Episode 112: Micro Machines
Help comes in all shapes and sizes. In Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash, it comes in the form of a three-inch robot. In Human Resource Machine, it comes in the form of a dedicated corporate worker. And for Nintendo’s 2015 holiday lineup, it comes in the form of… old games? In this episode of the Random Nintendo Podcast, we cover all this and more. The show first kicks off with indie news as we discuss the potential of Retro City Rampage sequel Shakedown Hawaii, as well as the controversy surrounding Binding of Isaac’s Afterbirth DLC on Nintendo platforms. From there, we weigh in on Nintendo’s unusual approach to this year’s holiday season, plus share our favorite Nintendo holiday memories of years past. The show then concludes with in-depth impressions of Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash for 3DS and Wii U indie title Human Resource Machine.
This episode also marks our fourth anniversary, and to celebrate, we’re giving you a chance to win a $35 eShop credit! You hear our Nintendo holiday memories in this episode, and now we want to hear yours. Leave a comment below telling us your Nintendo holiday memory, be it a specific game release or something more, and our favorite will walk away with all that eShop credit. The winner will be announced in our next episode, so make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow us on Twitter @RandomNintendo so you don’t miss it.
As always, we’ve also included links for more information on the news and games discussed in this episode. Each link also lists a time stamp so you can find the segments that most interest you. Enjoy and thank you for supporting the podcast over these past four years!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:30:48 — 42.0MB)
News
- [0:03] Shakedown Hawaii is the 16-bit sequel to Retro City Rampage (Polygon)
- [0:10] The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth’s Afterbirth DLC unlikely for handhelds, Wii U (Eurogamer)
- [0:17] Minecraft Wii U Edition Classification Has Been Removed By PEGI (Nintendo Life)
- [0:25 – 0:40] Discussion: Nintendo’s Holiday 2015 Strategy
- [0:36] Nintendo of America Opens eBay Store for Systems, Games (IGN)
- [0:37] Target’s online sales broke a record on Thanksgiving — here are the top 3 items sold (Business Insider)
- [0:40] Discussion: Favorite Nintendo Holiday Memories
- [0:58] Nintendo’s cutest mascot has one last chance to be a star (The Verge)
Games
- [0:56] Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash (Official Site)
- [1:18] Human Resource Machine (Official Site)
- [0:03] Shakedown Hawaii (Official Site)
- [0:10] Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth (Official Site)
- [0:17] Minecraft: Wii U Edition (IGN Game Page)
Official Contest Rules: All registrants must be a resident of the United States of America and age 13 or older. The contest begins on November 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM PST and ends on December 10, 2015 at 11:59 PM PST. Visitors may only enter the contest once by leaving a comment below. Any additional entries that a given visitor makes will be disqualified. One (1) commenter will be chosen at the discretion of the Random Nintendo team and receive the following prize: one (1) digital code redeemable for $35 in credit on the US Nintendo eShop. Random Nintendo staff members may not participate in this contest. Random Nintendo reserves the right to disqualify any entry for any reason. The winner will be chosen at random on December 11, 2015, announced in Episode 113 of the Random Nintendo Podcast, and then notified via email.
From The Archives
Episode 282: Just For Kicks
1986 Metroid SPOILER ALERT: haha by now it’s easily common Nintendo knowledge. My favorite Nintendo memory hands down has to be when I first beat Metroid and found out Samus was female. Beating Ridley was a real grind, but a really great surprise! Still my favorite video game heroine to date…we’ll see how Linkle does. The name sure hasn’t sold me.
It was Xmas in the late 1980’s and my parents got me a NES with Super Mario Bros and the Power Pad with World Class Track Meet. I didn’t think exercising would be so fun. Now thinking back, did they get it for my brothers and I because they thought we needed to lose weight…
My family wasn’t that big on video games and I rarely ever saw my parents play them so it was a bit strange that they got that of all things. I guess from that moment I was was hooked on them and continue to play them as I grew older. I will definitely love to continue this tradition when I have kids of my own.
The best memory i have is when i bought my Nintendo Wii with The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. I finisihed the game just before Christmas with the company of my family. It was a great time and then i made this tradition to play the game every december. I can’t wait for HD version on Wii U.
My favorite memory is playing melee on the GameCube with my brother and trying to unlock new characters
My best memory was my dad getting a NES when I was a kid.He would let me stay up late with him and watch him play super mario and zelda..One day he asked me to come in the front room and wanted to know if I wanted to play zelda myself…I was so excited, as this was the first game I ever played (why I love the game so much).
Another great memory from the NES days, was my dad letting me stay up late to watch him play Super Mario bros with his friends.He finally got to world 8 and his friend started recording it.After weeks of trying,He finally beat the game with 2 lives left and was so pumped! So pumped,he gave me my first taste of beer in celebration (I did not like it,lol).
He still has the recording from that night,and it’s funny last time I watched it (years ago) that it was such an accomplishment to beat the game..Now adays,people can beat SMB in under 10 mins,lol..
But thanks to those early memories and time with my dad,I fell in love with gaming and will keep on playing till I can’t play no more and pass my gaming love onto my son :).
I remember going to GS with my parents when I was 7-8 years old. They bought me SSB Melee cause I loved to play it at my cousins house. Ever since then I’ve become a fan of video games.
It would have to be the Christmas I got my Nintendo 64. I knew I was getting it. I was there when my mother bought it at Toys R Us. But this was in November or early December, so I wasn’t going to see it for a while. Or was I?
I knew where it was being kept hidden, and after school I was home alone for a couple hours on weekdays. Soooo I may have been a bit naughty and carefully taken the system out after school each day, hooking it up to my TV and playing Super Mario 64 until just before my parents got home. Then I’d pack it all back up to pristine condition and slip it back into its hiding spot.
As far as I know, my parents never knew what I had been doing, but I did feel understandably guilty regarding my sneakiness. Because of that, on one of the last days before winter break hit, one of my last chances to play before Christmas, I erased my save file on Super Mario 64. When I formally got the system on Christmas, I started playing it from square one.
I could tell you about how excited I was when I found out my parents bought me the original wii for Christmas, but my excitement wasn’t even the most memorable part. The memorable part was when my dad spent the next hour after I opened it recounting all the lines he waited in only to be told that there were none in stock. He had at least 13 different line stories. Almost all of them involved him waiting in line at least an hour before an employee would come out of the store 15 minutes or so before opening to say that they didn’t have any wii’s. Those line horror stories are my most memorable nintendo memory 🙂
My favorite memory is playing contra with my brother. We both were obsessed with it when my dad got us the nintendo system when when we were about 9 yo.
Beat it on Christmas day 🙂 T
hank you for the opportunity.
My favorite memory is getting my gameboy advance and kirby: nightmare in dreamland for Christmas one year.
My favorite Nintendo holiday is when my sister and I got the Super Nintendo system with Super Mario World in 1991. We spent all day sharing turns, lives and laughs before we beat Bowser. Yoshi became my favorite Nintendo character and I still play it every year around this time with her kids when they visit.
I faintly remember getting Pokemon Yellow for Christmas, i was ecstatic as it was my first and only Game Boy Color game. I played it for hours on end and became a huge Pokemon fan from it.
My favorite memory is when i got my first NES when I was 5
My first Cartridge was 64 in 1 and my favorite game on that was goonies
My favorite memory was when I got the Nintendo 64. I think it was for my seventh birthday. My family was super poor when I was growing up. I only had an NES that half worked (I had it since I was 4 or so and I still loved it) and only got a new (used) game to play maybe once a year if I was lucky. Then, out of nowhere one day my parents decided to go out of town. They didn’t tell my sister or I where they were going, but when they got back like 5 hours later (we lived in a really rural area) they had a huge Toys R Us bag. They gave me the bag and told me to share with my sister. I opened it to find the Nintendo 64 with the Jungle Green controller and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (for me) and Quest 64 (for my sister). I was blown away and actually cried tears of happiness later that night. I felt so incredibly blessed to have gotten the chance to get a new console. I got even luckier later that week when my grandparents gave me enough birthday money that I could go buy a copy of Super Mario 64 (it was on sale!). Those were the only games we had for like, 2 years, but man, they were fun. I beat Rogue Squadron and Super Mario 64 in practically every way possible. Quest 64 was not vanquished until many years later.
My fondest memory would have to be the year my uncle gifted our family with a gamecube. My parents were never wealthy so I would usually only get a new game on my birthday or Christmas. For my Gameboy since the only other console we owned was a sega genesis. One year my uncle asked my mom what to get everyone and she told him instead of individual gifts why not get something foreveryone to share. She did her research and learned about the system and avaliable bundles. I remember he bought it at Target and it was a bundle with super mario sunshine and a memory card.
When Christmas day came we were so excited and grateful for what he had given the family (even though I played it more than anyone else in the years to come). We set it up but for some idd reason we could not find the memory card. We thought it may be inside the mario game case but worried that if we opened it then the store may not take it back since the game was itself would be opened. So December 26th my awesome uncle ventured out to target early in the morning with bundle in hand. The workers found it in the game case, which seemed obvious but we just wanted to make sure. We all had a good laugh and Super Mario Sunshine became my first 3D mario game.
Still own that gamecube today so many memories with my sisters playing smash brothers and experiencing my first Legend of Zelda game (wind waker) that my mom did research on about what the game was about, I remember her taking me to Best Buy on launch day for my 10th Birthday to but the game. If it wasnt for her I dont know if I would be the gamer I am today.
Remembering this reminded me how much I love my family and what they would do to make any of us happy. So thank you for reminding me.
My most favorite Nintendo memory was Christmas back in 1998. I had only asked for one thing: a GameBoy Color and Pokemon Yellow. I remember tearing open the present and, even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I still couldn’t be happier getting my very own Teal Blue GBC and Pokemon Blue. Not only was this my first GameBoy, but also my first video game ever.
I even still have that very same system and cart almost 20 years later, and play it from time to time. I’ve even went and had my battery changed in Blue so it can last another 20 years, something I can hopefully pass down to my own kid when I eventually have one.
My favorite memory would be when I found out my parents got me the original NEW for my birthday. As i was merrily playing on the computer, they told me they got something and were leaving it in the computer room temporarily. I looked over at it, then did a double take when I saw what it was. Sure, I ended up losing the game I was playing, but it was worth it.
My best Christmas Memory was 5 Years Ago in Christmas 2010. I Got the Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Red Wii for Christmas. I Played with it from December 2010 to June 2011… Then I traded it in for a 3DS in June 2011… My Parents lost it when I told them that I Traded in my Wii.
Mario Brothers
The first system I ever bought with my own money was the Nintendo Gamecube. I was so excited to have finally saved enough after my Christmas cash, and the day after I went and got the system. Loved the Gamecube, good times.
I remember, back at Christmas 1999, opening up a present in a small, rectangular box. It happened to be Pokemon Snap.
I found it interesting- the gift was playing spoiler for a present to come later- as I did not have an N64 at the time. My mom tried to pass it off as “Well, maybe we just got you the game,” but there was no logic to an argument like that. And, as one might expect, a later gift was the N64 console. Fun times were had by all.
Trading Pokemon on the school bus
Oh I have soo many great memories with Nintendo on Xmas. My favorite one was in 1999, my older brother saved up his money, just to get me a gameboy colour in pink. I was so happy, and every evening we used to play pokemon together. I still have my old gbc and it’s still in great condition and I will always keep it. It’s still my favourite console
Hey Jason and Angel.
Thank you so much as always for a fantastic show! I always truly enjoy the podcast and appreciate all the time and effort you put into it. I really enjoy you talking about all your annual Nintendo memories, really made me think back over all the wonderful Nintendo adventures I’ve had over the years. And I do totally agree that this year does stand out (and not in a good way) where on Nintendo’s annual November day, I didn’t have a desire for any game this year, I did buy Xenoblade Chronicles X today though, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. (I got the Collector’s Edition.)
Anyways, I suppose I should just leave my two favorite Nintendo memories behind, the first was when I was 6 in 1991 at a Toy “R” Us in New York City and seeing Super Mario World for the very first time. I was so happy that my Dad was buying us the “Super” Nintendo. My other #1 Nintendo memory has to be the Ocarina of Time in 1998. I remember having the Zelda issue of NIntendo Power with Link on the cover and the “Official” Nintendo Power Player’s Guide as well out on my desk next to my little 13″ TV. I put on my over-sized Zelda T-Shirt Babbage’s had given me as pre-order item and started up (gold cartridge in hand) what (is still to this day) my favorite game of all-time. My most cherished gaming experience was and forever will be riding Epona across Hyrule Field for the first time. No matter how “big” open-world games get, nothing will quite match riding into the sunset for the very first time. And I also faked-sick to stay home and play Zelda for the next few days after. 😉
So, really enjoyed all your opinions on Chibi Robo as well, while the game is “okay” I find the game’s progression method to be a bit trying at times. And I was also really happy to see the Wii U doing so well on Black Friday. It was nice to see the Wii U getting some love like it really does deserve.
Thanks again for another great show and can’t wait for the next one! Always appreciate all you do!
Getting my Nintendo 64 is definitely my best gaming-related Christmas memory. That system changed my life. I started to become obsessed with the NFL, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, because of NFL QB Club 1999, and Ocarina of Time started my obsession with Koji Kondo and video game music in general. I got into writing because I wanted to write an epic like Ocarina of Time (which was pretty epic at age 10). That system is what cemented my adolescent Nintendo fanboyism, and started my real obsession with gaming in general. I had played a lot of NES and SNES back when they were the only things available, but not until I got the N64 did I really get into gaming. Many of the games I played back then played a big part in forming my personality.
My favourite memory is when i got a 3ds. It was just a normal day and me and my mom had to go drive somewhere. While we were driving up a road mom looks at me and gives me a 3ds! I was so happy and the whole car drive i was exploring my 3ds! I remember when i discovered the camera and took pictures out of everything. I was taking selfies like crazy. I then discovered mii maker and made all sorts of cool miis that i thought were amazing. Then when i was home i was playing around with the AR cards making a red ball with smiley face on it, making mario run on my table and all sorts of stuff. I liked the fishing game and would sometimes play it when i felt down.
My favourite memory is getting the wii day one and playing wii sports and loz twilight Princess even if I paid 800 for it due to it selling out everywhere
Congrats on your four years gentlemen, you guys are great!
My favorite holiday had to be 2014, Smash Bros Wii U holiday. This game launched a few months after my group of friends and I all graduated from college and moved away to different parts of the country. The entirety of our five years of college, Smash Bros Brawl was the center of our entertainment in the dorms and while also living off campus. The game really brought us all together, made some great memories, and strengthened our friendship. As we graduated and said goodbye to each other, we all looked forward to the day we would all come together again. Christmas time 2014, we all flew back home for holiday break to spend time with our families and each other. This was the very first time all of us played Smash Bros Wii U together and it was great to acknowledge that yet again, this franchise has brought us together even as we grow old together. The college Brawl chapter had ended and a new one began with Smash Bros Wii U!
Favorite holiday were when the GameCube came out playing super smash bros melee, Mario Kart double dash, sonic adventure 2 battle pokemon colesseum and pokemon xd
Happy Anniversary, guys! 🙂 My favorite Nintendo holiday memory is when my mom and stepdad bought me the N64 for Christmas the year it came out. Our family has a tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, and my mom is usually very careful in choosing which one present we get to open. My two sisters and I had our presents lined up ready to open that Christmas Eve night, and my mom mistakenly gave me one of the two N64 games to open. She thought it was clothing, but it was really Cruisinnnnnnnnn yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhheaheaheahehhhh Cruising USA…….. lol.
So obviously I then knew that big box under the tree was in fact the N64 system. I think she felt a little bad right then but I was so excited. Did she feel bad enough to let me open the system early though? Nope! LOL. Had to wait until the next morning. I also got Super Mario 64 that morning, too, which was awesome. The best part of playing that on Christmas day was getting to the underwater level and seeing that creepy looking eel. That eel scared the bejeezus out of my little sister. xD
Happy Anniversary! it is very nice of you to be doing a giveaway, and its very fun reading peoples favorite memories.
One of my favorite nintendo memories was from around 1997, I grew up in a pretty poor household, and when I would spend time at the neighbors house while they babysat me (they had a nintendo that I wasn’t allowed to use) I would watch the neighbor kid play. I would come home and talk about the games I would see him play, and for my birthday that year my older brothers pooled together some money and bought our very first nintendo. I was the most excited I had ever been when I was able to play donkey kong racing for the first time.I will always be extremely grateful to my brothers for making my 7th birthday one of the best I have ever had.
My best Nitendo memory… man, so hard to search for just one. Nintendo is one of those brands that feel like a part of your life. One brand that saw you grow.
But if I have to look for one; it would be my first finished game. Looking the credits roll; as my heart pumped hard because I finally finished my fist game.
I’ll be honest, I started playing with the NES, but never managed to end a game until the GameBoy era. There I was, facing the Elite Four (Pkmn red); my heart was pumping really fast, my hands were a little bit sweaty; I had to manage to beat 4 of them with my party; I was disconected from this world; planing, making the best strategy in my mind to beat them.
And when I did it; it was a satisfaction that I had never experienced before. It was awesome. And it was one of those feelings that are almost impossible to have again.
That would be my favorite moment.
A happy moment was back in the 80s when I talked my mom into getting me a NES, but that soured quickly because all the stores were sold out with no idea when more would arrive.
I just bought my first ever Nintendo device (3DS) so I could play Persona Q. I happily look forward to playing some JRPGs.
So I would love to win some e-shop credit. Thanks for the giveaway!
We got a gamecube for smash one year, my dad loved simpsons and got us the game simpsons hit and run. I know it isn’t the most nintendo game, but we played that game and cracked up laughing the whole time.
Thanks for the giveaway.
My favorite Nintendo holiday memory? Growing up, I spent an unhealthy amount of time on my friend’s NES and SNES, but since my family never bought into home consoles, Christmas time never included Nintendo in our house. Luckily, years later, when my soon-to-be fiancee brought me home for the holidays to meet her family, I discovered they were huge into the current console, the Gamecube.
I played mostly Smash with her brothers for hours and hours and hours, getting pummeled mercilessly. I was very content because it ingratiated me with them. My favorite memory, though, comes from that Christmas as I played a ton of Wind Waker. I had never played a Zelda game previously, and I was absolutely enthralled. To this day, I am still in love/obsessed with all things Zelda, and it can all be tracked back to that week spent with what is still my favorite entry in the series.
My favorite Nintendo Holiday Memories come from when my cousin from NY came to visit during Christmas bring both StarFox 64 and Wrestlemania 2000. I did not have a N64 so it was my chance to play these awesome games and really brought us close together.
I think my favorite holiday memory was with Star Wars Episode 1 Pod Racer. I got that game for christmas and had a blast maximizing my character throughout the following months. Still the best part of the prequels imo!
Waiting as a kid for the store to open and purchase the first (and one of the only copies in my area) of MK2… it was GLORIOUS
My FIRST Nintendo memory is when my great-uncle tried to get us the NES after it came out. He couldn’t do it because it was selling like hot cakes, so he instead gave us a note saying that we would receive our NES console in the coming weeks. So in addition to the excruciating wait for Christmas, there was another excruciating wait for us to receive the console. After we received that console, I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since!
My favorite memory would be playing Duck Hunt and putting the lightgun right up to the TV as an easy way to get the ducks.
1986 or so, watching my dad and brother run through super mario 1, then after they finished they ran through super mario 3 twice
2004 was a great year for Xmas. Its the year we got a GameCube for Christmas. It was a fantastic system
My fondest memory is definitely receiving Ocarina of Time on Christmas morning. I was so excited for the game and I remember begging my mom to preorder so that she could get me the gold cartridge.
Best NIntendo memory is visiting my relatives and playing Smash on their N64
Getting a Wii for Christmas has got to be my best Nintendo holiday memory
My favorite Nintendo holiday memory would probably be when I got an SNES on Christmas Day. On the Eve, my aunt/uncle gave me the SNES game Populous, which confused me because I didn’t have an SNES that day, but in the middle of the night, it hit me of what was going to happen in the morning. I was awake for a good while after that with excitement.
During sometime between early 2000s I was 7, santa brought me and my brother a brand new Gameboy advance to share I remember the day we got to open it on Christmas day I was so happy I couldn’t wipe the smile of my face at all. The handheld system came with pokemon pinball and donkey kong country. That day was one of the best days of Xmas I ever had. Waking up smelling fresh bacon in the air, that was enough for me even though my mom was known to do a lot of cooking so she also did add waffles and eggs. Besides having the awesome breakfast the best part was when my mom sat down and helped me and brother open gifts and she was surprised as we were. She snapped pictures of our reactions which now i have the chance to actually have flashbacks of that wonderful time i had. It’s a bummer that mom and dad ended up being deceased but with that awesome experience with the nintendo Gameboy advance will remind me of the times we shared.
My favorite nintendo holiday memory was opening up crystal on christmas day in 1999. Have that thing to this day.
For me, my best holiday memory is when I got my Nintendo 64. I don’t remember the year, but I just remember opening the Nintendo 64 box and getting really excited and then I also got Ocarina of Time and I just remember spending the whole Christmas break engrossed in playing Ocarina.
Just before Christmas of 2001 I went over to my cousins house to sleep over for the week. For some reason I thought plugging an AC adapter into the headphone jack to charge my GameBoy Color (only handheld system at the time) was a good idea. Unsurprisingly it fried the internals as well as my heart. My parents took me to Best Buy the day after Christmas and got me the new GameBoy Advance along with Zelda:Link to the Past. I can still remember the chest pains resulting from laughter when playing four swords with my cousins on new years eve.
At the Wii launch, before everyone knew how insane the demand would be, I decided to wait in line last minute at a nearby Target. I was in college, so waking up at 6:30am on a random weekday was far more feasible. Not only did I stroll in, but it was just under the wire in terms of total units they had on sale. Only weeks later did I realize how ridiculously lucky I was to get one. That crazy crazy demand….
My favorite Nintendo holiday memory was playing Super Smash Bros. Melee on New Year’s Eve with my cousin. Instead of popping fireworks we played Smash. Okay, we popped a few fireworks and watched the fireworks finale. Although, once it finished we went back to unlocking new characters. I love the character reveals that we had with Brawl and Smash 4. I kinda miss not knowing what character I’m going to unlock next. I remember staring in shock at the silhouette of Mewtwo, then shouting it’s name in excitement. All the characters we unlocked were met with mixed reactions. We were surprised, confused and a little disappointed with a few things. However, in the end we had fun with everything that happened that day.
Thanks for entering, everyone! Check back on Sunday for our winner announcement in Episode 113.
Super Mario Kart for SNES, thought i’d never get it. My dad tricked me into thinking i would not get it.
HiMy favorite was WANTING TO GET A ESOP GIFT CODE PLEASE PICK ME!!!!!
my favorite nintendo holiday was in 2014 i got the wii u with super mario 3d world and i also got acnl for the 3ds i was so happy i could not steer my eyes away from the 3ds and wii u it was just so much fun