We're celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Nintendo's original Donkey Kong arcade game this week on the podcast with a salute to some of the gorilla's best games spanning from the very beginning through his 16-bit rebirth into the modern era. Join us for memories and a to-do list of games you need to play; yes, the Country series is in there, but we also go into the weeds with lesser known games such as King of Swing and Barrel Blast. You'll be busy long after the discussion ends. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below,... Continue reading

Nintendo has finally lifted the veil on an updated model of its popular Switch console after months of rumors. This new Switch offers a brighter OLED screen, a wired LAN port on the system dock, a wider kickstand, enhanced audio, and 64 GB of internal storage. Basically, it's a mid-cycle quality of life upgrade. Don't expect anything new that would change the game (no pun intended); the new Switch still tops out at 1080p resolution when docked, so no 4K powerhouse here. It'll cost $349.99 when it releases on October 8, 2021. Here's Nintendo's announcement video featuring plenty of happy... Continue reading

The video gaming community is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis this month, and Sega is celebrating too with a series of events, products, and new games all coming out this year. Last week one of those events blew the doors off the Internet, so if you missed the Sonic Symphony, it's time to set aside two hours and watch some of Sonic's greatest musical hits performed by a symphony and fan-favorite rock bands such as Crush 40 that have contributed to the franchise's soundtracks over the years. The expected games are... Continue reading

Bend Studio's Days Gone for the Sony PlayStation 4 landed with somewhat of a thud when it released two years ago, but multiple patches, being free for PlayStation 5 owners, and a recent PC port have revitalized the zombie apocolypse title, giving it a second wind and a new admiration that it didn't have before. On this week's podcast, I explain to Blake Grundman why more people need to play this game by spoiling the hell out of it, so if you want to know the main story beats before deciding to invest thirty hours or more into the game,... Continue reading

Plenty of us passed over WayForward's Shantae when it was released for the Game Boy Color back in 2002. After all, it showed up very late in the GBC's lifespan and, if you didn't know any better, you might mistakenly peg it as a childrens' game about a cute little genie that uses the power of dance to fight her enemies including the dastardly pirate, Risky Boots. Boy, did we miss out. There's actually a lot of tricky platforming and sly innuendo that makes the game more appropriate for an older audience than a younger one. As series co-creator Matt... Continue reading

Nintendo announced a new 2D platformer Metroid game earlier today and for those of us who have been around a while, the title of the game, Metroid Dread, set off a few bells. Metroid Dread was first rumored back in 2005 when it supposedly appeared on a Nintendo release list just prior to E3. I never saw that list posted from an official Nintendo source, so I was doubtful that it was truly a real project, but the game hung around in the mythos for a while as fans wondered what it could be. Then Dread was supposedly cancelled, but... Continue reading

A long time ago when I lived in a different house far, far away I bought a PlayStation VR unit, but have not used it very often after the original wow factor wore off. Zen Studios has encouraged me to dust it off thanks to the new Star Wars Pinball VR, and of course Blake Grundman is flying high with his various Oculus headsets to try it too. We have an hour of discussion about the game, the new tables based on The Mandalorian and classic collectibles, the career mode, the decorative fan cave, and much more, plus Blake went... Continue reading

The old saying goes: you can pick your cats, and you can pick your toys, but you can't pick your cat's toys. Buy a cat a fancy new toy and she'll prefer to play with the cardboard box that it came in instead. Set out a tower for a cat to climb, and they'll stare at it and then walk away unimpressed. My wife had an old, scratched-up cat tree that has put in many years of service that, after all this time, the cats in our clowder have grown bored of playing in and sleeping on. We had it... Continue reading

Here on the Power Button podcast we pride ourselves on being topical and current, so this week's episode is a discussion celebrating the Nintendo 3DS's tenth anniversary which happened back in March. Better late than never! Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on... Continue reading

Sony made some waves in the gaming community recently when it was announced that they were closing the PSN stores for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita. There was such a loud uproar of resistance to this news that Sony doublebacked on the plan and will leave the PS3 and Vita stores open while the PSP is still closing down. This led us to start talking about our favorite video games that have been delisted from online stores, never to be seen again. This week's podcast is all about those lost games that we still love and may... Continue reading

Sega and Konami had trouble making a partnership involving the famed Castlevania franchise work. Despite releasing Bloodlines for the Genesis in 1994, plans to produce Castlevania titles for the 32X and Dreamcast never did come to fruition as those hardware platforms went down in flames in the market. One of the more intriguing cancelled games is Castlevania Resurrection for the Dreamcast which focused on the then-origin of the Belmont family line, Sonia Belmont from, 1997's Castlevania Legends, as she embarked on a 3D adventure that was to be a step up from what the 3D Castlevania titles on the Nintendo... Continue reading

Since buying a Sony PlayStation 5 last November I have played a number of games on the console, and while they've been impressive to experience, save for the pack-in Astro's Playroom, every game has felt like a dressed-up, boosted version of a PlayStation 4 game. In truth, many have been exactly that: PS4 games with increased texture detail and more impressive lighting. Sony and Insomniac Games revealed a new trailer for the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart this morning that has me feeling that the next generation we've all been promised in interviews and marketing is finally about to... Continue reading

