PPR 157

t’s finally here! At the top of what was arguably the most chaotic week for video games in 2025, the Nintendo Switch 2 is available now, and we’re going to spend this whole episode talking about our first impressions of it.

The roundtable of chairs for the show this go-around features George, Andrew, and a very special guest, Greg Sewart, one of the Co-hosts of the esteemed Player One Podcast, and Electronic Gaming Monthly alumni, and we don’t waste any time dishing it up on Nintendo’s new thingy. From the technical performance between its handheld mode and docked mode to the ergonomic feel and system calibration, the crew tries to cover every granular detail they can about the system, the new features available, and the only real launch title released for the platform, Mario Kart World.

Is it worth the hype (or more importantly, the price?) Who knows! We’re here to gush and gripe about the damn thing and share our initial thoughts so far on the successor to a nine-year-old (yes, you read that right) platform, and the roller-coaster of emotions we’ve experienced with Nintendo’s aging hybrid console leading up to this point.

We Hope you enjoy the show, and please be sure to subscribe to the Player One Podcast if you haven’t already!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Limelight Double-Feature: Mario Kart World & Slitterhead

ife’s been a bit busier than usual…BUT NOT TOO BUSY TO SNAG THE LATEST HARDWARE FROM NINTENDO YA HEEEAAAARRRD-DUH?!

Yup, despite a clumsy-ass preorder experience, George was able to bring the Switch 2 home, and he’s jonesing to stream the big new launch title that debuted with the platform, Mario Kart World!

Since Press Pause Radio is running behind on its streaming schedule though, some adjustments had to be made, and it looks like the cast has settled on making this Sunday a “Double-Feature” sort of production! So, in addition to getting a new look at Mario Kart World, we’re then going to heavily lead into some tonal whiplash and also broadcast some gameplay from one the sleeper-hits of 2024, Bokeh Game Studio Inc.’s Slitterhead. This body-horror action title seemingly…slittered between the cracks, and didn’t get the buzz we think it deserves, especially when you consider that it was masterminded by Keiichiro friggin’ Toyama, the visionary behind Silent Hill and Gravity Rush.

Be sure to tune in to our Twitch at 7:00 PM PST on 06/08/2025 to watch our gameplay of new Nintendo hardware and weird-ass obscurities! You can check out the streams here or directly on our Twitch Channel, and vibe along with us as we work towards ushering in a new age of Limelight for y'all!

PPR Presents Limelight: South of Midnight

t’s been 12 years since we’ve enjoyed the work of Compulsion Games with their captivating debut release of Contrast that was followed by their disappointingly disjointed sophomore release in We Happy Few, the third release takes players into the whimsical roots of Deep South Louisiana in South of Midnight.

The promise of a culturally rich, socially poignant PS2-ass PS2 like adventure just about ticks every box Press Pause Radio could ever ask for out of a game experience, and George is ready to answer the call of a grand scale bayou fantasy!

Be sure to tune in to our Twitch at 7:00 PM PST on 05/14/2025 to watch our gameplay  of one of the most exciting additions to GamesPass Ultimate yet! You can check out the streams here or directly on our Twitch Channel, and vibe along with us as we work towards ushering in a new age of Limelight for y'all!

PPR 156

ew recording platform, who dis’? Yeah, we’re all a bit excited over some of the new tech we have to produce the show, and we’re all trying to do everything we can to enjoy it while it’s still fresh and shiny in this latest episode of Press Pause Radio.

This session is much more casual than the last few episodes as the cast tries to parse out the tumultuous news cycle that came to pass over the last two weeks.  George, Ed, and Andrew are on the cans and take the time to discuss various layoffs and terminations seen from Electronic Arts, Polygon, and Giant Bomb (luckily, one of those unfortunate deals got some of the best news ever after the episode was long recorded and sent into production.) There’s also a quick recap of Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, and some thoughts on Grand Theft Auto VI getting delayed in 2026.

Afterwards, the crew talks about the gamers they’ve been playing, like Rock Band Rivals, Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Division 2, Fantavision 202X, Promise Mascot Agency, Humanity, PSVR 2, Pokémon Brown Version 20th Anniversary Edition, Persona 3 Reload, and a shit ton more!

We hope y’all enjoy the show because we’re gearing up for a whole lot more in the coming months!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Limelight: Pokémon Brown 20th Anniversary Edition

ow that a lot of the studio issues have been ironed out, Press Pause Radio will be able to do regular broadcasts for streaming and video again, and we’re starting off the block real WEIRD-like with an updated revision for one of the most celebrated ROM hacks released in the 21^st century.

GameBoy-enthusiast studio, RainbowDev, first cut their teeth on the hardware with an expansive take on the first generation of the Nintendo classic, Pokémon. Twenty years and several other projects later, the studio has returned to where it all began, implementing multiple quality-of-life improvements into the Generation 1 foundation of the series; complete with new Pokémon  from current generations that have never seen the GameBoy screen, new types like Fairy along with additional fan made types like Sound, Gas, Wood, and more.

