for the mecha of your dreams, or nightmares, because this week on Play Comics we're transforming, exploding, and fighting our way through the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Robotech: Invasion, the PS2 and Xbox shooter that said, "You know what would make the Invid Invasion better? A first-person perspective and the ability to pilot a motorcycle that also becomes battle armor!" (Spoiler alert: it actually kinda worked!) This gloriously ambitious action game takes the New Generation saga of Robotech and asks the most important question: what if we gave players the chance to save Earth from alien protoplasmic parasites while somehow managing to keep their sense of humor intact? Featuring FPS combat, transforming Cyclone vehicles, and enough environmental destruction to make any resistance fighter proud, this 2004 adventure proves that sometimes the best way to fight an alien invasion is to embrace the chaos and enjoy the ride. Joining us on this mecha-piloting expedition is the phenomenally talented Greg Sewart from the Player One Podcast, a man who's been dissecting video games with the precision of a Robotech technician since before most of us even knew what a Veritech was. When Greg isn't co-hosting one of gaming's longest-running podcast institutions with fellow ex-games journalists, he's crafting the delightfully nerdy web series Generation 16 where he breaks down the games that shaped an entire generation with the kind of passion that can only come from actually living through these gaming eras. And here's the kicker, Greg has intimate knowledge of Robotech: Invasion that'll make this episode more insightful than your average "let's talk about this old game" discussion. Here's a hint, he helped make it. Together, we'll explore how this game managed to capture the desperate, war-torn atmosphere of Earth under Invid occupation, puzzle through the quirky design choices (inverted camera controls, anyone?), and debate whether transforming on the fly between Cyclone and battle armor is the best or most ridiculous gameplay mechanic ever conceived. Did this game successfully honor the Robotech universe, or did it get a little too ambitious for its own good? How does it stack up against the PS2's library of anime-inspired action games? And most importantly is the level design actually good, or are we just nostalgia-blinded? Lock and load your favorite energy weapon, adjust those camera settings immediately, and prepare yourself for an episode packed with more robotic transformation sequences than an afternoon spent watching the New Generation arc!

Robotech Invasion with Greg Sewart (Player One Podcast)

Strap in for the mecha of your dreams, or nightmares, because this week on Play Comics we're transforming, exploding, and fighting our way through the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Robotech: Invasion, the PS2 and Xbox shooter that said, "You…

Cover of an episode of Play Comics that will be looking at Robotech Invasion.

Coming tomorrow: @sewart.bsky.social refuses to call me a fake gamer or anything for my inability to play first person shooters.

Oh yeah, we also talked about Robotech Invasion. I guess I was burying the lead there.

Travel back to the #90s for Valiant's Unity Crossover! Plus another round of #comicbook Blind Rankings! What's the best gimmick cover? See what we say!

Promos: @ironageofcomics.bsky.social @playcomics.bsky.social @3riverscomicon.bsky.social

Listen & Subscribe at www.lastcomicshoppodcast.com