Players

Squidge

Jay

G to the Next Level

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Show Notes

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

From active timer battling to zombie slaying, Waffling Taylors covers video games beyond.

In this episode, we have a returning guest G to the Next Level - little aside here: #dontCallMeShirely - to talk about his entire retail US Genesis library.

We cover wholesome gaming stories. A cautionary tale about drinking, and chainsaws. Yes, I said chainsaws. You want to know why chainsaws? Keep listening, and you’ll find out. It’s in there somewhere.

So sit back, grab some snacks, and get ready for this episode entitled "Genesis to the Next Level, a story about game collecting."

Enjoy.

And as soon as the episode started, the lie about their being pizza was out of the bag. Apparently, Squidge had promised some pizza to G to the Next Level but it had all been a ruse in order to get him to appear on the podcast. Pretty bad form, if you think about it. Meanwhile, Jay started talking about a very specific Jonathan Coulton song without talking about it of course

because it’s really rather rude, you see.

And keen listeners of the podcast will remember G to the Next Level appearing in the first two parts of our Sonic2sMonth special (which celebrated 30 years since Sonic 2sDay). Here are some links, in case you missed that one:

And when asked about himself, G had this to say:

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

So, yeah, I’m I’m G to the Next Level, you know, like, “welcome to the next level” with a G like me. I mostly do retro stuff, sometimes retro-inspired stuff. I do YouTube, I do Twitch four days a week.

I’m working on a project called Growing Up Genesis where basically I’m chronicling the entire library of the Sega Genesis - the official library from A to Z - on both YouTube and various other methods. I’ve been guessing at conventions all over the United States. Hopefully on your side of the world someday, hopefully. But yeah, that’s basically where you can find me.

And my whole thing is not just Sega, but it mostly involves Sega. I’ve been a fan of Sega since 1991, since getting the Sega Genesis for Christmas 1991. And ever since the Sega Genesis - or Mega Drive - has basically been a huge integral part in my video gaming life. And between that and one way to another is just ways to share not only my own childhood stories, just cool things about video games, cool facts that maybe you might not know, games that you might not have ever really played, that sort of thing.

And just bringing unique Sega spin on things that don’t quite get enough love in these days.

And the same thing on Twitch, too, because essentially I do, like, viewer requests on Twitch where people can request games for me to stream. I’ll do newer, retro inspired games that maybe people are just kind of on the fence whether or not they should play. I do community games on Friday nights on the Nintendo Switch. And then, like I said, that Growing Up Genesis project, it mainly all starts on Twitch and it spans off from there.

Recent Games

The Recent Games segment will not be new to listeners, but in case you’re new to the show here’s how it goes: we go round the table and discuss one or more game that we’ve been playing recently, and whether we think it’s worth the listeners checking it out. We continue to do this until we’ve run out of games to discuss.

And this episode was no different.

G to the Next Levels’ Recent Games

  • Splatoon 3
  • Hi-Fi Rush
  • Sonic Frontiers

Squidge’s Recent Games

  • Samurai Warriors 5
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Jay’s Recent Games

  • Phantasy Star Online
  • Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure

The Entire US Genesis Retail Game Library

One of the things that the boys wanted to talk to G to the Next Level about was his complete collection of US Genesis Retail games. Of course, before they could do that, they needed to settle on what “complete” meant; as there’s quite a lot of dissension amongst collectors.

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

I have to kind of clarify it when I talk about because there’s so many different aspects to collecting now and it was a day like CIB [complete in box]. Like complete box isn’t really CIB any more. There’s so many different things that have changed over the years.

That’s why I’m always careful to say that I have a US retail collection and not a complete US collection. Because the are some there’s a couple of asterisks in there that people will be like, "oh, well, if you don’t have Outback Joey, then you don’t have a complete collection." I don’t have a complete complete collection. I have a complete retail collection.

Because even though there’s some arguments behind it as whether or not this was actually sold in the stores, it was mainly a mail order thing. So it doesn’t really count. Most people don’t count it. And so that’s why I say retail just to avoid that little bit of discourse that might happen with something like that.

And for G to the Next Level, it’s about nostalgia and the love the for system, rather than anything else:

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

I gave up on those [Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD and Master System] unfortunately because I had to think about it for a minute. "How much of a personal nostalgia do I have for those consoles?"

And compared to the Genesis, I didn’t play Master System until way later. I got the Saturn a little bit later off because my parents didn’t buy me a Saturn for Christmas, because they were upset at Sega over to 32X. So they’re like, "no, we’re going to get you a PlayStation." So they got me a PlayStation, I got the Saturn later.

The Dreamcast I got from day one, and there’s a whole story behind that about how I got my Dreamcast on day one.

But there was the one system that’s always the constant for me and it’s the Mega drivel it’s the Genesis. So I’m proud to have that full collection.

But it was a little bit of everything. It was the hunt, it was the Quest because it was fun. And then the love of the system.

And it seemed like both Squidge and G to the Next Level have the same appreciation for their games and reasons for collecting their own libraries:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

I meant sort of like if I want to collect more of them, I’ve got two of the ones, I want.

