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
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.
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…
Tonight on The Game Show, we’re cracking open the archive of gaming’s most beloved bugs and the glitches that built speedruns, broke economies, launched congressional hearings, and turned accidents into legends. From the Minus World to MissingNo, from the Backwards Long Jump to Hot Coffee, from Halo 2 sword flying to Skyrim’s flying giants, we’re going era by era through the moments games broke and somehow got better for it. Plus: Nintendo just shadow-dropped a Star Fox Direct today (May 6, 2026). A full remake of Star Fox 64 is hitting Switch 2 on June 25, the character designs are…
Some boss fights you beat. Others beat you so hard they live in your head rent-free twenty years later. This week on The Game Show, the crew goes around the table with our all-time favorite boss fights — the ones that raised the bar, the ones that ruined our controllers, and the ones we’d fight again tomorrow. From old-school pattern-memorizers to modern cinematic showdowns, everybody brought a pick. Some you’ll cheer for. Some you’ll argue with. At least one is going to make you open a new tab and go rewatch the cutscene. 🎮 What’s YOUR favorite boss fight of…
In 1997, I bought Final Fantasy VII. I beat Sephiroth in 60 hours. I spent another 40 breeding a gold chocobo. Today we’re ranking the mini-games that hijacked entire generations of gamers. From the Gold Saucer to the Chao Garden, Triple Triad to Gwent, Blitzball to Queen’s Blood — we dig through every generation to find the greatest mini-games ever hidden inside bigger games. Topics include: Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer & Chocobo Breeding Sonic Adventure 2’s Chao Garden The Witcher 3’s Gwent Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad Kingdom Hearts’ Gummi Ship …and dozens more across 30+ years of gaming.…
Happy April Fools! This week on The Game Show, we break down the massive Ocarina of Time remake leak for Switch 2, the new Star Fox game, and why there’s no 3D Mario until 2027. Then we get into our favorite funny moments in gaming. From GLaDOS roasting you through Portal to the King of All Cosmos drunkenly destroying the stars, plus the greatest April Fools pranks the gaming industry has ever pulled. EGM’s Sheng Long hoax, Blizzard’s armored cow, the Portal 2 ARG nobody believed, and ThinkGeek products that became real. The Game Show is one of the first…
What makes a video game performance truly unforgettable? This week on The Game Show, we break down our all-time favorite acting in video games — the performances that made us laugh, cry, and forget we were holding a controller. From motion capture legends to voice acting that defined entire franchises, we’re ranking the best of the best and arguing about who got robbed. We also dive into this week’s massive gaming news: Epic Games just laid off over 1,000 employees and killed multiple Fortnite modes. Crimson Desert launched to 3 million copies sold but deeply divided reviews. Rockstar cleared its…
November 18, 2001. Five in the morning, a Target parking lot, coffee going cold in the car. I camped out with my girlfriend (now Breakwoman X) and Richie, who would go on to co-host The Game Show with me, all of us waiting on a purple cube with a handle. This GameCube retrospective is the video I’ve been building toward for 25 years, because defending this console is part of why the show exists in the first place. Why the GameCube Failed The numbers were brutal. The PS2 launched 13 months earlier and finished at 155 million units. The Xbox…
Johnny Grafx Returns! ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan, Darria, and Jess into the mix. Running full steam into season 13 the crew hopes…
Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Patrick Stewart, Jackie Chan, Michael Jackson, and more in our celebrity focused episode! ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan, Darria,…
What games make you feel cozy? We’d love to hear. Tonight, we tell you our favorite cozy games. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan,…
All things Resident Evil Requiem and how we got here. The BreakmanX crew talks about their favorite Resident evil memories and excitement for the launch of Resident Evil Requiem. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 –…
Jeremy Parish joins us to enlighten us on all things video games. Jeremy runs the amazing Video Works series that features the NES, Genesis, SNES, and other consoles in providing some of the most in depth fantastic videos on YouTube. Jeremy Parish has been writing about video game history for so long that his earliest efforts have long since been lost to the dustbin of history themselves. After a decade and a half of attempting to engage with gaming’s present at sites like 1UP, IGN, and USgamer, he now spends all his creative energy recounting the medium’s origins as Media…
The Game Show crew talks about our favorite flash games of all time. What flash games do you love? Let us know in the comments. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006…
The best JRPGs we’ve ever played! The epic stories! The grinding! Its all here. Find out what our favorite JRPGs of all time are. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 –…
We’ve all had that exciting experience where we download a demo that rocks our world. The anticipation for the full release builds to a fever pitch. What are your favorite video game demos? ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013),…
I have quite the history with Halo. Making fun of it might have been the most important thing I did that first year of The Game Show. How did I go from making fun of it, to Halo 2 being the most important video game launch of all time for me? I cover it all, and finish by watching the actual launch video I uploaded on 11.8.04 on BreakmanX.com All footage captured on real hardware using the Retrotink 4k.
What games have the best video game art? ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan, Darria, and Jess into the mix. Running full steam into…
What games are we most anticipating in 2026? I can’t wait, can you? ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan, Darria, and Jess into the…
Mega Man 8 was poorly received during its initial release and only sold around 407,000 units, which is quite a drop from 1,510,000 for Mega Man 2. The 3D push at the time left it in the dust, but it has always been one of my absolute favorite games. The first episode of Break’s picks is a journey through a game that I think deserves more love, and I hope you’ll give it a shot. All footage captured on real hardware using the Retrotink 4k.
The Game Show crew proves how wrong we are about the games of 2025. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returned in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan, Darria, and Jess into…
Join The Game Show crew as we talk about our favorite gaming holiday memories. ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returns in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood ► Music: Opening: Project X…
Join The Game Show crew as we talk about our cinematics from video games! ► The Game Show began in 2002 and quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers, and interviewed top industry talent. Likely the first video game podcast, The Game Show ran for ten years where the team covered industry events and created a massive amount of content. The Game Show returns in 2025 after more than a decade with three hosts from the first run; BreakmanX (2002-2013), Jack Burt0n (2003 – 2005), and Maul (2006 – 2012) joined with fresh blood Logan and Darria as the…