The Insert Credit Show

Editor and Media Critic Esper Quinn joins Jaffe, Frank and Brandon for an evening of video game writing, high volume of death, and the Mr. Bones Apology Tour.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

“This isn’t a brutality. This is a fatality.”

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Hyrule Field

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Title Screen

Panzer Dragoon - Title Screen

X-Men - Title Screen

The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night

Insert Credit Show

Topic Lords

Pokemon Red & Blue - Intro

Ep. 453 - Mega Duck and Cougar Boy

Game Boy Advance

1: What do you look for in a video game castle? (04:18)

Unicorn

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

Castlevania series

Super Mario 64

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Pokemon series

Baldur’s Gate III

Persona 5

Resident Evil 4

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Crow Country

2: What kinds of video games have the narrowest distinction between a good one and a bad one? (10:22)

Deadly Premonition

Earth Defense Force series

Blue Archive

Comiket

Love and Deepspace

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket

Norm!

3: Hey Esper, what are the hardest video games to find footage for when making the video edition of Insert Credit? (15:34)

PC-98

Recommendation Guy

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Daria’s Inferno

Creative Commons

MobyGames

MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity

Seaman

World of Longplays

10min Gameplay

4: What do video game writers get away with that would never fly in other media? (22:38)

Brad Pitt

Rick and Morty

5: Magnanimus asks, other than humans, what creature has been killed the most times across all video games? (26:58)

Turtle

Zombie

Goblin

Super Mario series

Goomba

Fungus

Minecraft

Vampire Survivors

Skeleton

Bat

Zubat

Robot

Cyborg

Mother 3

Slime

Cookie Clicker

The Felling of the One Hundred Centillion Turtle Goblins: A Morality Game (download, extract html file, and open in browser to play!)

6: On which occasions have you told someone specifically not to play a video game? (31:42)

MMO

Magic: the Gathering

The 3rd Birthday

Parasite Eve series

No Man’s Sky

PC-Engine

Ep. 423 - Explode My Bones

Mr. Bones

Valis series

Mr. Bones by shmumbler and Spectral in 36:09

Grateful Dead

7: What is the FLCL of video games? (35:44)

Gainax

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Rub Rabbits!

Star Fox series

Sin & Punishment

Shenmue series

No More Heroes

Bayonetta series

Platinum Games

MadWorld

Persona series

LIGHTNING ROUND: Magic: the Sortening (40:40)

Recommendations and Outro (01:00:11)

Brandon: Not Dracula 3000 (2004), Taskmaster Season 21, Please do not hang out in the street, the commentary for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Esper: The Mountain Goats - Days, Ekphrasis, Magic Every Day with Esper Quinn

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Frank, Ash, and Brandon answer Jaffe’s questions about simple ways to improve any game, documentary video game adaptations, and turning consoles into anime girls.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

BMX XXX

Burning Man

Acclaim Entertainment

David Cronenberg

“You point a gun at me? Your own kin? Your dear papa?”

Richter Belmont

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Dracula

1: What is something simple you can add to any video game to make it immediately better? (03:53)

Pac-Man series

Klonoa series

Sonic the Hedgehog series

Pokémon series

Tetris

the Pokemon track Ash was thinking of

Metal Gear Solid series

Billy Mitchell

Mystery Science Theater 3000

2: Is there something you’ve encountered in a game you can only explain as an inside joke? (10:43)

Fantasy Life

Nintendo DS

Pier Solar and the Great Architects

Indivisible

Baba Booey

Tetsuya Nomura

Kingdom Hearts III secret ending

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

MindsEye

Astal

Segagaga

Sega

Sony

Dreamcast

3: What are your standard practices for saving your game? (16:26)

Resident Evil 4

SiSTer FPGA

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Yakuza series

Baldur’s Gate series

PlayStation 4

4: Design anthropomorphized versions of obscure video game consoles for a Hyperdimension Neptunia reboot (21:48)

Hyperdimension Neptunia series

Gijinka

Playdate

Watara Supervision

WonderSwan

Mega Duck/Cougar Boy

Atari Lynx

N-Gage

Casio Loopy

Game Gear

Plug-n-play game

Wii

Shang Tsung

Nex Playground

Meta Ray-Bans

Socrates Interactive Patient System

Amiga CD32

Atari 2600

Intellivision

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Patty and Selma

Kotaku: Oh Dang, Magic: The Gathering Made Bilbo Baggins Hot

5: Death_Strandicoot asks, what would be the best documentary to adapt into a video game? (30:57)

GIRP

Super Size Me (2004)

March of the Penguins (2005)

March of the Penguins (DS game)

National Geographic

National Geographic licensees

Planet Earth

Critical Kate Willært

The King of Kong (2007)

VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Coffee Talk

Walter Day

Donkey Kong

Paris Is Burning (1990)

Stepmania

Wii

Kinect

Just Dance series

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (DOS game)

Her Story

Cold Case Files

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Unsolved Mysteries

Mothman

Grizzly Man (2005)

7 Up

Indie Game: The Movie (2012)

LuLaRoe

Blackfish (2013)

Ape Out

Jaws: Unleashed

Jaws series

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Solarpunk

Tetris (2023)

6: What games in the Game Industry Hardship Bundle do you think Frank, Ash, and Insert Credit listeners would like most? (36:30)

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure

A Short Hike

Holedown

Skatebird

Cool Kid Cody

NEC

TurboGrafx-16

Wheels of Aurelia 1978

Hyper Gunsport

Little Medusa

FutureGrind

Dirtbag Mahjong

Winter Witch

Magenta Horizon

Purrfect Apawcalypse

They Bleed Pixels

Dead Finger Dice: A Billionaire Killing Game

Drywall Eating Simulator

7: Whos a cool lady? (42:23)

Celeste

Madeline

Yasmine

Bayonetta

Hannah Waddingham

Ted Lasso

Moon Lee

Cynthia Rothrock

Chingmy Yau

Michelle Yeoh

Katie Mac

Lady and the Tramp

Semiramis

Michelle Obama

Amy Hennig

Danielle Bunten Berry

Esper Quinn

Ash Parrish

Maddy Thorson

Maddy Myers

Gita Jackson

52 Pickup

Noa Izumi

Birdo

Princess Daisy

Aerith Gainsborough

Samus Aran

Chun-Li

Bullet Witch

Ada Wong

Vivienne

Liara T’Soni

Tali’Zorah

Shale

Amaterasu

Malenia

LIGHTNING ROUND: Verb Coding (48:17)

Recommendations and Outro (56:36):

Brandon: NEWDERY Stick Grips, Beatdown City Survivors, Napalm Death: Tiny Desk Concert

Ash: Clytemnestra, Platform Decay, Ancillary Justice

Jaffe: Absolute Wonder Woman

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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The panel you know and love returns to discuss E3, user generated content, and Ryan Baby Goose.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

The Criterion Channel

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

The Samurai and the Prisoner (2026)

Akira Kurosawa

Gatorade Zero Glacier Cherry

Costco

Water

Vitamin Water XXX

xXx (2002)

Stella Sacco

1: What’s everybody been up to lately? (03:13)

San Diego Comic-Con

Funko Pop

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Star Trek

Steve Ditko

Kimba the White Lion

Batman

Hutchinson Island

Sea turtle

Crow

Lemming

Sea cucumber

Rabbit

Florida Keys

Jellyfish

America the Beautiful

2 What was E3 like? (12:06)

E3

Dreamcast

PlayStation 2

Crash Bandicoot

NEC Interchannel

PC Engine

The Video Game History Foundation E3 Collection

Carolyn Rauch

The Beatles: Rock Band

Sega Saturn

PlayStation

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Game Informer

Spider-Man

3: What are the best implementations of weather effects in video games? (19:27)

Haunted Mansion

Soulslike

Final Fantasy X

Ghostwire: Tokyo

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Super Mario series

Looney Tunes

Journey to the West

Astro Boy

Astro Bot

Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball

Peanut Butter the Speedrunning Dog

Jerry Rice & Nitus’s Dog Football

Hollywood Reporter: ‘Air Bud Returns’ Movie Reboot Sets Cast Ahead of 2026 Release

Variety: Ryan Gosling Cast as Ghost Rider in Marvel Movie

Baby Driver (2017)

Ryan Gosling

Gosling

4: Design a dating game that takes place at the Cheesecake Factory (25:05)

Cheesecake Factory

Applebee’s

Bucca di Beppo

Chipotle

Pia Carrot e Yōkoso!! series

Date Everything

5: Room Check! (32:24)

Game Developer Conference

Children’s Fairyland

“It’s Just Emulation!”: The Challenge of Selling Old Games

It’s Still Emulation: Saving Video Game History Before It’s Too Late

Preserving Game History: It’s Just Us

Bubsy

Gunpla

MS-09 Dom

Advanced Variable Geo

6: SteveWithAB asks, what was a major inflection point for video games that didn’t feel like one at the time? (40:04)

Roblox

Dreams

LittleBigPlanet

Minecraft

Elden Ring

Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of America Inc.

7: What is the Emily Wilson’s critique of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey of video games? (45:29)

Emily Wilson

Christopher Nolan

The Odyssey (2026)

NPR: ‘Odyssey’ translator Emily Wilson says Nolan shouldn’t have written the movie himself

Hideo Kojima

Capcom

Dante’s Inferno

Console Wars

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Stellar Blade

Bayonetta

Dracula

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Sephiroth

Anne Rice

LIGHTNING ROUND: Notable Patreon Characters (54:22)

Recommendations and Outro (01:05:31):

Brandon: Game Industry Hardship Bundle

Ash: Drink more tea

Frank: Go somewhere without an agenda

Jaffe: Magic Every Day with Esper Quinn

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Writer and narrative designer Stella Sacco joins Brandon and Esper to cover pandering in games, T4T energy, and dokidokidecahedrons. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Brandon Sheffield, Esper Quinn, and Stella Sacco. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Joe Rogan

“Dig ’em dig ’em dug dig ’em!”

Italy

Saint Patrick’s Day

Scotland

Czech Republic

Germany

England

Ohio

CNBC: 5 biggest risks of sharing your DNA with consumer genetic-testing companies

North American fur trade

Canada

Russia

Hungary

Mario

Sacco and Vanzetti

Joan Baez & Ennio Morricone - Here’s To You

1: What’s the difference between catering to an audience and pandering to an audience? (03:59)

Fan service

Mass Effect 3 ending controversy

Love and Deepspace

2B

NieR: Automata

NieR

Stellar Blade

Tekken 3

Panda

2: What are some things video game writers have to do that most people don’t think about? (09:19)

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

TLC - Waterfalls

3: Are there any examples of studio notes improving a game? (14:42)

I Am the Night

Batman: the Animated Series

Albert Pyun

Cyborg

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Cyberpunk 2077

Pokemon

Game Link Cable

Hideo Kojima

Metal Gear Solid series

George Lucas

4: Which video game romance has the most T4T energy? (21:51)

T4T

Demonschool

Princess Peach

Bowser

Destiny

Eris Morn

The Drifter

Avalanche

Motoko Kusanagi

Tachikoma

Batou

Link

Zelda

Dragon Age II

Mass Effect series

Lady Dimitrescu

Baldur’s Gate III

Shadowheart

Halsin

Karlach

Gale

Tidus

Wakka

Banjo-Kazooie

Bridget

Guilty Gear series

Tracer

Bernard Dowd

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER: Gen Z/Gen Alpha Only! What was your first video game? (27:16)

5: Gaagaagiins asks, why is Mario’s mustache black, but his hair is brown? (35:16)

Super Mario 64

Zohran Mamdani

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

George Costanza

Heihachi Mishima

Persona series

Auron

Sam Elliott

Stellar Blade 2

Diana

Bayonetta

Master Higgins

Master Chief

Cortana

Green Arrow

Sonic the Hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog

Espio the Chameleon

6: In video games with dialogue, is it always preferable to have voice acting? (42:11)

Fire Emblem series

Resident Evil 4

Ashley Graham

Forspoken

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Troy Baker

Legend of Dragoon

Tom Clancy’s The Division

Earth Defense Force series

Hulk

Jonathan Hickman

7: What is the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) of video games? (52:57)

