Rumble Pak Podcast

Rumble Pak Podcast is a Nintendo conversation show from Fourshade Studios, built around three voices: Blake, Brock and Devon. The introductions set the tone. In one episode Brock introduces himself as 'still Brock', and another stops to note that 11 rhymes with Devon. Several episodes follow the same skeleton. News goes first. That can mean a Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity trailer that came without the Breath of the Wild 2 information one of them was expecting, the Crown Tundra expansion for Pokemon Sword and Shield, or reissued Sega Genesis and N64 controllers with USB-C charging. After the headlines, the talk turns to what the three have been playing, and that is where most of the personality lives. One Mario Party session produces a grievance about 1v3 minigames where everyone ganged up on the same player. It also brings a fairer point about the game's pre-match board options and how much it stings to lead at turn 20 and still finish fourth. The verdict is that this is simply what Mario Party is. Talk about the original Game Boy turns into a round of memories: a carrying case far too big for a pocket, and a first trio of games in Donkey Kong, Baseball and Double Dragon. Elsewhere, a character's sword attacks and spell meter get a close, practical breakdown. Nothing is strictly off the table, and the trio says so, calling it a flexible podcast. Pikmin Bloom, the reach of Pokemon Go and a Harry Potter location game with portkeys in place of PokeStops all come up next to the Nintendo material. The Rumor Mill segment is a small production of its own, with tinfoil hats and with Brock assigned homework to build one. Criticism is direct but good-natured. A 2K sports release is judged only moderately better looking than a GameCube game from 18 years earlier, and its most visible upgrade is that the spectators now have real heads. The same discussion still credits it for bringing a sports game back to a Nintendo console. There are small asides too, like the Mad Catz turbo button, or the joke that Xbox and PlayStation are about three years old next to a 130-year-old Nintendo. Episodes are also posted to YouTube, which explains the props, one of them a little Sphero ball in Devon's hands. Sign-offs are a bit of their own, and one ends by asking for strongly worded emails and pictures of dogs. For a place to start, the cold open of Episode 55, subtitled 'Finding Brewster First Try!', promises a lot of Animal Crossing, and Episode 54 is subtitled 'Going Bananas for Super Monkey Ball'. What a listener gets is less a news digest than a seat among three people who enjoy talking Nintendo.