Sir Randall of Ye Old Press builds physical big box editions for games that only ever shipped digital. Hollow Knight: Silksong. Ocarina of Time on PC. Warframe. Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. He designs the box, prints the art, burns the game to an archive-grade disc, and puts it on the shelf. This week he joined The Game Show to talk about how he does it and why it matters, and Jack Burton made it in from a very late flight for the back half. Who Is Sir Randall of Ye Old Press? Randall got into this the way a lot…
Author: BreakmanX
BreakmanX
BreakmanX (AKA Matthew Nyquist) founded BreakmanX.com in 2001 after having small video game websites since around 1996. Things really took off in September of 2002 when he started The Game Show with Richie. BreakmanX.com quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers as the crew covered major industry events and interviewed top industry talent. Break later went to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts to get his MFA in Film and TV Production. He worked in Hollywood for seven years with people like Fred Roos (The Godfather Trilogy, Star Wars) and Dane Davis (The Matrix). He's now gone full circle and returned to Kansas to write and direct a feature film (EyesOpenMovie.com), relaunch The Game Show (BreakmanX.com), and spend his day time hours as an tenured Associate Professor.
We finally gave video game box art a full episode. Jess, Jack, and Logan each brought picks, the rules were loose on purpose, and Jess found something so cursed it stopped the show cold. The News First Jess opened with a Nintendogs rumor. Leaker Mallow932 claims a new one is in development for Switch 2. Nothing is confirmed, but the account has a decent track record. The bigger story was the Blizzard union ratifying its first contract. It covers 1,900 employees and includes guardrails on generative AI use, layoff protections, and remote and hybrid work benefits. That is a rare…
This week The Game Show gets into the packaging. Not the games themselves, but the boxes they came in and the manuals that used to be inside them. Break makes the case for Zelda, Mario, and Final Fantasy. The gold Zelda cartridge, the manual maps, the Amano art on the Final Fantasy boxes. Jess brings a list that covers a lot more ground. Super Mario Strikers, Pokémon Pinball, Vice City, Kingdom Hearts, Nier Automata, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dragon Age Origins, Hades, X-Men Legends, The Sims Medieval, Animal Crossing Wild World, Harvest Moon Save the Homeland, Resident Evil 7, and…
The best arcade games ever made are the topic this week, and the whole crew came ready. Break, Jack, Logan, and Darria each brought a list of favorites along with the arcade memories that go with them. Jess is out sick this week but will be back Tuesday for Pokémon. Nobody showed restraint with their lists and that’s how it should be. So what are the best arcade games of all time? Ask four hosts and you’ll get four very different answers, which is exactly why this episode exists. For me the answer starts with the Konami beat ’em up…
Tonight we’re talking cheat codes and the Game Genie. How they worked, why they worked, the arms race between publishers and kids trying to break their games. 🎮 About The Game ShowRunning since 2002, one of the earliest gaming podcasts around. Season 13 continues our look at consoles, industry news, and the games shaping it all. 🔗 LinksBreakmanX: https://breakmanx.comDiscord: linked at breakmanx.com ► MUSICOpening: Project X – Mega Man 2 “Project X2 – Title Screen” OC ReMix – https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00625Closing: Project X – Mega Man 2 “Ending” Buy the album here: https://projectx.bandcamp.com/album/m…
Everyone keeps warning me about a cow. It’s just a cow. Right? Badge three is on the line as Jess and Break take on Whitney at the Goldenrod Gym in Pokemon Crystal. Jess has been suspiciously quiet about Miltank, chat has been suspiciously loud, and Break is walking in blind like always. Plus the Odd Egg is still riding in the party, and Goldenrod’s got plenty left to explore. 🎮 Break & Jess Catch ‘Em All Jess is guiding Break through Pokémon Crystal for the very first time. New episode every Tuesday. 🔗 Links BreakmanX: https://breakmanx.com Discord: linked at breakmanx.com…
Every gamer has an opinion on this one. On this episode of The Game Show, we’re ranking 15 sequels that beat the original — games that took what came before and made it better in every way that matters. From NES classics to modern PS5 hits, here’s our list.