Over the past few years Hallmark has produced a variety of its popular Keepsake ornaments for a range of video game franchises, and while we started out with just a handful of Super Mario ornaments, this year the product line as revealed early by Keepsake fan site Digital Dream Book has expanded to include a little something for everyone from Caped Mario's famous Super Mario World appearance to a pair of 8-bit pixelized Link and Princess Zelda ornaments to commemorate the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda with Sonic the Hedgehog and his pals showing up for the Sega... Continue reading

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance turns twenty years old in month, so it's the perfect time to reminisce about one of the strongest handheld libraries that only use a single screen. On this week's episode we're sharing GBA stories, covering the usual suspect games like Super Mario Advance, and recommending some obscurities such as Drill Dozer, marveling at unusual accessories including motion sensors, rumble paks, TV tuners, media players, and the e-Reader. Join us for an hour of conversation about the popular handheld. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via... Continue reading

It feels like we've been talking about an upgraded Nintendo Switch Pro model for almost as many years as we've talked about the existing Switch, so when rumors about a more powerful version of the console start to circulate, I usually disregard them. When Bloomberg is the source though, I tend to pay a bit more attention. Today's report is that Nintendo is working on a new Switch model destined for release later this year that will display 4K visuals when docked to the television and sport a larger screen (but not 4K) when played in handheld mode. The new... Continue reading

Nintendo has started to come out of announcement hibernation with a recent Nintendo Direct presentation loaded with new games and remakes of favorite titles plus a separate Pokémon Direct presentation with news of its own to cover. On this week's podcast, we break down the biggest news from the shows and discuss what it all means. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past... Continue reading

I think by now most everyone in the gaming community has made peace with the knowledge that the Nintendo 3DS's best days are behind it as the Nintendo Switch (and especially Switch Lite) has taken over its market in the handheld gaming space. Now Nintendo is driving the next nail in its coffin with the announcement coming ten years to the day of the launch of the original 3DS that after March 31, the company will no longer offer repair service on the original Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL models due to a lack of replacement parts. Service for the... Continue reading

Hobbyist ROM hackers and modders have made minor changes to classic video games since the dawn of computer gaming. Well, maybe not the dawn. Perhaps the week after the dawn. When I was first dabbling with console emulation back in the 1990s I saw a glut of crudely changed games clearly altered for shock value such as nude and/or racism-inspired hacks of Super Mario Bros. where all someone did was change a few pixels here and there. Today that scene has evolved, and while I'm sure there are still young teens making trash for their own amusement, most hacks and... Continue reading

Backwards-Compatible.com entry for Ghostbusters: The Video Game Sony's PlayStation 5 is thankfully backward compatible with the PlayStation 4 and most all PS4 games can be played on PS5 and often with an improved experience. Games that ran at thirty frames per second on a PS4 run at sixty frames per second on a PS5. Resolutions can increase. Not every game is improved in the same way though and it's up to players to try their favorite games to see how they perform. Now there's a centralized database of enhancements that makes the process so much simpler. Backwards-Compatible.com organizes all of... Continue reading

Today when you talk about handheld gaming, most players think of a Nintendo Switch or a mobile device connected to a remote play or cloud gaming service. Twenty years ago, handheld gaming meant carting around a Game Boy Color. Thirty years ago? Well, there was the original Game Boy, of course, but for a cheaper and more portable experience there were the Nelsonic gaming watches featuring famous licensed franchises from Nintendo including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. I wrote about my cherished Mario watch back in 2006, but Brian Crecente at Pad and Pixel dug... Continue reading

Another year done means a new batch of video games elevated into the vaunted Top 5 List of our Game of the Year picks. This week on the podcast we discuss our top picks for 2020 along with a few honorable mentions. Will the next-gen consoles sweep the honors or is there still juice in last generation's library? We have a supersized show in which to hash it all out. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into... Continue reading

With the portal sealed and 2020 banished back into Hell, it's time for our customary look back at the most memorable video gaming news from the year that was. Thanks to the coronavirus, 2020's news was largely "inside baseball" in nature as nobody could safely stage a large physical presence at a convention or trade show, but there was still plenty to talk about as Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary, Apple and Epic go to war over - what else? - money, Microsoft goes on a buying spree, and so much more. Download this week's episode directly... Continue reading

We're taking a break from video games this week to discuss Blake's recent source of excitement, The Mandalorian. Spoilers ahead for seasons one and two! And we also dip into Wonder Woman 1984 as a sidequest using Pedro Pascal's presence in both as a stepping stone. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can... Continue reading

While my wife and I have only been married two months, we've been together for five years now and always have fun exchanging gifts. She's the artistic one and is a master of tailoring, crafting, and painting, and she's given me several of her creations that have special romantic sentiment to us that also tie together with our love of video games. Climb our stairway and you'll find framed photos of us next to the jerkass goose from Untitled Goose Game stitched with his to-do list of tasks, one of which is a crossed off "Steal your heart". Around the... Continue reading

After spending time with the Sony PlayStation 5, we are finally ready to discuss our initial experiences with the console and playing games such as Astro's Playroom, Watch Dogs Legion, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Plus, Blake Grundman tells the story of spycraft and heisting that went into him acquiring a console and, in a sidequest, we touch on the recent Cyberpunk 2077 issues that have been in the news lately. Join us for an hour before we go back to playing PS5. Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via... Continue reading