This week on The Free Cheese, no fair, she drew more guns than me. We return to the launch of the PSP to check out how Konami diverted the Metal Gear Solid games and created something more suited for portability. Metal Gear Acid joins The List this week once we get over the fact that we move by cards, shoot by cards, and do everything else by cards…

This week on The Free Cheese, we have obtained the metatron ore. It's time we take on the role of Leo Stenbuck and climb into Jehuty. If that makes any sense to you, you already know how much fun we had this week. If not, come learn about Zone of the Enders with us. We discuss our time with the first game in the series, how it's connected to other …

This week on The Free Cheese, I’m yours forever. We’re revisiting our Game of the Game of the Year, only this time we’re together. Our fourth and final Wii Sports Killer for Season 12 enters the conversation as we discuss the new additions to Tetris Effect Connected, breakdown its individual modes, and reminisce on other games that made us feel som…

This week on The Free Cheese, the road is rainbow. We play Super Mario Kart in this episode and discuss how it started not only the kart racing genre but also opened the world up to crossovers. We compare the first entry to our favorites and talk about where it sits in the history of SNES games.

This week on The Free Cheese, is he on fire? Our first baseball game makes The List with MLB Slugfest 20-04. Just in time for the start of the season, we check out how the alternative to modern simulation baseball games holds up.

This week on The Free Cheese, you can't hack this boss. We finally check in with a game we've talked about for years to see how Starbreeze's Syndicate reimagines the classic strategy game. Can Brian Cox and Rosario Dawson save the story? Does Detective Vision™ enhance every game? Let's find out and rank Syndicate on The List!…

This week on The Free Cheese, did you think that the book was better? We point and click our way through Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, exploring each of the game's characters and stumbling our way into different endings. We discuss the central themes in the game, some of the surprises we found, and explore how the game feels …

This week on The Free Cheese, you have to get more of them. Our two panel members play through Pokémon Gold Version and Pokémon Silver Version. We visit Johto in this episode and discuss our third of four Wii Sports Killers. While only the second in the core series, the pair of games were originally intended to be the final games in the series and …

This week on The Free Cheese, time is a key to creation and a vessel for destruction! What happens when Atlus translates its Megami Tensei series into something to compete with other monster collecting RPGs on Game Boy Advance? The DemiKids are born! We take a look at the first and only DemiKids games to release in North America. We explore where t…

This week on The Free Cheese, play some games, dork! We join the WarioWare corporation five seconds at a time, punching, mashing, picking, and jumping all the way to the top. In this episode, we break down the essence of what makes WarioWare so intriguing and easy to learn. We look at how the game is able to satisfy each element of playing a video …

This week on The Free Cheese, everything is upside down. We revisit what we consider the title synonymous with Sony's original vision for the PlayStation Vita just in time for the platform's twelfth anniversary. While Gravity Rush would later receive a port to PlayStation 4 and a sequel on the platform, its beginnings on Vita are definitive. We dis…

This week on The Free Cheese, three sentences in three languages! Our second Wii Sports Killer™ is introduced this week in Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Nintendo Wii. We discuss its role as one of the Wii's best titles in the library, some of our favorite levels in the game, and how Yoshi adds to 3D Mario.…

This week on The Free Cheese, who will rule the world? First, we do some homework. Then, we try to take over the globe. Civilization VI marks our first 4X entry on The List and gives us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes as we play. We share our tips for getting started in a Civilization game and stories about some of the victories and loss…

This week on The Free Cheese, are your thighs sore? Nintendo continued its series of fitness video games with Ring Fit Adventure, creating a full role-playing game that happens to use your body as the controller. In this episode, we set goals for 2024 with Ring Fit Adventure, discuss the broad gameplay and scope of the game, and share the impact th…

This week on The Free Cheese, we are back in Greek mythology! Our first MSX game joins The List with Konami's Knightmare. We take control of the hero Popolon and battle through 8 stages, one line at a time. Knightmare transforms a traditional arcade shooter into an epic adventure but where does it lie within Konami's legacy?…

This week on The Free Cheese, infinite spiders! We add our first game to The List for Season 12, another of Compile's catalogue. The Guardian Legend combines top-down shooting with top-down exploration. We discuss how the blend of genres works to create something new and where this game ultimately falls in the history of the NES' library.…

