The Insert Credit Show

Ep. 463 - Krang Cifaldi

The finest minds in video games return to discuss the enjoyment found in bad games, memorable NPCs, and ooey gooey sticky honey concoctions. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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SHOW NOTES:

Super Saiyan Son Goku (Mini)

Funko Pop

Crunchyroll

forums.insertcredit.com

“Now bear my arctic blast!”

Destructo Disc

“Scrib doon!”

Silent Hill series

Krang

Jesus Christ

Infinity Gauntlet

1: When do you find yourself most enjoying a game that’s not very good? (07:18)

Mystery Science Theater 3000

90% of Gambling Addicts Meme

Simple Series

Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

PC Engine

Sega Saturn

RndStranger

Pokémon

Seattle Mariners

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

2: Are there any old video games that you literally couldn’t make today, regardless of whether or not they’d be financially successful? (13:32)

Kinect

Vector monitor

Vectrex

Lament Configuration

PlayStation 3

Gyromite

R.O.B.

3: What are some of the most baffling launch events in video game history? (19:04)

Gizmondo

Dietrich

Tapwave Zodiac

PalmPilot

Banjo-Kazooie

Sue Bee Honey

The Price is Right

Phil Salvador: A promotional event where Nintendo had kids dive into a vat of honey to retrieve copies of Banjo-Kazooie

Willy Wonka

Buck Bumble

the photo from the press event

Wonka’s The Golden Ticket

Gene Wilder

4: Do you have any favorite weird little video game NPCs? (27:51)

Glup Shitto

Mina the Hollower

Undertale series

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Marauder Shields

Heat Flamesman

World of WarCraft: The Burning Crusade

Arator the Redeemer

World of Warcraft: Forever

Bombchu Girl

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Fallout: New Vegas

Mean Sonofabitch

Shopping District, Taiping Road

Baroque

5: BiggerJ asks, what do you remember about ROM sites from the early 2000’s? (34:09)

ROM

Tripod

GeoCities

7-Zip

WinRAR

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Napster

Kotaku: No, System of a Down Did Not Make a Zelda Song. But This Guy Did

Zophar’s Domain

EmuParadise

Dragon Ball Z games

6: When have you been most moved listening to a new version of an old song from a video game? (40:56)

Ys series

Ridge Racer series

Super Smash Bros. series

Psycho Soldier

Psycho Soldier Theme | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra - The Legend of Zelda Theme

Nobuo Uematsu

Bloody Tears

Castlevania: The Adventure - ReBirth

Phantasy Star series

7: What is the Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger (2026) of video games? (48:12)

Digger (2026)

Bluesky

NieR series

Barbarian (2022)

Megalopolis (2024)

Balan Wonderworld

Demonschool

Titanium Court

Dressmaker

You Can See Everything (2026)

The Nightlight

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (2026)

LIGHTNING ROUND: Before and After Burner (54:21)

(thanks to barleybap for the idea and the The Matrix: Path of Neo Turf Masters example)

Recommendations and Outro (01:00:56):

Brandon: Physical 100: Mexico, Physical 100: Italy, Vampire Crawlers, KFJC 89.7 FM

Ash: Thrifting

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Over one thousand questions have been submitted to the Question Hole at patreon.com/insertcredit, and now it’s up to legendary podcast host Alex Jaffe and legendary podcast editor Esper Quinn to answer more than 200 of them.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

nah, not for this one, sorry. Join us next week for your beloved Insert Credit panel, and yet another question from the depths of the Question Hole!

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Insert Credit co-founder Brandon Sheffield joins the panel to cover the current state of Japanese games, ace representation in video games, and owning seven PSPs.

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

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Batman

Black Mask

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Birds of Prey (2020)

Clock King

Batman (TV series)

Bill Finger

Mr. Freeze

Batman: The Animated Series

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series

Alfred Molina

Poison Ivy

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Riddler

Jim Carrey

Joker

Alfred Stryker

Matches Malone

“You’re getting a promotion!”

MobyGames

Takafumi Noma

Unicorn Overlord

Dawngazer

Alexandra Pestretzova

Sweet Baby Inc.

Viggo Mortensen Broke His Toe In ‘The Two Towers’

DJ Jazzy Jeff

Sega Genesis

DJ Jazzy Jeff playing a Sega Genesis

Britney Spears

Beyonce

Madden series

NBA Live ’96

1: Brandon, what’s going on in Japan with video games right now? (08:13)

Tokyo Game Show 2026

COVID-19

Kotaku: Over 85 Percent Of Japanese Game Developers Are Using AI

Crazy Taxi: World Tour

Level-5

Earth Defense Force 6.2: Invaders from Another World

miHoYo

2: How do you make equipment management fun in games? (15:25)

Hollow Knight

Mina the Hollower

Earthbound

Forspoken

Bayonetta

Demonschool

Dragon Quest series

Psychopomp

Sylvan Tale

Game Gear

Bonk series

Legend of Zelda series

Mega Man series

Paperboy

3: Which characters in video games can be claimed as asexual? (21:50)

Asexuality

Phoenix Wright

Ace Combat series

Ristar

Eliza

Parvati Holcomb

The Outer Worlds

Kazuma Kiryu

Yakuza series

Overwatch

Space Marine

Warhammer 40,000

Death Stranding - An Asexual World

Ryu

Pepsiman

4: What is the most ill-advised video game related purchase you’ve ever made? (30:02)

Odama

GameCube

PlayStation Portal

Nintendo Switch

Steam Deck

PlayStation 5

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

PC Engine

PSP

5: Room Check! (37:05)

Konami

Bill Elliott’s NASCAR Challenge

Book Off

Mutant League Football

Fester’s Quest

Uncle Fester

Atari 7800

Missing in Action (1984)

Midnight Mutants

Grandpa Munster

Pretty Pretty Princess

6: Joel Valentin asks, what game do you wish had become the defining influence in its genre? (50:05)

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Phantasy Star

Final Fantasy series

Chrono Trigger

Asuka 120% series

Gunstar Heroes

Final Fantasy Tactics

Shining Force

Nectaris: Military Madness

Jeanne d’Arc

LIGHTNING ROUND: The Forgotten-Named Game (54:14)

Recommendations and Outro (01:09:33)

Brandon: T-Ride, They Will Kill You (2026), Tippett Studios Visual Archive

Ash: Get away from the internet, go touch grass

Frank: Go touch grass

Jaffe: Go touch grass

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Writer, podcaster, and Hindu pandit Shivam Bhatt joins the panel to cover spirituality in games, Activision’s Halo, and video games for dogs. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Shivam Bhatt. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

“Peek Aboo Call Me Back And Nuisance Back. Pac-Mania.”

Nintendo 64

Mario Kart series

Nintendo DS

Ping Pals

Legend of Zelda series

Death Stranding

Quake III: Arena

Journey

Casual Magic with Shivam Bhatt

Shivam And Wheeler Love Magic

Chronicles of Dragonlance

1: Which video games have you had spiritual experiences with? (08:26)

Hinduism

Magic: The Gathering

Ramayana

Moses

Link

Cloud Strife

Rez

Tetris Effect

Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Jeopardy!

Dance Dance Revolution series

beatmania series

PlayStation VR

Child of Eden

Born again

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan / Elite Beat Agents series

The Righteous Gemstones

NieR: Automata

Orthodox Judaism

NetHack

2: What is the difference in tone and content between Western and Asian dramas? (19:54)

David and Goliath

Dark Shadows

Supernatural

Game of Thrones

Babylon 5

World of WarCraft

3: What is Activision’s Halo going to look like? (25:36)

Kotaku: Activision Taking Over Halo Franchise And What Remains Of Halo Studios Will Now Be A Support Team

Call of Duty series

Halo: Infinite

Halo: Reach

id Software

Pitfall!

Chopper Command

Grand Theft Auto VI

Elder Scrolls series

Madden series

NBA 2K series

Peak

BeamNG.drive

Roblox

Final Fantasy series

Burnout series

Bluey: The Videogame

4: Joel Valentin asks, what is something you thought only existed in video games until you were made aware of it in real life? (31:22)

Silent Hill series

The Simpsons

Super Mario series

Don Quijote

Yakuza series

Ifrit

Shiva

Sid Meier’s Civilization series

CalorieMate

Metal Gear Solid series

La Li Lu Le Lo

Ocarina

Echidna

Knuckles

Hedgehog

Sonic

DuckTales

Hollywood Reporter: Disney+ Revives Darkwing Duck

5: Brandon Sheffield asks, design a game for a dog (36:34)

Stella, the dog that “talks”

NOVA | Can Dogs Talk?

6: What is the printing a Magic card so imbalanced it has to be immediately banned from tournament play of video games? (40:23)

Akuma

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

League of Legends

Counter-Strike series

Tekken series

Pokemon series

Mewtwo

Kotaku: NES Tetris Players Call It ‘Rolling,’ And They’re Setting New World Records

Golf

Business Insider: They’re Probably Going To Ban The Putting Technique That Just Won The Masters

Soulslike

LIGHTNING ROUND: Planes Talkers (46:01)

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:58):

Frank: The Digital Archive at VGHF Library

Shivam: Sanjay Patel’s Ramayana and Mahabharata

Ash: Squeakross: Home Squeak Home, let Ash know what Warhammer she should read next

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Host of Post Games Chris Plante joins the panel to the future of video game journalism, the new Wolverine game, and a boxed copy of Microsoft Excel.

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

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Ep. 458 - Wet Adult Link, with Alex Fraioli

Wii

Nintendo DS

Playdate

Ivy the Kiwi?

Feel the Magic XY/XX

Samba De Amigo

Yuji Naka

“I’m a cat herder. My parents were cat herders. Their parents were cat herders, and their parents. I don’t understand why we do what we do but it is all I know.”

Kotaku

Polygon

Post Games

The Besties

Google Sheets

Microsoft Excel

Digital Archive at VGHF Library

Office Depot

Myst

Microsoft PowerPoint

Deluxe Paint 2

1: How can video games responsibly portray physical disability? (07:15)

alt.ctrl.GDC

Grand Theft Auto IV

to a T

Keita Takahashi

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Bennett Foddy

Mission: Impossible

Kim Possible

2: How important is fidelity in video game adaptation? (14:47)

Marvel’s Wolverine

Wolverine

Resident Evil (2026)

Jean Grey

Wario Land series

Paul W. S. Anderson

Halo

Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Marvel Spider-Man series

Batman: Arkham series

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Jurassic Park

3: Brandon Sheffield asks: what are some games that struck you immediately as being good, bad, or otherwise tailored toward you? (23:30)

Zombi 2 (1979)

Ranger X

Everyday Shooter

Golden Sun

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

2064: Read Only Memories

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series

Tales series

Xenogears series

4: How do you adapt a podcast into a broadway show? (29:03)

The Besties: Live On Broadway

TurboGrafx

Dreamcast

David Cage

Radiolab

Welcome to Night Vale

#IDARB

Rooster Teeth

Saturday Night Live

Mike Drucker

Mike Drucker: Shit Arcade

Cookie’s Bustle

5: Bigger J asks, there’s a lot of recurring level themes in platform games. What isn’t one, but should be? (36:23)

God of War series

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Toy Story series

Sega Genesis

Monster in My Pocket

Pokemon series

Bubsy series

NieR: Automata

6: Is there a future for professional video game journalism? (43:31)

Aftermath

Stephen Totilo

Saber Interactive

Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in The Video Game Industry

Mothership

Game Informer

Twitch

LIGHTNING ROUND: Arcade Of Our Own (52:46)

Recommendations and Outro (01:06:22):

Chris: Butter Side Down, Post Games

Frank: Try to watch things that don’t have commercials

Ash: Make shit to eat that you’ve never made before, Firefly Wedding

Jaffe: Pasta e Fagioli

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

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