Episode 8 opened with the strangest inventory this series has had so far. Two badges. A wall of Game Corner coins from the night I got banned and came back for revenge. And the Odd Egg, which has been in the party for two episodes and will not hatch. I checked. If you’re just finding the series, here’s the short version. I’ve hosted a gaming podcast since 2002 and had never played a Pokemon game until Jess, who grew up on Crystal, started teaching me from zero on weekly streams. The full ten hour compilation of episodes 1 through 7…
There’s a ten hour video on the channel now, and I want to explain why it exists. I’ve hosted a gaming podcast since 2002, and for that entire run I carried a secret. I had never played a Pokemon game. Not Red, not Blue, not anything. Jess co-hosts our streams and grew up on Pokemon Crystal, and when she found out, she decided this could not stand. She offered to teach me from zero, live, one weekly session at a time. This compilation is the Pokemon Crystal full playthrough of everything so far. Seven episodes in one continuous video. The…
Every console generation has its share of failed game consoles. Tonight we dug into four of the most infamous: the Phantom, a system so vaporous it never actually shipped; Gizmondo, a handheld that got buried by scandal as much as bad hardware; Nokia’s N-Gage, a phone-console hybrid that satisfied nobody; and the Ouya, a crowdfunded Android console that promised to blow up the industry and instead became a punchline. We played most of these ourselves at E3 or when they hit shelves, so this isn’t secondhand. We lived through it. If you want more of this, we also covered the…
Two Pokemon Crystal daycare eggs. One city still left to explore. Let’s go. Picking Up: The Pokemon Crystal Daycare Eggs We left off last episode with a genuinely funny problem: two separate OddEggs, back to back, from the day care man and the day care lady inGoldenrod City. Neither of us planned for that. One egg from the daycare man, who apparently found it while looking after someone else’sPokemon. One from the day care lady, minutes later, no explanationneeded beyond “here’s an egg.” So now we’re carrying two Pokemon Crystal daycare eggs at once, and thisepisode is about figuring out…
The GameCube turns 25 this year. To celebrate, the whole crew got together to pick the best GameCube games of all time, and we agreed on almost nothing. Break makes the case for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Jess showed up with a list long enough to fill the whole episode, with Super Mario Sunshine, the Resident Evil remake, Animal Crossing, and both GameCube Harvest Moon games on it. Smash Bros. Melee came up about thirty seconds in, because of course it did. What Are the Best GameCube Games of All Time? That is the fight. The GameCube…
We’re back to weekly, and Goldenrod City did not disappoint. The Team Logan the Wooper had his best episode yet and went from “basically helpless”to nearly getting swept by poison and surviving anyway. Kakuna finallyevolved into Beedrill mid-battle, which felt earned after how long we saton that cocoon stage. Maul is still our MVP-in-waiting for the next gym,and we picked up a Jigglypuff along the way (named for our next scheduledguest, Coury — sorry in advance, Coury). We also spent a solid twenty minutes hunting Abra. Caught one Snubbull.Nearly lost Logan to a Jigglypuff bout that got way tenser than…
Darria Dennison is a filmmaker and actor based in the Topeka, Kansas area. She has worked on multiple award-winning films and projects as a cinematographer, editor, and actress. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and in Mass Media with a concentration in Film and Video from Washburn University. With skills in broadcast, in her time at KSNT News she helped develop and serve as the technical director and editor for the sports show K-Nation, which is a 30-minute special that covers news from KU and K-State Athletics Programs. She had the opportunity to attend, film, and edit a…
Every console generation has at least one add-on that promised big thingsand ended up in a bargain bin within a year. Tonight’s episode covers theworst offenders. Nintendo’s toy-robot gimmick from 1985 is on the list. Sois Microsoft finally pulling the plug on Kinect in 2017. THE CLASSICS The Sega 32X and Sega CD are the two everyone thinks of first, and forgood reason. The 32X launched the same month Sega announced the Saturn’sJapanese debut. That undercut its own $159 add-on before it had a chance.The Sega CD did a little better commercially, but 60% of its launchlibrary was full-motion video…
Azalea Town & the Slowpoke Well Mystery! We roll into Azalea Town and things get weird fast. Slowpoke are vanishing, the well’s got a Team Rocket problem, and we’ve still got a Gym Badge to earn from Bugsy. Jess and Break work through the puzzle, catch some new Pokémon, and figure out just how much trouble Team Rocket is causing in Johto. #Pokemon #PokemonCrystal #LetsPlay
The greatest video game villains of all time didn’t just stand between us and the ending. They deleted save files, kidnapped princesses, blew up planets, and made us put the controller down and walk away. On this episode of The Game Show, Break and the crew rank the most evil, most memorable, and most unfair bad guys in gaming history, and the number one pick did not go over quietly. Who Are the Greatest Video Game Villains? Every era has its icons. Dr. Wily rebuilt his robot masters no matter how many times Mega Man tore the fortress down. Bowser…
Two episodes into the grind and we are still not ready for Bugsy. Episode 4is more Route 32 encounters, more Union Cave, more experience points, andmore slow progress toward Azalea Town. Falkner is behind us. The Zephyr Badge is in the case. But Jess has beenwarning me about Bugsy since episode 2, and I am starting to believe her. The Grind Grinding is not glamorous. It is repetitive battles against wild Pokemonuntil your team hits the levels you need. In Crystal, the stretch betweenViolet City and Azalea Town is one of the classic early-game grinding zones.Route 32 has variety, Union…
This isn’t a thrift store find or an eBay rescue. It’s the exact NES I unboxed on Christmas morning 1988, the machine that started everything this site has ever been about. This is the NES restoration I owed it. The NES Restoration Plan It sat in storage since 2008. When I finally pulled it out, it was dying. The capacitors were done, the 72-pin connector was worn out, and it barely booted. I’d had consoles modded before, but this one needed more than a mod. It needed a resurrection. Enter Fenris Wolf Retro. The plan we landed on was a…
Some games bring people together. These are not those games. This week we’re counting down the local multiplayer classics that turned best friends into sworn enemies, one couch session at a time. From NBA Jam elbows to TMNT button-mashing betrayals, and Halo we get into why same-couch gaming bred the pettiest, most personal rivalries in the hobby. Screen-watching. Phantom controller “malfunctions” right as the comeback started. That one friend who only ever picked the broken character and swore it was skill. If you grew up handing someone the second controller and immediately regretting it, this episode is for you Watch,…
The crew walks the entire history of US console launch lineups in one sitting, starting with the 1985 NES — Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, Hogan’s Alley, Excite Bike, Kung Fu — and moving through the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo (Super Mario World, F-Zero, Gradius III, Final Fight), the botched surprise drop of the Sega Saturn, the original PlayStation, the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64, the Neo Geo AES at $200 a cartridge, the Sega Dreamcast, the PlayStation 2, the Xbox and Halo: Combat Evolved, the GameCube with Rogue Leader, and finally the $599 PlayStation 3. Returning guest…
First badge down, and the road only gets longer! Jess and Break leave Violet City behind and set out for the second gym in Pokémon Crystal. With the Zephyr Badge in the bag and Quilava ready to roll, we head south toward Azalea Town. That means Route 32, the trek through Union Cave, and whatever new Johto Pokémon we can catch along the way. Bugsy and the Hive Badge are the next target. Jess swears we haven’t seen anything yet, so we’ll find out. #Pokemon #PokemonCrystal #LetsPlay
My childhood NES has been sitting in a box for years. This episode, Fenris Wolf Retro joins the show to talk through the full restoration, from the NESRGB V5 install to getting a console from 1988 looking and playing like new. We get into what makes these old machines worth saving, the quirks of original hardware, and why this particular NES means what it does to me. Watch Fenris do the actual mod work on his channel: ► / @fenriswolfretro ►Modding my NES: • Nintendo Entertainment System Refurb & Upg… The Game Show is a long-running gaming podcast covering retro hardware, gaming history, and the stuff that…
Summer Game Fest 2026 hit the Dolby Theatre and we’re breaking down everything that mattered. The Game Show Crew react to the biggest reveals, the surprises, and the stuff that left us scratching our heads. We get into Resident Evil Veronica kicking the whole thing off, the Tupac and Snoop Dogg moment in Stranger Than Heaven, Alien Isolation 2 finally showing its face, and the GTA VI shadow hanging over the entire summer release calendar. Plus the indies, the world premieres, and whether Keighley’s show still fills the E3-shaped hole. The Game Show is a long-running gaming podcast covering retro…
Episode 1: Break had never played Pokemon. Episode 2: Break might actuallylove Pokemon. Jess saw this coming. Jess is teaching Break Pokemon Crystal, her favorite game, one episode ata time, until they catch ’em all (or die trying). This week we may have our first gym battleand the slow realization that this game has hooks.
The NES front loader has one fatal flaw: that blinking red light. Push a cart down, watch it strobe, blow on it, try again. Alex from BlueShell3D built the fix. The Nin10-Drawer swaps the worn out 72 pin connector for a toploader style slot and an extending drawer, so carts seat clean every time and pull out without the deathgrip. It even bypasses the lockout chip for region free play, no soldering required. In this episode we get the creator on to walk through how the drawer works, why the front loader fails in the first place, what went into…
The Game Show crew share their all-time favorite video game characters – the ones that shaped how they think about games, design, and storytelling. The Game Show has been running since September 28, 2002, predating the word “podcast.” Season 13. Chapters: Subscribe for new episodes weekly. Community: breakmanx.com/BMXcommunity Forum has been running since 2003. #TheGameShow #BreakmanX #VideoGames #RetroGaming ► MUSIC Opening: Project X – Mega Man 2 “Project X2 – Title Screen” OC ReMix – https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00625 Closing: Project X – Mega Man 2 “Ending” Buy the album here: https://projectx.bandcamp.com/album/m…
Break’s never played a Pokemon game in his life. Jess has. Pokemon Crystal is her favorite. So she’s teaching him, on stream, one episode at a time, until they catch ’em all (or die trying). This is Episode 1: New Bark Town, picking a starter, and figuring out what a Cyndaquil even is. The Game Show, one of the first gaming podcasts ever made, running since 2002. 🎙️ Hosts: Jess & BreakmanX 🎮 Game: Pokemon Crystal (Game Boy Color, 2000) 🔴 Streamed live on YouTube 🔗 https://breakmanx.com 📺 Subscribe for new episodes weekly #Pokemon #PokemonCrystal #GottaCatchEmAll #BreakmanX #GamingPodcast #FirstTimePlaying #GameBoyColor
Remember when you had to actually earn the costume? When the second quest meant something? When Mew was a rumor at recess and not a code on GameFAQs?Tonight we’re getting into unlockables and post-game content. The bonus modes, the secret characters, the harder difficulty that opened up after the credits. The stuff that turned a 10-hour game into a 40-hour obsession. We’ll talk about why it worked, when it died, and which games still do it right.From Smash Bros character rosters to Ocarina of Time’s Master Quest. From Mortal Kombat’s Reptile to Wind Waker’s second quest. From Resident Evil’s Mercenaries…
Karl Urban put on the sunglasses last Friday. Mortal Kombat II just hit theaters and its the best video game movie in years, according to critics. So tonight on The Game Show, we go through 34 years of the most controversial fighting game ever made. From the 1992 arcade cabinet that made Congress mad and birthed the ESRB, all the way to Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) and the brand-new movie sequel. Every mainline MK. Every console. Every blood code we typed in. The Senate hearings. Mortal Monday. The Toasty guy. ABACABB. The Tobias departure. Carl Weathers as Jax. Ash Williams…