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8 results for “playcomics”
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Naruto Path of the Ninja with Merrilee O’neil (Fear Coded)
By the mid-2000s, Naruto had pulled off something most manga-to-anime properties never manage: it wasn’t just popular, it was everywhere, spinning off a small army of video games across nearly every system with a screen, like Naruto himself used Shadow Clone Jutsu on the entire games industry and nobody thought to stop him. Somewhere in that flood of Ninja Councils and Clash of Ninjas sits Naruto: Path of the Ninja, the entry that decided the best way to honor Kishimoto’s story wasn’t just punching (though there’s plenty of that too) but actually letting you live through the Land of Waves and the Chūnin Exams one turn-based battle at a time.
Path of the Ninja debuted on the Game Boy Advance in Japan back in 2004, then took a leisurely three years to reach American shelves in 2007, arriving on the Nintendo DS instead, because by the time they got around to localizing it, the GBA already felt like last decade’s news. You pick from six familiar faces, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Neji, and Rock Lee, pair them into formations for bonus combo attacks, and work through more than 90 jutsu, some of which you cast on the DS touchscreen by frantically scribbling a shape with the stylus, which is either a clever nod to hand seals or just a fun way to give yourself a cramp. The story runs all the way to the Chunin Exam invasion and a face-off with Shukaku, and if you’re wondering whether you can also fight Itachi as a secret bonus boss, the answer is: only if you own the Japanese version. The English release quietly deleted that fight but somehow forgot to scrub his name from the end credits, which is the video game equivalent of hiding a body and leaving the shovel leaning against the wall.
Making another through the Play Comics dojo is Merrilee O’Neil of Fear Coded, last seen on the show trying to keep pace with the Flash. This time she’s trading super speed for shadow clones, hand seals, and a Konoha headband, so at least the running is a little more sustainable.
So form your hand seals, grab your kunai pouch, and let’s find out if Path of the Ninja earned its headband as a worthy trip through early Naruto, or if it should’ve stayed back at the Academy with the rest of the genin.
Learn such things as:
- Isn’t the world today better, with games coming out worldwide at basically the same time?
- How can you use a console’s gimmick to really lean into the gameplay?
- Can a game stick to the established story a bit too well?
- And so much more!
You can find Merrilee being the main driver of the Fear Coded account on BlueSky @fearcodedpod.bsky.social on her podcast Fear Coded.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
Play Comics is also part of Art Comedy Pop-Culture Network, which is a long-standing creative organization spawning from a love of Adult Swim. Be sure to check them out for all sorts of entertainment news, commentary, and just plain fun stuff.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.
If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.
A big thanks to Kaiju Comicast and Anime Field Guide for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who probably has a pretty sick collection of headbands.
#GameBoyAdvance #Jiraiya #MerrileeONeil #NarutoUzumaki #NejiHyūga #NintendoDS #RockLee #SakuraHaruno #SasukeUchiha #ShikamaruNara #Shueisha #TomyCompany #Tose #VizMedia -
Fantastic 4 Flame On with Scott Niswander (NerdSync, It’s (Probably) Not Aliens)
Picture this: it’s the early 2000s, the first Fantastic Four film is about to hit theaters, and someone at a video game developer says, “You know what would be the perfect way to capitalize on this intellectual property? A side-scrolling action game on the Game Boy Advance where Reed Richards appears to have been replaced by his less scientifically-inclined brother in law (close enough, give me this one) and the Thing is made entirely of texture-mapping nightmares.” Congratulations, you’ve just invented Fantastic Four Flame On! It’s a game that managed to take four of Marvel’s most iconic heroes and somehow make them feel more constipated than a chemistry lecture taught underwater.
Joining us this week is the absolutely phenomenal Scott Niswander from NerdSync (the man who can explain the entire Marvel mythos while simultaneously making you question why the Human Torch doesn’t just solve every problem by setting it on fire) and It’s (Probably) Not Aliens (where not even Sue Storm’s force fields could save Ancient Aliens from the debunking). Together we’ll navigate a game so baffling in its design choices that you’ll start wondering if the developers were actually aliens trying to understand human entertainment and coming up just slightly short of the mark.
Will our heroes discover that the Game Boy Advance’s technical limitations somehow made this game better than it had any right to be? Can Scott explain why this game exists in a way that doesn’t make all of our brains feel like Alicia Masters trying to sculpt in the dark? And most importantly, does “Flame On” actually let you catch things on fire in any meaningful way, or is it just an elaborate metaphor for combusting under pressure? Strap yourself in for an episode more chaotic than trying to explain Fox’s Fantastic Four continuity to anyone born after 2010.
Learn such things as:
- How do you make the Human Torch work in a side-scroller without just turning it into a horizontal beam-spam simulator?
- Did Fox’s movie curse extend all the way down to the humble Game Boy Advance?