This week on The Free Cheese, how do I become the demon? We begin our journey through Season 12 and toward potentially dethroning Wii Sports from its high perch above The List. Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved takes the spotlight as our first of four games chosen to become the new number one. We cover the campaign, our favorite moments and weapons, an…

This week on The Free Cheese, this ball is crystal clear We begin Season 12 with our annual predictions show. After reviewing last year's predictions and spending one final moment reflecting on 2023, we look forward to 2024 and cast our predictions for the year. We also introduce our first annual round of group questions. We highlight a bit of what…

This week on The Free Cheese, it’s the end of Season 11 - Part Two. As we conclude Season 11 and bring 2023 to its end, we each share our favorite games from the year. We discuss the games we liked the most from the new additions made to The List and close out with a small tease of what to expect in Season 12.…

This week on The Free Cheese, it’s the end of Season 11 - Part One. In the first part of our two-episode finale, we’ll be revisiting The List with new math and a brand new way to rank each game that you can try at home! We’ll also discuss some of the trends in 2023 that we found ourselves noticing and aligning with.…

This week on The Free Cheese, but it's got two screens. We're closing our three-part console ranking series with ten final additions to the list of consoles. At the beginning of this episode's recording, our ranked list of Consoles was: PlayStation 2 Nintendo 3DS PlayStation Xbox 360 Game Boy Advance Sega Dreamcast Xbox Super Nintendo Entertainment…

This week on The Free Cheese, it's cold outside. Our final month of Season 11 begins with a walk through winter. We're talking about Christmas in video games, special holiday events, and games that just generally evoke a winter sensibility.

This week on The Free Cheese, we are taking an adventure through Hyrule. After a month of focus on the latest game in The Legend of Zelda franchise we conclude with a broader conversation around the series as a whole. We find out which character we most resemble, select the best mask in its darkest game, and cast our vote for the most important liv…

This week on The Free Cheese, we conquer with power. Our discussion on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom concludes with a look at the game's story and the direction it sets for the future of the franchise. We reflect on six months with the game and rank it on The List.

This week on The Free Cheese, discovery grants us wisdom. Our discussion on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom continues with a look at the game's crafting system, the return of temples to the franchise, and how combat has changed since Breath of the Wild. We dive deep into the underground and discussion of the game's sense of exploration.…

This week on The Free Cheese, courage guides us forward. We take our first steps into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by reflecting on its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. Then, we discuss the opening hours of our time with Tears of the Kingdom.

This week on The Free Cheese, congratulations on your mansion! Luigi finds his vacuum in this GameCube launch title as he seeks the whereabouts of his older brother Mario. We suck up ghosts one by one until we find the true horror behind the mansion.

This week on The Free Cheese, trick or treat! We're stacking up the sequel to Costume Quest against The List in this broken age of double Fine references in a single sentence. We'll dress up as werewolves, candy corn, wizards, and dead presidents to bring Halloween back to life.

This week on The Free Cheese, the game where HE comes home! In celebration of its 40th anniversary, we’re adding the killer video game Halloween, based on the film of the same name, to The List. We’ll see how it stacks against the film it’s influenced by and find out why the ESRB turned out to be a necessity.…

This week in The Free Cheese, do you like thrill rides? We reveal the true reason behind our recording of Episode 498 earlier this year and add its remake to The List. We discuss what's changed in Capcom's remake of the game that defined third-person action and look at where the Resident Evil series is going.…

This week on The Free Cheese, bats don't like their picture taken. It's 1989 and Capcom just released the first survival horror video game, paralleling the film of the same name, Sweet Home. The game would later go on to inspire Resident Evil and remains an entertaining first step into the genre. We discuss the game, the film, and rank it on The Li…

This week on The Free Cheese, what did you learn? We chronicle the rough timeline of educational software and share key lessons we’ve learned in video games.

This week on The Free Cheese, pata pata pata pon. After a decade of successful games and growing imitations, FromSoftware took some departures with its formula while holding onto key aspects of the games it had been making. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice introduces the player to a new world, one with a story and cutscenes to back it, putting them in con…

This week on The Free Cheese, we're preinstalled with every CompUSA purchase! We're here to guide the great frog king on his journey to match the colors of three or more balls at a time. Chasing combo chains and gap bonuses, we find out where Zuma Deluxe ranks on The List.

