"Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition" has arrived, bringing bite-sized speed run challenges from our favorite 8-bit '80s games. But more than just a nostalgia hit, this asynchronous online battle has some innovative delights, if you approach it with the right mindset. Matt shares impressions of his first week with the game.

Colette is finally out of her gaming funk and has gone hard on "Still Wakes the Deep," a nautical horror game that seriously delivers on vibes. Plus, her early impressions of the visually stunning action-RTS-tower-defense game "Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess," which is steeped in Japanese folklore. It hit Game Pass this week.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate" asks the question: What if "Hades" had couch co-op? Matt explains why the action roguelike (formerly exclusive to Apple Arcade) is an absolute JOY on Switch.

Plus: RIP Humble Games Publishing(?). The prolific publisher has laid off its entire staff under the management of Ziff Davis/IGN. It remains unclear if games like "Coral Island," "Slay the Spire," and "Unpacking" will still get marking support from this arm.

Also: Super Mario Dubstep!

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We're back in action to answer the question on everyone's mind LAST week: Who is Emio?

A mysterious trailer for a Nintendo-developed horror title set the game-o-verse abuzz. Turns out, the cryptic teaser is actually a sequel to a classic Japan-only Famicom game. Colette breaks down the details.

Also, a MASSIVE update to "No Man's Sky" just dropped, and Matt has returned to the galaxy to photograph new creatures and fancy water.

We discuss why we love being obsessed with a new game, and when going without that can be a challenge. Plus, the flow state of "Grapple Dog," and why the 2023 game "Sailing Era" is an impenetrable wall of poorly translated tutorials that Matt can't stop playing.

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miHoYo released their 3rd(!) gatcha game in the West within four years, called "Zenless Zone Zero," which blends "Genshin" style combat with a "Persona" vibe. It got 50 million downloads within days of release, cementing the Chinese developer as an absolute unit.

So, is ZZZ actually good? Colette shares her early impressions of the PS5 version.

Plus: The Steam Summer sale hit our wish lists hard this year. We share what's in our carts, along with the games our listening community scored on the cheap.

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This week is cut short by work and travel plans, but we have a BRIEF update on the games we're playing, including "Moonstone Island," a title that recently came to Switch. It blends cozy farm life and town romances with a Pokémon-style creature taming system, Wind Waker-esq exploration, and deck building battles.

So, is this indie life sim more than the sum of its heavily-inspired parts?

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We really tried to play some hot new demos this week, but alas, Nintendo has graced us with a banger of a Direct.

We tackle each announcement and calibrate hype levels, along with your most anticipated games coming to the Switch (2?). Among them, the reveal of a new Mario & Luigi game, a top-down Legend of Zelda where you — get this — play as Zelda, and the first footage of Metroid Prime 4 ever.

Plus: We remember Colette's 17-year-old cat Ender, who passed away this week.

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E3 may be gone, but video games INSIST on coming out! We are WHELMED with announcements, trailers, updates, teasers, and demos popping off from the Xbox Showcase, Wholesome Games Direct, Summer Game Fest, and more.

We can't cover them all, but we can each pick the 5 games that we're most excited about, and reveal them to you (and each other) one by one.

Also, baby's first D&D campaign! And weird sound effects!

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For the foreseeable future, we will only be playing video games that are:

A) Sequels

B) Start with the letter "H"

We don't make the rules. That's just how it is.

For some reason, we talk about exercise for a while. Then, Colette shares her "Hades 2" update as she approaches the "final boss" (which is probably not the end of the game), and the latest patch notes which may smooth out the difficulty curve on this very challenging game. And Matt explains why "Helldivers 2" has officially eaten his life.

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Hey! Something good just happened in the American justice system! We take a moment to high five democracy, even when it feels hard to do so.

More importantly, Sony dropped a State of Play which we didn't even watch because LIFE. So we peep in real time at the list of announcements and trailers. There are definitely some goodies in there for PS5 and PC players.

Sony also shared their revenue and profits in a recent presentation, and somehow, the PS5 is their most profitable console generation ever? How is this possible when the PS4 outsold it, the PS2 is the best-selling console of all time, and games themselves cost more than ever to produce? We get in the weeds on some promising theories.

Articles discussed in this episode:

• Kotaku: 7 Things We Just Learned About Sony’s Big PlayStation 5 Plans
• The Verge: The biggest announcements from PlayStation’s summer State of Play

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