- How did Johnny Storm have time to do all this stuff considering the timeline of the movie?
- And so much more!
You can find Scott at The NerdSync YouTube channel, on Twitter @NerdSync or on the NerdSync Patreon page. Also check out It’s (Probably) Not Aliens to hear Scott and Tristan Johnson debunk Ancient Aliens.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads ,@playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.
If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.
A big thanks to Gender Pop and Distant Echos for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who would make Jiffy Pop with just his hands if he had fire powers.
#Activision #GameboyAdvance #JohnnyStorm #Marvel #ScottNiswander #TorusGames -
Naruto Ultimate Ninja with Cory Byrd (Byrds Eye View Comics)
Grab your custom jutsu hand seals and prepare to feel a crushing sense of inadequacy when comparing your reaction time to a ninja’s because we’re diving shadow clone deep into the first Naruto Ultimate Ninja game on PlayStation 2! This week we’re channeling our inner shinobi to explore how Bandai Namco took Masashi Kishimoto’s legendary manga about a determined orange-suited underdog and transformed it into a frantic button-mashing tournament fighter that somehow convinced an entire generation of fans that they could recreate iconic Naruto moments if they just hit the attack button fast enough and screamed at their TV harder than Naruto himself.
Released during the golden age of anime-to-console adaptations, the Naruto Ultimate Ninja games became the de facto way fans could live out their ninja fantasies—assuming your ninja fantasy involves janky camera angles, occasionally unresponsive inputs, and the kind of special effect visual soup that makes you wonder if you’re actually watching a jutsu or if your PS2 is just having a mild aneurysm. With fighters pulled straight from the Hidden Leaf Village and beyond, these games proved that sometimes the best way to honor a beloved manga is to give players the chance to make Naruto fight characters he had absolutely no reason to fight (looking at you, random filler villains).
This episode, we’re absolutely stoked to welcome Cory Byrd from Byrds Eye View Comics—a fellow enthusiast of all things sequential art and gaming who can probably explain why Naruto’s popularity transcended manga, anime, AND video games with the kind of clarity that makes marketing departments weep with envy. Together, we’ll investigate whether these games managed to capture the heart, humor, and hyperkinetic energy of Kishimoto’s creation, or if they just left us face-first in the dirt like Naruto at the beginning of the series.
So synchronize your chakra, practice your most devastating combo, and prepare for an episode that’s guaranteed to be more chaotic than a Sand Village invasion and infinitely more entertaining than watching filler arcs about onigiri eating contests.
Learn such things as:
- Can a game truly capture the experience of having ninjas solve political problems through friendship when there’s no friendship stat on the screen?
- How many ninja village headbands would it take to actually run an economy, or is that question unanswerable because the series never bothered explaining it?
- Is it more important for characters in a fighter to be balanced or accurate?
- And so much more!
You can find Cory on Instagram @ByrdsEyeOfficial, the Byrds Eye View Comics Facebook page, and of course his website Byrds Eyes View Comics.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube or the Play Comics website.
A big thanks to Gender Pop and the Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who did something really cool but nobody saw it. You know, because of the whole being a ninja thing.
#CoryByrd #CyberConnect2 #Gaara #Haku #HinataHyūga #KakashiHatake #NamcoBanddaiGames #NarutoUzumaki #NejiHyūga #Orochimaru #PS2 #RockLee #SakuraHaruno #SasukeUchiha #ShikamaruNara #Shueisha #VizMedia #ZabuzaMomochi -
Ultimate Muscle The Kinnikuman Legacy The Path of the Superhero & Legends vs New Generation with SerpyMatt
Strap on your meat-based wrestling tights and oil up those biceps because Play Comics is about to suplex you straight into the absurdly wonderful world of Kinnikuman! This week we’re tag-teaming not one, but TWO Ultimate Muscle games—The Path of the Superhero for GameCube and Legends vs New Generation for Game Boy Advance. That’s right, we’re going double or nothing like a Choujin who forgot leg day exists and decided to compensate with twice the spandex.
These games, spawned from the legendary Kinnikuman manga and anime, brought us a universe where wrestling isn’t just a sport—it’s the entire basis of intergalactic civilization, which honestly makes about as much sense as any other comic book logic we’ve tackled on this show. Whether you’re commanding Kid Muscle through his heroic quest to not embarrass his legendary father or settling the age-old debate of who would win between old-school wrestlers and the new generation (spoiler: everyone’s finishing move is magnificently ridiculous), we’ve got you covered.
Joining us for this muscle-bound mayhem is none other than SerpyMatt, who hasn’t quite gotten around to launching his own podcast yet—but he’s told me the concept and folks, when it finally drops, you’re going to absolutely love it. Assuming he ever stops procrastinating long enough to record episode one, that is.
So crack your knuckles, practice your most intimidating wrestler growl, and prepare for an episode that’s guaranteed to have more body slams than a physics textbook thrown at a trampoline factory. It’s time to find out if these games captured the magnificent weirdness of their source material or if they just left us feeling like we got hit with the Kinniku Buster of disappointment.
Learn such things as:
- What happens when you give character designers unlimited freedom and a fever dream?
- What’s the exchange rate between friendship power and actual wrestling skill?
- Should we be concerned that intergalactic peace depends entirely on entertainment wrestling?
- And so much more!
You can find SerpyMatt on BlueSky @serpymatt.bsky.social.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscaston Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Groupon Facebook.
A big thanks to the Byrds Eye View Comics and The Last Comic Shop for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, whose wrestling gimmick here would probably be something based around weaponizing VHS tapes.
#AKICorporation #Bandai #BaronMaximilian #BoneCold #BrockenJr #Buffaloman #Checkmate #Chihuahuaman #Coconutman #CrescentHearts #Dazzle #Dialbolic #DikDikVanDik #ElKaerun #Eskara #Forkolossus #GameBoyAdvance #Gamecube #Hanzo #Hydrazoa #Jeager #JumpComics #KevinMask #KidMuscle #KingMuscle #Pandaman #Pumpinator #Ramenman #RoadRage #RobinMask #SerpyMatt #Shueisha #ShunDa #Skullduggery #Sunshine #TerryKenyon #Terryman #TheNinja #Tyrannoclaw #Ultimanoid #WallyTusket #Warsman #Weaponman #Yeti -
Fantastic Four with Anthony Sytko (Capes on the Couch)
Flame on, podcast listeners! This week we’re stretching our way back to 2005 to tackle the Fantastic Four game that somehow managed to land on more consoles than Reed Richards has had scientific breakthroughs. Based on the first Fox movie that made us all question whether Hollywood truly understood what “fantastic” meant, this multi-platform adventure promised to let us clobber our way through levels faster than Ben Grimm goes through doorframes.
Joining us for this cosmic-powered gaming expedition is Anthony Sytko from Capes on the Couch, who’s here to help us determine whether this game was the ultimate power or just another case of “it’s clobberin’ time” gone wrong. We’ll be exploring how this tie-in game managed to squeeze onto everything from GameCube to Game Boy Advance, and whether any version actually captured the magic of Marvel’s first family – or if they all just left us feeling more invisible than Sue Storm on a bad day.
So grab your unstable molecules costume and prepare for a gaming experience that’s sure to be more unpredictable than Johnny Storm’s dating life. It’s time to see if this Fantastic Four adaptation was truly marvelous or just another victim of the superhero movie game curse!
Learn such things as:
- Does yelling “FLAME ON!” improve your loading times?
- Is this the worst timeline for Dr. Doom?
- How long can we go without saying something about America’s Ass?
- And so much more!
You can find Anthony @CapesOnTheCouch on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and of course the Capes on the Couch website.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscast on Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Group on Facebook.
A big thanks to Nerd Best Friends and TransMissions Podcast Network for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who is willing play the game, but is going to pretend that the movie doesn’t exist.
#7Studios #Activision #AnthonySytko #GameBoyAdvance #Gamecube #HumanTorch #JohnnyStorm #Marvel #PlayStation2 #ReedRichards #SueStorm #TheThing #TorusGames #Xbox -
Naruto Ninja Council with Luke Herr (D’OhMance Dawn)
Believe it or not, ninja enthusiasts, this week on Play Comics we’re kunai-diving into the pixelated shinobi wasteland that is Naruto: Ninja Council for the Game Boy Advance – because apparently someone at Tomy thought the best way to honor everyone’s favorite orange-clad ramen addict was to trap him in a handheld prison with combat mechanics more frustrating than trying to explain the Chunin Exams to your grandmother. Released in 2003, this side-scrolling “adventure” promised to let players master the art of ninjutsu while battling through iconic locations from the Hidden Leaf Village, but what it actually delivered was a gaming experience so repetitive that even Naruto’s shadow clone jutsu would get bored of itself.
Joining us for this digital journey through the Land of Mediocre Adaptations is Luke Herr from D’ohmance Dawn – a man who’s witnessed more anime-to-game train wrecks than a rejected Akatsuki recruitment video. Together, we’ll explore how this GBA “masterpiece” managed to spawn not one, not two, but THREE sequels despite having the gameplay depth of a puddle in the desert and graphics that make early Dragon Ball Z filler episodes look like Studio Ghibli productions.
So grab your headband and prepare for an episode that’s more entertaining than actually grinding through the same three enemy types for hours on end – which, let’s face it, isn’t exactly setting the bar at Hokage level. Will this portable ninja adventure redeem itself through sheer nostalgic chakra, or will it vanish faster than Sasuke after a family reunion? Tune in to discover if this manga adaptation belongs in the Hall of Fame… or should be sealed away forever like the Nine-Tailed Fox!
Learn such things as:
- Is it dangerous to have pretty eyes?
- Is all manga and anime just a giant metaphor for the horrible nature of man?
- Does a game being fun make it a good intro to the franchise?
- And so much more!
You can find Luke over on D’OhMance Dawn, Exiled, Multiversal Q, and RPG Pals Club. Or catch him on BlueSky @koltreg or his Patreon, found under Luke Herr.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscaston Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Groupon Facebook.
A big thanks to the Glitterjaw Podcast Collective and the Kickstarter campaign for Aces and Aros for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who doesn’t understand Naruto any better than I do.
#ArcSystemWorks #GameBoyAdvance #JumpComics #KakashiHatake #LukeHerr #NarutoUzumaki #SasukeUchiha #Shueisha #TomyCompanyLtd #VizMedia -
Superman the Man of Steel with Doc Issues (Capes on the Couch)
Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for a super-powered episode of Play Comics that’ll have you faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive! This week, we’re diving into the pixelated world of “Superman: The Man of Steel” for Xbox, a game that’s more connected to the comics than Lois Lane is to trouble.
Joining us on this Kryptonian adventure is none other than Doc Issues from Capes on the Couch, here to analyze whether this entry in Superman’s mixed bag of gaming endeavors is a heroic triumph or a Kryptonite-level disaster. We’ll explore how this game draws inspiration from the contemporary Superman comics, with a special focus on the “Superman: Y2K” storyline that turned Metropolis into a futuristic wonderland faster than you can say “Great Caesar’s ghost!”
So grab your cape, adjust your glasses, and get ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound as we uncover whether this Xbox title is truly worthy of the Man of Steel’s iconic ‘S’ shield. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… another episode of Play Comics!
Learn such things as:
- Does anyone really need to be told who Superman is anymore?
- Does Chris shortcut explaining games by saying bad ones are just going through the levels punching things?
- Is anyone even trying anymore with Superman games?
- And so much more!
You can find Doc on Capes on the Couch which as a show can be found on Twitter @CapesOnTheCouch even if it is mostly Anthony running that account. And don’t forget, you can always go listen to Capes on the Couch, which you should definitely go do after you listen to this.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscaston Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Groupon Facebook.
A big thanks to Last Sons of Krypton and the First Wave Teaser brought to us by Invader Comics for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who are doing everything they can, holding on to what they are, pretending they’re a superman.
#CircusFreak #DC #DocIssues #Infogrames #Superman #Xbox -
Spawn in the Demon’s Hand with Pierce Lydon and George Marston (Spawnography)
Welcome, fellow gamers and comic book aficionados, to another electrifying episode of Play Comics! This week, we’re diving headfirst into the fiery pits of Hell with Spawn in the Demon’s Hand, the 3D fighting game that brought Todd McFarlane’s iconic antihero to the Sega Dreamcast. Prepare for a wild ride as we explore the game’s demonic delights, from its hellish bosses to its chaotic Battle Royale mode.
Joining us on this infernal journey are none other than Pierce Lydon and George Marston from the podcast Spawnography. These two Spawn scholars will help us unravel the twisted tale of Al Simmons, the military operative turned hellspawn, and his quest for vengeance and redemption. Expect plenty of laughs, deep dives into Spawn lore, and maybe even a few hellish puns along the way.
So grab your chains, summon your necroplasmic powers, and get ready to battle through the underworld with us. It’s time to see if “Spawn in the Demon’s Hand” is a heavenly hit or a devilish dud!
Learn such things as:
- Can Spawn ever really die?
- Do you need a plot to have a good game?
- Who is this? Why are they?
- And so much more!
You can find Spawnography on Twitter, BlueSky, and Instagram, and of course those Apple Podcast, YouTube, and Spotify places.
If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.
If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.
Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.
You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscast on Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Group on Facebook.
A big thanks to the Transphoria campaign on Kickstarter, as well as “Fun” and Games for the promos today.
Intro/Outro Music by Best Day, who unlocked all of the characters because I said he couldn’t do it.
#Admonisher #AngelTeneres #AngelsE #ArmyA #BlackBrimstone #Brimstone #Capcom #Cogliostro #CurseSub #CyGor #DarkAgesSpawn #Gatekeeper #GeorgeMarston #GreenBeretA #Hellspawn #Image #OvertKill #PierceLydon #Priest #Sam #SegaDreamcast #SkeletonI #SoldierI #Soliel #Spawn #SpawnI #SpawnIV #TheCurse #TheMagia #TheRedeemer #Tiffany #Tremor #Twitch #Vacillator #Vandalizer #Vindicator #ViolatorClown #WolfI #ZombieI