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

You’ve got the ones you need. And that’s what it is. That’s what it is for me, too.

With the one exception, I did let go of one Sega CD game that I’m sad I let go of and that’s Snatcher, because I let go of Snatcher before I had actually finished playing it. And then I streamed it last year to completion. I literally almost cried on stream playing that game.

And a discussion which involves Burning Rangers ALWAYS ends up revolving around both the music and sound design of that game:

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

Burning Rangers: I grew up with as well, and I loved it.

But it completely changes the game playing Burning Rangers with headphones on; because I had never played it with headphones on until I streamed it and I played with headphones on. I was like, "yes. Hearing the fire and hearing the explosions."

The sound design on it is outstanding. They did an excellent job. Like when you can hear everything whenever the fire is about to burst and you can just hear the direction of where it’s coming from, so you could easily kind of dodge in the opposite direction. That’s so cool. It really, really changes everything.

G to the Next Level also shared a point which is both something that Jay believes in:

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

Play your games that way you want to play them. You want to emulate? that’s fine. I don’t really have any issues towards any of them.

Just don’t be a jerk. The rule simple: life is too short. We’re all ageing quicker than we really like to. We all have too many things to worry about. It’s not worth getting so caught up over something as trivial as a video game or much more so a cartoon hedgehog.

The Saturn Mini

Suddenly G to the Next Level issued a challenge:

G-to-the-Next-Level's Avatar G to the Next Level:

Actually, I have a question for you all too. I know we’re going a little bit off, if it’s okay, because I’m actually working on a video about this:

If there were to be a Saturn mini, what games do you want to see on it?

And Jay ruined everyone’s expectations by saying:

Jay's Avatar Jay:

So I was like, "Squidge, right, Saturn mini, let’s do this! I’ve got my twelve games or whatever I want to do here’s, the twelve games." And he’s like, "those are all the ones I would pick." So the list isn’t compelling. Right? We’re not arguing over something. Right?

We did our own sort of PlayStation mini, and we did a Dreamcast mini on the show that was mainly with our guest, Andrew Dickinson.

But Squidge did list his games:

  • Burning Rangers (of course)
  • Sega Rally
  • Athlete Kings / DecAthlete
  • Panzer Dragoon
  • Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
  • Panzer Dragoon Saga
  • Skeleton Warriors
  • Command & Conquer
  • Sonic R

And that is one heck of a line up, you’ll agree. And it covers a lot of the best games for the Saturn.

Jay here. I’d add Resident Evil (because getting it to run on a Saturn is a work of genius), Tunnel B-1, Blazing Dragons, and Manx TT Super Bike

Stand Out Genesis Games

Jay asked G to the Next Level if he could talk us all through some of the most stand out titles in his US Genesis Retail Game Library:

Jay's Avatar Jay:

Which ones are your favourites? And are there some in there that you think people may not have played? Because there’s tons of games. Some of your favorite ones.

And are some of them like the ones that are, like, off the beaten track?.

And G to the Next Level delivered in spades:

  • Streets of Rage 2 (because you can’t talk Genesis without the GOAT)
  • Ristar
  • El Viento
  • Granada
  • Elemental Master
  • Thunder Force
  • Road Rash 3
  • Road Rash
  • Skitchin'
  • Rolling Thunder 2
  • Rolling Thunder 3
  • Chelnov

And that was just SOME of them.

Most Difficult To Track Down

Jay wanted to know which where the hardest games to track down. So he asked - don’t ask, don’t get. Anyway:

Jay's Avatar Jay:

Would you mind sharing one or two games that were really hard to track down? The toughest ones to track down for your collection?

Not to sound too Buzzfeedy

at least, Buzzfeedy from before they hired all of their writers and replaced them with ChatGPT

but the story of number three will blow your mind:

  • Batman Returns
  • Kawasaki Superbike Challenge
  • Dune II

The Thunder Plain Games

For those who are new to the pod, we have a section called “Thunder Plain Games” which might be vaguely reminiscent of a certain programme on BBC Radio 4

but for copyright reasons, it is completely different

Imagine that you are in Final Fantasy X, and the Thunder Plains is a place that you get banished to. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to open a portal to the Thunder Plains and, very nicely and politely, boot you through it. You will get help, maybe it will be tomorrow, maybe it will be in a week, maybe it will be in an hour.

To stop you from getting bored, we’ve said that we’ll keep the portal open and we’ll throw through up to three video games and everything you need to play them - including an Internet connection. The only rules are that you can’t ask for help, because help is on the way, and you can’t tell anyone that you’re in the Thunder Plains.

So our question is: were we to do throw, boot, or yeet you through the portal, which games are we throwing through with you?

G to the Next Level’s Choices

  • Dance Dance Revolution A20
  • Tetris DS
  • Streets of Rage 4

Music

Links to the music used in the podcast can be found below. Definitely check them out, because they're amazing tracks by awesome musicians.

All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners. Please see the above list for copyright details pertaining to music used.

Games Covered

We mentioned 121 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: