Save Data Cast

Tons of games have games within them. Card games, mini games, racing games, sims, the list goes on. But which ones feel like whole games unto themselves? Are there are any mini games that are better than the main game? *cough* Triple Triad *cough* Let us know your answers to these questions and if we missed any mini games down in the comments! P.S. Watch Saving Throw  https://youtu.be/UxHwkUD...

In honor (acknowledgment?) of SKULL AND BONES, we decided to put together crews. Pirate crews. On this week's Save Data Cast, we each put together a crew of misfits in roles ranging from gunner to lookout to deck swabber. Play along! Put your own crew together and leave it as a comment or share it with us on Discord or Twitter! P.S. Watch Saving Throw  https://youtu.be/UxHwkUDXLjg Remember t...

2023 was one of the best, if not the best, years for video game releases. Out of the scores of games that came out, which ones rose above the rest to make our individual and group  Top 10s? Out of the thousands of games that released in 2023, and hundreds that we played, which one garned enough votes to become our Game of the Year? Which games win our special awards? Tune in to find out! Comme...

New year? New Fantasy Critic Draft. During this return of the Save Data Cast, we'll start another year of fantasy critic and discuss some of the games that we are most excited about in 2024, as well as those that we think will get the best critic reviews! Did we miss any obvious picks? Make a grave mistake in our draft? Let us know here in the comments or on our discord! If you are interested...

Yes, we know, it's probably Zelda. Tears of the Kingdom is almost certainly the game of the year for 2023...but what if it wasn't? Who has the gumption to bring down Link? Final Fantasy XVI's Clive? Hi Fi Rush's Chai? Leon Kennedy remade and enhanced? Or maybe a lowly diver named Dave? Hey there's also a TON more games coming out this year, so we also tossed in what we're looking forward to th...

Since we're smack dab in the middle of E3/Summer Game Fest season and recaps are lame...we went a different direction this week. We're ranking all of the Cartoon Network cartoons from trash to treasure! Sorry not sorry if your favorite show is mid or garbage. P.S. Watch Saving Throw  https://youtu.be/UxHwkUDXLjg P.P.S. Completely forgot to post the audio only for this episode, I"M SORRY! :( ...

It's that time of year! Summer Game Fest/Definitely Not E3 is fast approaching, so on this week's Save Data Cast we're predicting what we're going to see at all the announced showcases. We have Xbox, PlayStation, Summer Game Fest, and more predictions! Some are wild, some are hopes and dreams, and then we have some realistic ones tossed in too. Have your own predictions to make? Think we misse...

Recently, the Super Mario Bros theme was the first piece of music from a video game to be enshrined in the US Library of Congress. (think of this as culturally important to the US or a Hall of Fame) So on this week's Save Data Cast, we're delving into our favorite soundtracks and songs to figure out which ones we think should be added to the list! While we cover soundtracks new and old, I'm su...

HBO's The Last of Us series is killing it, the Mario movie is nearly here, Arcane was amazing, and overall video game adaptations to TV and film are actually coming out well for once. So, on this week's episode of the Save Data Cast, the crew pitches a bunch of game adaptations that we would love to see made. At least one of them involves mobsters and the Muppets and sounds....actually kinda g...

This week's Nintendo Direct got us and our community pretty hyped for games coming out this year and in the future. So on today's Save Data Cast, we're talking about all the games coming out this year that we're really hyped for! Of course there are giatns like Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and Starfield, but we also wanted to make sure we gave some of the indies we're m...

On this week's Save Data Cast, the crew crowns the Top 10 games of 2022 as well as Save Data's Game of the Year! Do Elden Ring or God of War take another GotY trophy, or will one of our favorite indies rise as a dark horse? Did we miss a game in our team or individual top 10s? (Sorry Monkey Island fans =( ) Think something about our list is wild? Leave us a comment, hit us up on twitter, or ho...

Welcome to the new year folks! On this week's Save Data Cast we'll be starting another year of Fantasy Critic! That means drafting games that we think will get good reviews and talking about our different excitement and knowledge levels on those games. Jason, Wes, and Vic are joining the fun this year, which means more picks, and more chaos. Did we miss any obvious picks? Make a grave mistake ...

On this week's Save Data Cast, the crew reviews all of the nominees for each category of this year's The Game Awards! Which games got snubbed and which ones were over nominated? Was the Strategy category finally good? Is Sifu a fighting game? Who knows, but we sure do debate those things. Prij, aka Senpai in the Spreadsheets, lets us know who should mathematically with Game of the Year. Finally...

On this week's Save Data Cast, we're joined by Subpixel's to give our review of the Steam Deck! We've all played a bunch of games on our Decks, used different features, and installed and used emulators (EmuDeck) - we let you know how those all went. We also make way too many Deck jokes while trying to inform you which model you should look to pickup and what accessories you'll need to have a gr...

On this episode of the Save Data Cast, we ask the question: Which video game worlds would you want or hate to be isekai'd into? That is, which game worlds would you love or hate to be transported to? Is the Pokemon world as nice to live in as it seems? What about Animal Crossing? Doom is definitely not a world you want to live in. But Mass Effect's world sounds cool. We discuss all of these and...

Recently, PlayStation and Naughty Dog announced and released The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of the The Last of Us. We all thought it was WILD that a game so new and so beautiful was already getting a remake. So on this week's Save Data Cast, we decided to discuss what games we think should be getting the resources to get remade instead! Are there other games that you think should be remade bef...

We're doing something a little different on this week's Save Data Cast. Video games are dead, there is only CEREAL. We rank all the cereals that matter from the best of the best to cereals we wouldn't eat even if given them for free. Think we omitted a bomb cereal or that we placed something horribly wrong? Let us know in the comments, on Discord, or on Twitter and don't forget to send a box as...

On this week's Save Data Cast we go back in time to continue our Retroactive Game of the Year list! Our outlet's only been around a few years, so we missed out on weighing in on our favorite games that game reviewers missed. Will Psychonauts get the love it deserves? Can Zak convince us that Metroid Prime deserves a GoTY award? Probably not to both, but find out the answers to these questions a...

On this week's Save Data Cast, it's time to argue. 3 or 4 years ago, we ranked all the Nintendo consoles against each other, but now it's time to do the same with all of the consoles and handhelds that we've played! Will Zak's hatred for the Wii prevail? Is Chris right that the Gamecube was bad? Where does SEGA fit in to the equation? Find out on this episode! Think we majorly screwed up our t...

FOLKS! This week on the Save Data Cast, we're going back into the past to talk retro! (I, David, am old) We're ranking PlayStation 1 versus Nintendo 64 games via bracket. No goofs this time, we rank for keeps. Which games are the best and which aren't up to snuff? The randomized bracket made for quite the discussions! (Read as: yelling) Like stuff like this? Let us know in the comments or on di...

Last week, Sucker Punch put out a blog post saying that they (and no one else) were working on a Sly Cooper or Infamous. So on this week's Save Data Cast, we're talking about game franchises that have been dead for a while that we'd like to bring back to life! Does F-Zero or Star Fox deserve life? Should Metal Gear come back without Kojima? Is Zak allowed to have a Dark Cloud opinion without pl...

Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest is fast approaching and the leaks have already begun! Before more leaks happen, David, Zak, and Prij share their predictions for what we'll see during the Summer Game Fest showcase, XBox showcase, Devolver Direct, and whether we'll see a Nintendo Direct soon or not! Do you agree with our predictions? Have some predictions of your own? Share your thoughts in the...

We're in a relative dry season for games, not a whole lot coming out in the near future. So what games have we been playing and what games from our backlogs are we planning to tackle during backlog season? How many times has Elise beaten Elden Ring already?! Join David, Prij, Chris, and Elise while we talk backlogs and slowly clearing them on this week's Save Data Cast! Like our content or want...

That's right, on this week's episode of the Save Data Cast, we're back with more video game mascot rankings, but this time with people! Which would you rather rob a bank with? Which character would take you on the best picnic? Which one is the BEST mascot?! Is the best human mascot better than the best non-human mascot??? It's March Mascot Madness in April IN MAY! Upsets abound as we go through...

On this week's episode of the Save Data Cast, we argue about which video game mascots are better! Which would make better Smash characters? Which would make the best friends? Which one is the BEST mascot?! It's March Mascot Madness in April! Upsets abound as we go through 64 non-human mascots to determine the mascot supreme. Like this type of content? Let us know in the comments or on discord! ...

On this week's episode of the Save Data Cast, Prij, Jason, and David take a deep dive into Triangle Strategy! We give you our overall review of Triangle Strategy, what mechanics we like and dislike, whether the voice acting hits, how approachable the game is to new strategy players, and more! We also talk about the different choices we made, characters we could recruit, and even characters we l...

KindaFunny's own Greg Miller joins us this week for the Save Data Cast! What better way to break the ice with someone than diving deep into how games have changed how we look at the world around us. We talk motivation, aspirations, AI, what it means to be human, family, and mental health and how each of those relate to what we've played. Also losing shirts? This episode was an absolute blast to...

This week on the Save Data Cast, we're talking PlayStation's rumored XBox Gamepass competitor, Project Spartacus! A lot of details about the service have been rumored and leaked, so we tease out what we expect from the service and what we hope is there. Will Spartacus be a success on day 1? Will it rise to be a competitor to Gamepass? Does it need to be? What games will be on Spartacus? We disc...

This week on the Save Data Cast we explore the Game of Year again, but from the past? Save Data's only been around a couple years, so we go back in time and give our Game of the Year choices all the way back to 2012! Celeste of God of War? Breath of the Wild or Horizon:: Zero Dawn? What replaces Death Stranding?! Find out all these answers and more! If you like this and want us to go further b...

2022 is poised to be an excellent years for games, as long as things don't get super duper delayed again! Join the crew as we discuss what games we're excited for, whether they be indie, AA, or the biggest AAA games of the year. We also put on our Nostradamus hats and try to predict some of what will happen this year in the gaming industry. Will there be another release disaster like Cyberpunk,...

This week on the Save Data Cast we give our top 10 games of 2021, including our Game of the Year! We couldn't just do that though, so we made up our own awards - The Savies. Which game do Prij and Chris think had the most thirst this year? What games did we play in 2021 that we wish we had played back when they came out? What game absolutely flubbed their endings this year? You can find out the...

New year, new Fantasy Critic draft! Join the crew as we go through our 2022 fantasy Critic draft and talk about many of the new games coming (hopefully) this year! We draft games for our publishers (teams) in the hopes of getting the highest cumulative OpenCritic score for the year. Sound like fun to you? Gather a group of friends and make your own league or hop into our discord and join the fa...

This week on the Save Data Cast we predict who is going to each of The Game Awards!! (except eSports...y'all get it) Will David's dreams come true and Psychonauts 2 wins Game of the Year?! Probably not, but we also made a bingo card for The Game Awards so you can watch and play along. Join us on Thursday Dec 9th at 730pm EST for our watchalong. If your bingo card wins first, we'll hook you up w...

Before we start talking about The Game Awards in a couple weeks, Elise, Chris, Prij, and David go over some of their favorite games that we played in 2021 that DIDN'T release in 2021. Chris also finally got to play PS5 games, so that's cool I guess. Time Codes: Start - 00:00 Fantasy Critic Update - 03:20 https://www.fantasycritic.games/league/6c97a174-0e29-4004-b066-efe920016821/2021 What have...

This week on the Save Data Cast, David, Zak, Prij, and Elise decided to make targeted game recommendations to each other! Over the next couple months, we'll play the recommended games and report back in a later episode. If you feel like one of the team's game tastes are similar to yours, try out one of the recommendations along with us and let us know what you think in the comments. We also tal...

This week on the Save Data Cast, David, Zak, and Elise talk Metroid Dread! We all finally finished the game and needed to talk mechanics, traversal, powers, and story. With each of us starting the series at different points, one of us is bound to have an experience close to yours. We also talk about over half a dozen other games that we've been playing, including Tales of Arise, Life is Strange...

This week on the Save Data Cast, we all decided to take a crack at filling out IGN's Best Game of All Time Bracket to see if we could do better than Twitter votes. To mix it up, we add some of our personal picks to the bracket. There are upsets, unexpected matchups, and a lot of nerds getting mad over a bracket. Were we able to make a better bracket? Or did we create a horrible abomination? You...

