Monthly Archives

April 2019

061: Cuphead

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We died thousands of times in Cuphead.

Developer: StudioMDHR | Publisher: StudioMDHR| Release Date: September 29, 2017

Jacob, Mike and special guest Shane Chiasson make a deal with the devil, roll the dice, hold down “X” for many hours and get frustrated by the youth.

Join our Discord server! Go to LeftBehindGame.Club and scroll down to the Discord section of the homepage! If you love the show, please consider a review on iTunes. It helps a lot.

Players: Jacob McCourt (@JacobMcCourt) and Michael Ruffolo (@ruffolom)

Special Guests: Shane Chiasson (@chiassoo; check out his YouTube channel)

Website: LeftBehindGame.Club | Twitter: @LeftBehindClub | Instagram: @LeftBehindGameClub

Show Notes (spoilers):

  • 2:00 What system did you play Cuphead on?
  • 2:30 Re-mapping the controls [Cuphead tips: How to fix the controls (Polygon)]
  • 3:40 Shout-out to old cartoons (Betty Boop, Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes)
  • 4:45 Cuphead and many E3s
  • 6:00 Shout-out to Bendy and the Ink Machine and a Zombie Walt Disney
  • 6:25 Mike makes us feel old with his “Cuphead Cousin” and Jacob rage quits life
  • 8:00 Boss Run/Boss Rush games that we have played (shout-outs to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Castle Crashers and Mega Man X) & Studio MDHR’s influences
  • 10:30 Did we like this game?
  • 12:25 The game’s setup
  • 13:50 Run & Gun and the “Simple” difficulty level
  • 15:00 Power-up/weapon discussions and plane levels
  • 20:20 Our brain solved the tough levels (Jacob enjoys punishment)
  • 23:20 Back to power-up discussions
  • 25:50 The moment Jacob realized that Cuphead is a good video game [Cuphead, Ruiner, and the joy of really hard games (Verge)]
  • 32:30 We get to King Dice and breakdown this insane boss fight [Cuphead boss guide: King Dice in ‘All Bets Are Off’ (Polygon)]
  • 35:10 Tipsy Troop, Chips Bettigan and Mr. Wheezy
  • 37:20 Pip and Dot, Hocus Pocus and Phear Lap
  • 40:10 Who died the most in Cuphead?
  • 42:15 The Devil’s Choice
  • 44:30 Would the game better with a Switch controller [Yup, Cuphead Is Better On the Switch. Here’s Why. (Paste Magazine)]
  • 46:15 Pirouletta, Mangosteen and Mr. Chimes
  • 50:45 Perfect dice parrying
  • 52:40 The Devil and other boss talk
  • 59:05 “It’s a real castle?” and Cuphead 2
  • 1:00:25 Wrap-up

060: Night in the Woods

By | PODCAST | One Comment

We enjoy some small town livin’ in Night in the Woods.

Developer: Infinite Fall | Publisher: Finji | Release Date: February 21, 2017

Jacob, Mike and special guests Travis Colenutt and Jessica Fantauzzo run from right to left, dive deep into our early 20s friendships and relationships, debate the nature of man… AND CRIMES.

Join our Discord server! Go to LeftBehindGame.Club and scroll down to the Discord section of the homepage! If you love the show, please consider a review on iTunes. It helps a lot.

Players: Jacob McCourt (@JacobMcCourt) and Michael Ruffolo (@ruffolom)

Special Guests: Travis Colenutt (@TravisColenutt)  and Jessica Fantauzzo (@jesstauzzo)

Website: LeftBehindGame.Club | Twitter: @LeftBehindClub | Instagram: @LeftBehindGameClub

Show Notes (spoilers):

  • 2:00 We enter the spoiler room brawl right at the beginning
  • 3:00 Tell us about the gameplay from Night in the Woods!
  • 4:05 What does the game look like?
  • 5:05 Jess describes the “Fab Four”
  • 6:25 The town is full of life and great secondary characters
  • 9:10 We imagine our voices for the characters
  • 10:35 Who did we hang out with the most (ft. Jacob’s Gregg voice and a question from Thomas Reiss)?
  • 15:15 More Gregg time (and Jacob’s Angus impression)
  • 19:00 Diving deep into our in-game friendships
  • 21:05 Our favourite characters
  • 24:10 Moving from right to left (thanks to What’s So Great About That?)
  • 25:20 YA Fiction, Coming of Age stories and Night in the Woods (see Scott Benson’s GDC talk & Errant Signal’s NitW video)
  • 27:10 Mae is kind of awful in the beginning… does she grow as a character?
  • 30:10 Gaining a greater appreciation for Night in the Woods as time goes on
  • 31:05 Jacob and Mike get into a debate about the nature of man
    (buckle up)
  • 35:50 Mike ties the debate into Mae’s mirror scenes
  • 37:30 Jacob relates himself to Mae to counter
  • 41:05 Jacob lost the debate, tries to shift the attention to poetry and Selmers
  • 42:20 Mallard the Duck
  • 44:00 The Tooth
  • 45:55 Jacob reads Selmers politically charged poem and we talk about her backstory
  • 48:10 Germ and cut content
  • 49:20 The twist
  • 53:10 The event that sets Part 3 into motion
  • 55:50 Chasing a hooded figure out of town
  • 57:30 Diving into the dream sequences
  • 59:20 Night in the Woods’ version of Rock Band
  • 1:02:25 The search for the ghost(s)!
  • 1:06:00 The goth guarded gate and Mae’s embarrassing stories
  • 1:10:00 Wrecking a bathroom (#crimes)
  • 1:11:15 Hanging out with Angus and learning more about him
  • 1:13:10 The linear path to the game’s conclusion
  • 1:16:45 Mae goes alone for a Night in the Woods (or does she)
  • 1:20:10 Lovecraftian Horror
  • 1:22:00 Mae’s mental health (check out Chloe Spencer’s piece about Night in the Woods entitled “Night In The Woods Treats Depression Like A Part Of Life“)
  • 1:27:30 Talking to an ancient god
  • 1:30:30 The game’s credits and a question from the Ludonarrative Podcast