This week on The Free Cheese, summer is over. Are you afraid of the dentist? Have you been helping the local newspaper find headlines? You might just be Shinnosuke Nohara on summer vacation. We play and rank Millennium Kitchen's spiritual successor to Boku no Natsuyasumi, finding the secret to summer along the way.…

This week on The Free Cheese, trophy unlocked. We pluck from our past and revive a few of our favorite segments from last year. First, we run through a series of This or That themed around the games we played in August. Then, we use random name generation to help us find sequels to games on our list without one. Finally, we try to guess a game on T…

This week on The Free Cheese, eighteen inch nails? id Software makes another appearance on The List with its sequel to Quake. Quake II takes the series in a new direction and we discuss how the different landscape influences the gameplay and our overall impression of the first id Software game without John Romero.…

This week on The Free Cheese, so is he still waiting? We’re going back to high school, or going back to someone’s high school this week to find out why the children are disappearing. We learn the secrets that await us within Leafmore High and figure out which one of the five of us knows how to run.

This week on The Free Cheese, Cryptid Kombat - Coming this Fall. After sharing some local horror icons, we wander through the woods to find ourselves in Simogo's Year Walk. Released on multiple platforms since 2013, we discuss the game and how it takes advantage of the unique properties of each platform it called home. We talk about its lasting imp…

This week on The Free Cheese, congratulations Gunpei Yokoi! Our second Console Ranking episode adds ten additional consoles to the list, many of which we've never held before. How do they stack up against our favorites? Tune in and find out.

This week on The Free Cheese, here comes a new challenger. Street Fighter 6 returns with a new entry, ready to reinvigorate longtime fans and create a new generation along the way. We talk about our Street Fighter history, fighting games, and break down the new modes and features before ranking it against the rest of the games on The List.…

This week on The Free Cheese, The Empire Strikes Back. Long before you could play your favorite characters in free-to-play video games, developers created movie and television show tie-in games that often strayed far enough from the source to become their own thing entirely. We take a look at one of the attempts at recapturing the magic of The Empi…

This week on The Free Cheese, anyone who says the subway is dangerous... We watch a comic book come to life in 2007's The Darkness and see how it holds up sixteen years later. Playing as Jackie Estacado, we wield The Darkness to enact revenge in New York City.

This week on The Free Cheese, Marc is a WeiNeR. Following up on our episode covering Rogue earlier this year, we watch the genre evolve on the Sega Genesis with—sorry, taking a break to hula dance—ToeJam & Earl. We run away from chickens with mortars, evil ice cream trucks, and herds of nerds as we search for ten ship parts that will help us to esc…

This week on The Free Cheese, how many eggs? As we close out the month of June, we discuss our Game of the Year so far and share updates on what we're looking most forward to playing in the remaining months. We return to some segments from Season 10 with a theme that keeps everything tied to our games for this month.…

This week on The Free Cheese, where ballers come to play. We play basketball outside of the arena in this episode, revisiting one of the best basketball games ever made. We discuss what makes this game so unique and how NBA 2K has changed the sport entirely.

This week on The Free Cheese, is this a boat? Dotemu revives a classic with new characters and a new look for a new generation. We learn the art of windjamming and spend some time this week reminiscing on air hockey as we rank another game on The List.

This week on The Free Cheese, I'd like to try increasing fun. Will you make the next great game for the Senga Exodus? Did your last effort fail to impress the magazine reviewers? Maybe you'll do better after hiring Shigeto Minamoto. Game Dev Story lets us start our own studio and see what it's like to manage a team of people making video games. We …

This week on The Free Cheese, we recommend playing this episode at 2X speed. We celebrate the history of speedrunning just in time for Summer Games Done Quick 2023. We look back at the beginnings of speedrunning, share some of our favorite runs, and offer insight into the games we would consider running.…

This week on The Free Cheese, shoutout to all the horses! We discuss our favorite companions in video games, both on and off the screen. We share the friendships we've built through games and what makes a bad in-game companion.