We talk about what made our favorite game releases so hype for us over the years and share some really fun game release stories on this week's Save Data Cast! How do the Wii console shortage, Nintendo Power Awards voting, and TV commercials tie into our hypest launches? If you have a favorite release or have a cool release story, please share it with us in the comments, on twitter, or on discor...

There are a ton of tropes in movies, TV, and video games. This week on the Save Data Cast, we talk about a bunch of our favorite character and story tropes that we see in video games. Tropes that instantly get our attention or that make us like games more. We also toss in a few tropes that we hate, but this episode is a fun pallet cleanser after the past month of Activision Blizzard news. Let u...

There's a big elephant in the room that is the games industry right now, Activision Blizzard. This week on the Save Data Cast we talk about how games news outlets, influencers, podcasters, and Blizzard specific game creators could or should handle the covering Activision Blizzard games. Before diving into the deep and depressing stuff, we also talk fantasy critic, Pokemon Unite, Death's Door, F...

2021 has been a pretty awesome year for games, so this week on the Save Data Cast we take a look back at our favorite games that came out in the first half of the year. Are remasters at the top of everyone's list? Could Final Fantasy 7 Remake DLC be the best game so far? The crew discusses all this and what games we're most excited for in the latter half of 2021 on this week's episode! Time Co...

Horizon 2: Forbidden West is presumably coming out this holiday season, so this week on the Save Data Cast we go back to the original game with our review and spoiler cast! Join as as we discuss Horizon: Zero Dawn mechanics, the open world, characters, story, and everything in between. Did we miss something major? Have you own opinions to share on Horizon: Zero Dawn? Let us know on twitter! Let...

E3 2021 is over! Join the crew as we choose the best (and worst) games, presentations, and surprises from this year's gamer Christmas in June. Was Elden Ring a more hype announcement than Breath of the Wild 2? Which awkward presentation was the most awkward? Find out the answers to those questions and our impressions of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and all of the other games we've been playing o...

May was the first month this year that game releases we were all excited for. So on this week's Save Data Cast, we review 3 different games! Zak reviews Resident Evil 8 Village, the whole team reviews Knockout City, and David and Chris review Mass Effect Legendary Edition! Let us know what you thought about Knockout City, RE8, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition on our discord or on twitter!  Ti...

E3 and Summer Game Fest are fast approaching! This week on the Save Data Cast, we make our predictions for what we will adn won't see at this summer's biggest gaming events. Will we finally find out if Elden Ring is coming out? Is Starfield coming this year? WIll Halo Infinite make it's release date? Will David finally get a Beyond Good & Evil 2 date? We talk about all of these and make some wi...

Open world games (like Horizon, Assassin's Creed, Breath of the Wild, and Ghost of Tsushima) each have their own approach to open world game design. This week on the Save Data Cast, we talk about what features in a game make for a great open world and why. Has there been a perfect open world yet? What game has the best points of interest? Is climbing a deal breaker? We discuss all these and wha...

The music industry has it's one hit wonders, like I'm Blue, Somebody I Used To Know, and others, but what about games? Turns out there are a lot of series and studios that have their one hit wonders too. What studio put out a hit game for Rockstar but ended up closing after a few months? Did the creator of Tetris ever make another game? Was there ever a good StarFox game? We answer these questi...

Marvel's Avengers was a real let down of a game in 2020 (and continuing into 2021). Let's fix Avengers. This week on the Save Data Cast, we replace Marvel's Avengers with video game characters from different franchises. Would Snake make a good Captain America? Which Avenger could possibly be replaced by Kirby? Kratos is obviously Thor, right? The answers may surprise you. We missed our Fantasy...

We decided to have a little bit of fun this week on the Save Data Cast, so we went through a did FMK with everything (and everyone) from video games - edgy Final Fantasy Swordy Boys, Kirby Bosses, League of Legends champions, Zelda games/characters, failed mascots...you name it!  If you thought this was fun, let us know in the comments and hit us up with more trios on our discord! https://disc...

Over the years that we've been playing games, some genres have come and gone from the spotlight. This week on the Save Data Cast, we talk about some of our favorites that we wish were back or that we're happy lived a full life before dying. Are there some genres that we, and all gamers, have just grown out of? What is the next genre of game limping towards the River Styx? Did we miss a recentl...