Street Fighter the Movie the Game

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016)

Batman: Arkham series

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Die Hard Arcade

Die Hard (1988)

Star Wars: Episode I - Racer

Knights of the Old Republic series

Platoon

LIGHTNING ROUND: Name Design - Giallo Films (58:40)

Recommendations and Outro (01:11:43):

Stella: The Tainted Cup

Esper: Magic Every Day with Esper Quinn starting August 3, Twinbeard Plays Mario

Brandon: KALX, Poil - Pikiwa, Chubby Checker - Dig Dug, The Anime Corner Store, Freeway (1996)

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

The panel covers game cancellations, Gen Z’s first games, and consummating a game.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Suikoden

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Je suis-koden

“What are you doing dying! Awful! Start over!”

Triceratops

Tyrannosaurus

Pachycephalosaurus

Ankylosaurus

Stegosaurus

Monster Hunter series

1: What game do you think was the first game for the highest percentage of Gen Z gamers? (03:14)

Generation Z

Minecraft

Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Wii Sports

Guitar Hero series

Angry Birds

Subway Surfers

Roblox

Generation Alpha

Mega Man: Legacy Collection

Nintendo 64

2: What was the longest you have been stuck on a video game? (08:52)

Exile: Wicked Phenomenon

TurboGrafx

Shenmue II

Tomb Raider II

PlayStation

Bubsy

Prima Strategy Guides

GameFAQs

3: What’s the hardest you’ve ever been hit by a video game cancellation? (15:32)

Data West

Bonk RPG

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

SNK

King of Fighters series

Vectorman series

Sonic X-treme

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Final Fantasy XV

Forbes: An ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Civil War Game Was Canceled Because Of Yasuke Reaction, US Politics

Red Dead Redemption

Mafia III

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag - Freedom Cry

Castle Wolfenstein series

Kotaku: Warner Bros. Cancels Wonder Woman Game And Shuts Down Shadow Of Mordor Studio

X-Women: The Sinister Virus

EarthBound 64

The Adventures of Batman & Robin

Jesper Kyd

Kingdom Hearts IV

4: If you could replace the words “Press Start” on video game start up screens with any other phrase, what would it be? (21:50)

Insert Credit

Elite Beat Agents

TurboGrafx

Nintendo Entertainment System

Chulip

5: Propelleher asks, what video game character would you trust to house sit for you while you’re away? (26:44)

Kazuma Kiryu

Frey Holland

Big the Cat

Sonic the Hedgehog

King

Jack

Blanka

Chibi-Robo

Servbot

Dr. Robotnik

Scratch

Grounder

Miles “Tails” Prower

Cream the Rabbit

Amy Rose

Knuckles’ Chaotix

Charmy Bee

Cheese the Chao

Blaze the Cat

Goofy

Pluto

6: What do you predict will be the final non-Nintendo game released on a disc? (32:49)

Wii U

Call of Duty series

Sega Genesis

FIFA series

Nintendo Switch 2

PlayStation 2

PlayStation 3

MLB series

Just Dance series

PlayStation 5

Frogger

GameBoy Color

Game Gear

Ms. Pac-Man

7: What is the Chubby Checker’s “Let’s Twist Again” of video games? (36:05)

Chubby Checker

The Twist

Let’s Twist Again

Twistin’ USA

Twist It Up

Do The Freddie

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake

Bubsy series

Street Fighter II series

Mortal Kombat series

Overwatch 2

Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

Super Mario 64

Lair

Sixaxis

The Last of Us series

LIGHTNING ROUND: Micro Maker (41:25)

Recommendations and Outro (52:12):

Brandon: Flamin’ Hot Doritos, dried jackfruit, check out your local physical media place and just look around

Frank: That’s It Organic Fruit Crunchables, figure out how to consume media without watching ads because the social contract has been broken

Ash: Fla-Vor-Ice

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Gen Z/Gen Alpha listeners ONLY! Send a one minute or less .mp3 or .wav of yourself sharing your first video game, the games you remember your older siblings playing, or what you think the final Prima Strategy Guide was to show@insertcredit.com and maybe we’ll play it on air in a future episode!

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