Join George as he treks through the mysterious region of  Rijon through the power of the Super GameBoy 2 on 05/02/2025 at 7:00 PM PST!

You can check out the streams here or directly on our Twitch Channel, and vibe along with us as we work towards ushering in a new age of Limelight for y'all!

PPR 155

fter nearly ten years with everyone’s favorite console/handheld hybrid, Nintendo is FINALLY gracing the world with a grand-scale presentation of the Switch successor, the Nintendo Switch 2.

So, what better way to hype ourselves up for the big N’s upcoming hardware than to fantasize a bunch of our pie-in-the-sky. “what-if” wishes that we want to see out of the new console, along with some educated guesses and predictions to throw around amongst ourselves. Joining Ed, George, and Sean this time around is Hayes Madsen, a games journalist currently penning words at inverse.com, who worked at over a dozen other outlets, and has graciously accepted the invite to discuss a slew of topics for this week’s episode!

On the cast, the crew will weigh in on their shared impressions of this year’s GDC, the state of indie games, Game Informer’s return, and everything Nintendo leading up to the Switch 2 Direct! Also, a bit of warning; we unfortunately ran into some recording hiccups that slightly affected the audio quality of this episode, but rest assured PPR-gonauts, the latest show is VERY MUCH still listenable, so please, enjoy all while we collectively salivate at the promise of consistent frame-rates and 4K resolution from Nintendo of all things!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Golden Zonkies: Class of 2024

ell, we should have guessed that it wouldn’t be a Golden Zonkies episode without a troubled production to delay the release! Some traditions really do die hard! Anyway—our sincerest apologies for the delay, the Golden Zonkie class of 2024 is officially here!

Unfortunately, 2024 saw more of the same crap that permeated 2023. The games industry layoffs didn’t slow down, unionization efforts have a long way to go, technical shortcomings have handily proven that we’re not ready for the all-digital landscape the industry is barreling towards, and in the best Oscar Isaac impression we can do—somehow Gamergate has returned….

Still—there were plenty of games to get excited about, and developments to look forward to, so without further ado, here’s the lowdown on Press Pause Radio’s Golden Zonkies special.

In case y’all don’t remember the updated flow from the last couple of years, we have changed up our format and have done away with categories!  Now, bear in mind, that we’re still giving our prestigious mark of excellence, a Golden Zonkey, to the games that are deserving of recognition, only, we’re not doing so by a respective genre, or category. Instead, we will be giving them out in a personal list format by each of us in the podcast, and we’ll be spending time discussing why we picked the titles we did within a countdown of five (we just happened to have played more killer games in 2023 than usual.)

Also, the biggest change to the process is that we will no longer limit nominations to the titles that were released that same year but instead, games that we had the opportunity to play that year, because honestly—it gave a somewhat stressful deliberation process a much-needed shot of levity for us to play with for Golden Zonkies!

 Normally we would have done a roundtable of games that were worth a quick mention from the year, but we decided to mention them in passing instead, along with some not-so-honorable-mentions (we also chose a few more not mentioned on the show to include in the post!) We will then award the “Golden Zonkey of The Year” in a unanimous vote that was similar to the previous format, and conclude the show from there.

With that being said, thanks again for tuning into our Game of the Year special, and for just listening, watching, or reading anything done by us. We’re hoping to make 2025 a banner year for Press Pause Radio, so stick around, and enjoy!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR 154

ew year, same tardy nonsense—we recorded a few weeks ago, but life and technical issues got in the way of the production process, and for that, we sincerely apologize to y’all.

Before we get into the Golden Zonkies’ class of 2024, however, we wanted to have an old-school “PPR-ass PPR” round robin on a featured topic, and what better subject than the art and science behind video game box art?

Join George, Ed, and Andrew as they discuss the history, culture, and legacy of box art, such as the ever-changing motifs of design and the artists who famously brought them to life on shelves like George Opperman, Greg Martin, Bob Wakelin, Yoshitaka Amano, Tom DuBois, Ken Sugimori, Yoji Shinkawa, and more. Hell, have you ever thought about what the box of your favorite video game may have looked like in a different country? Raccoon Mario soaring against a yellow backdrop may be a Mount Rushmore type of pastiche here, but in Japan, the giant ensemble piece of characters against a teal palate is what tickles the nostalgia bone in that corner of the world, and that’s so weirdly fascinating don’t you think?

Every year that passes is another year closer to a fully digital media landscape, and while that can have huge ramifications on the preservation of software, something as innocuous as box art can sometimes be the little dumb thing that makes physical media truly that much more special. We hope you enjoy the latest episode of Press Pause Radio—and don’t forget to check out the next one, because we’ll be doing the Golden Zonkies for 2024 next!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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