The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

We start with some difficult news...

Cheers to everyone who has supported the podcast, past and present. We're delighted you're still along for the ride.

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No, not the episode 300 you were promised. For a (hopefully) obvious reason. Instead we fire up The Back Page time machine once again, setting the dial for 1998. Many call it gaming's greatest ever year. Ocarina! MGS! Half-Life! Gran Turismo! StarCraft! There's no arguing with that lot. Or is there? Find out as two contrarian chrononauts break down the main events of the year, recap the highs and lows of E3 and reveal their top ten lists.

This week's music is from the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck, and the Baldur's Gate soundtrack by Michael Hoenig.

You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com.

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Matthew flew to Germany and played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which is rather a nice surprise.

Games discussed: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gears of War: E-Day, Control Resonant, Valor Mortis, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Dicevaders

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We're off this week, but here's our MGS2 episode from August. Support us at patreon.com/backpagepod if you enjoy what we make!

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Probably the least relevant and most tangent-heavy mailbag episode to date, and that's saying something.

Here's Samuel's piece on game names for PC Gamer.

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Our third and final attempt to tackle the big games of September reaches Sony's biggest release of the year and the latest Silent Hill entry.

The developer of Orbitals is Shapefarm, not Shapeform as Samuel incorrectly stated. Duh.

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Been quite a while since we did a 'games journalism craft' episode – this is one of those, as we're joined by former music journalist and Vice senior editor Mike Diver for a lively chat. Hear about the time Mike met Paul McCartney! Sadly, it wasn't about his terrible Destiny song that Matthew rather likes.

Mike's book, Aliens: The Video Games, is available now.

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Emergency Nintendo Direct chatter, powered by the reveal of sequels to two of our favourite Switch games (Metroid Dread and Kirby and the Forgotten Land), then another pile of games from the September 2026 mountain.

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The September release schedule avalanche begins. Games discussed: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Star Wars: Zero Company, Guns of Eschaton and Super Mario Sunshine.

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From outlawing the L3 and R3 buttons to combat-oriented games with bad platforming sections, our listeners have submitted 12 more possible game design crimes for Room 101...sorry, Room 64 (double copyright infringement!). Our returning guest, actual game designer Jamie Smith, helps us judge the innocent and guilty.

Want to submit a game design crime for a future episode? Head here to the relevant Discord channel, or ping us at backpagegames@gmail.com.

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Four giant men select their favourite DS and 3DS games in our latest 3-hour draft episode. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into both consoles. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of our Discord server.

These are the categories:

• Game featuring Mario
• Game featuring Link
• 90+ on Metacritic
• Game with novel touchscreen controls
• Game made in Japan
• Game made outside Japan
• Port or re-release
• Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)
• Free pick
• Was advertised on the telly by a celebrity

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More of the games we've been playing recently, before the September avalanche of big titles crashes into Back Page headquarters.

Samuel's games: Denshattack!, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Motorslice (a tiny bit)

Matthew's games: Splatoon Raiders, The Message from Deep Space, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny

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Some thoughts on the Halo remake, then almost an hour of total nonsense that we will never, ever speak of again.

This week's music is from the Halo: Combat Evolved by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell.

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How many ideas get saved from the original game when you're making a sequel? Does it cost more money to make a follow-up? How do you make sure an indie sequel doesn't vanish without a trace?

Our returning guest Jay Baylis answers these questions while discussing his next game with Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts 2002.

This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis.

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Stepping outside our 2000s comfort zone, this week we're sharing our two top 10 lists from 1997 in the first of a new quadrilogy of pods. Expect 1998, 1999 and 2000 episodes in the coming months.

This week's music is from The Curse of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land.

You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com.

Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta, Howard Lincoln talking about Rare, Nintendo's Space World, Games World's segment from the Sega booth at E3 1997 and B-roll of the games shown at Space World.

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What if IO Interactive made an Austin Powers game? Which game has been called overrated and underrated so many times that it's now just 'rated'? And why do some big games only get 1-page reviews in magazines?

All that and more as we melt to death in the endless UK heatwave.

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Our monthly attempt to make a normal video games podcast.

Games played this week: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Duskfade, Super Scram Kitty, Dimhaven - The Lost Source, Virtue and a Sledgehammer (mistakenly referred to by Samuel multiple times as 'Virtue is a Sledgehammer', the buffoon).

Here's the thread on naming games by Hannah Flynn, as discussed at the end of this episode.

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The worst format in podcasting is back, fresh from the Castle Island Backrooms. This time, we've got even more moral conundrums for Judge Castle to figure out.

Find the image referenced in this episode here.

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Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026?

This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

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10 categories, 30 picks – time for another draft, this time about first-person shooters and related games. Vote for the winner here. We'll update this post with who picked what later today.

These are the 10 categories:

• Single-player shooter
• Multiplayer shooter
• Sim (including immersive sim)
• Game with emphasis on movement or platforming
• Narrative or horror game
• Game from the last 5 years
• RPG
• Free pick
• Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)
• Game with notable first-person animations (either involving your hands or the faces of other characters)

This is the Deus Ex: Invisible War-like game Jeremy referenced during this episode.

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