The Insert Credit Show

Our heroes confront Summer Game Fest, questions of manners when talking to swords, and another trip to the Omegaverse.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Polka dot

“I have to stay alive and record this podcast before I die!”

PAX

Return of Monkey Island

Video Game History Foundation

Game Boy Camera

Alexey Pajitnov

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Dragon Age series

Solas

Thedas

Iron Bull

Cullen Rutherford

Game Boy Advance

Xeno Crisis

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Spyro 2: Season of Flame

Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor

1: What did you think of the PlayStation State of Play? (05:19)

PlayStation State of Play

God of War: Laufey

Kemuri: Hunt the Unseen

Report: Payment for some TheGamer staff now tied to per-article sessions

Gitaroo Man

God of War: Ragnarök

Jack Quaid

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Dungeons & Dragons

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Hairy Wolverine

Kratos

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis studio have used “AI-assisted tools” during development

Bubsy

2: Why do we do these and who are they for? (16:47)

P.N.04

Day of the Devs

GDC

3: If you could insert one sentence into Geoff Keighley’s teleprompter at Summer Game Fest this year, what would it be? (21:10)

Geoff Keighley

Pong

Free Palestine

Black Lives Matter

Trans Rights Are Human Rights

Kermit the Frog

Rainbow Connection

Costco Connection

4: CaptainNAC asks, which game would you pick as the secret handle to open a hidden passageway behind a false wall? (26:45)

Sega Genesis

NCAA Football

Columns

Columns III: Revenge of Columns

NBA 2K19

Coach K College Basketball

Sega CD

Ready Player One

NCAA: Road to the Final Four

NCAA Final Four Basketball

5: What would you guess are the first five mods a community typically makes for a video game? (35:27)

6-7

007: First Light

World of WarCraft

HDR

Special K

Shrek

Thomas the Tank Engine

Mortal Kombat

6: What is the John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (1972) of video games? (40:03)

John Waters

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Horses

Divine

Yoko Taro

Drakengard 3

Mouthwashing

Danganronpa series

The Godfather II

Scarface: The World Is Yours

Send a one minute or less .mp3 or .wav of yourself explaining your choice for the John Waters’ Pink Flamingos of Video Games (or why The Godfather Part II might have been advertised using a pink flamingo) to [email protected] and maybe we’ll play it on air in a future episode!

LIGHTNING ROUND: Omegaversus (44:42)

Omegaverse

Recommendations and Outro (01:11:34):

Brandon: Read Only Memo, Dirty Kopz (2001)

Frank: The Video Game History Hour Ep. 156 - Read Only Memo

Ash: Find something you like on Archive of Our Own and leave a comment and kudos on something you like

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Podcaster and Summer Games Fest host Lucy James joins the panel to cover Hideo Kojima’s AI use, playing as a cat in games, and GamemasterAnthony’s pride parade.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Lucy James. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Lasik

Body Worlds

“Whoever reads this, please enter my grave. I will let you have my stretching, shrinking keepsake.”

Star Trek

Heathcliff)

Ricky Henderson

NBA Jam

Space Jam (1996)

Yosemite Sam

Foghorn Leghorn

The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience

Mark McGwire

Jose Conseco

1: What’s the most ludicrous video game press release you’ve ever seen? (05:28)

Lucy James: this is the worst email I have ever received

Fing-Longer

Pornhub

Overwatch

EarthBound

World of Tanks

2: How is AI viewed in Japanese development? (11:27)

Hideo Kojima’s AI Prada video prompts outcry from gamers

3: What’s your favorite thing to be in a video game? (14:25)

The Aristocats - Ev’rybody Wants To Be a Cat

Stray

Little Kitty, Big City

Tenchu series

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Catwoman

Traveller’s Tales

Sonic R

Veep

Batman

Tinykin

World of WarCraft

Troll (WarCraft race)

Tachikoma

KITT

Cars (2006))

Disney·Pixar Cars

4: How would you explain Minecraft to Zohran Mamdani? (20:41)

Zohran Mamdani

Minecraft

Boris Johnson

Sadiq Khan

Meijer

A Minecraft Movie (2025)

Jack Black

Bubsy)

The video of a zombie in a mine cart (thanks to Sandwich Jones for finding this for me)

Demonschool

Pathologic 2

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Marvel Spider-Man

Cities: Skylines

Tropico

Sid Meier’s Civilization series

Disco Elysium

Tim Walz

Crazy Taxi

5: Catherine asks, which video game characters would you expect to show up at Pride? (28:10)

GamemasterAnthony

Kratos)

David Jaffe

Giannis Antetokounmpo

God of War (2018)

Loki

Freyja

Baldr

Bayonetta)

Leon S. Kennedy

Liza Minnelli

Lisa Vanderpump

Princess Peach

Princess Daisy

Waluigi

Char Aznable

Chris Redfield

Sylvando

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Final Fantasy XV

Noctis Lucis Caelum

6: What lines from or aspects of video games have permeated your real life? (34:39)

Portal

The Sims

Shenmue

Ryo Hazuki

Dragon Age series

Chant of Light

Klingon

Disaster Report

Deltarune

Super Mario series

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Audio Atrocities

Dishonored

Fable

Batman: Arkham series

Bruce Timm

Paul Dini

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Resident Evil: Village

Resident Evil 4

7: What is The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) of video games? (43:43)

The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

The Mandalorian

Andor

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Alien: Isolation

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Asteroids

LIGHTNING ROUND: OC Remix (49:09)

Recommendations and Outro (01:07:17):

Frank: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight,

Brandon: Vote for gov’nah if you’re Californian, Sega-16’s Mike Fischer interview, the first and second Abashiri Prison movies but not the third one

Ash: Touch grass

Lucy: Widow’s Bay, lookingfor.game

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Editor and media critic Esper Quinn joins Ash and Brandon in answering more questions from the insert credit forum.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Ash Parrish, Brandon Sheffield, and Esper Quinn. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

For All Mankind

“Ryu ga gotoku the polls”

forums.insertcredit.com

Insert Credit Flavored Questions that are too stupid for the Dirtbag

1: marurun asks, who is the most pointlessly bland fighting game character? Moreso than “guy in a karate gi”. (03:17)

Divekick

Goiken Muyou: Anarchy in the Nippon

Fighting Vipers

Comix Zone

Streets of Rage series

Super Smash Bros. series

Fire Emblem series

2: ana asks, what’s the most common hidden gem? (05:55)

Rupee

Celeste

Cult of the Lamb

Deltarune

NiGHTS into Dreams…

Radiant Silvergun

Panzer Dragoon

Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

3: yeso asks, has anyone ever cried at one of the Leisure Suit Larry death scenes? (07:48)

Leisure Suit Larry series

Omegaverse

Ron Jeremy

Pamela Anderson

Carmen Elektra

Maxim

4: SteveWithaB asks, is it time to retire the term “gamer”? (11:06)

Call of Duty series

Halo series

5: Tradegood asks, if Xbox is Mountain Dew and Doritos, and Nintendo is Coca-Cola and Pringles, what is Sony? (13:40)

Xbox

Mountain Dew

Doritos

Nintendo

Coca-Cola

Pringles

Sony

Pepsi

Lay’s

Black & Mild

Blunt

Bong

Candy cigarette

Dr Pepper

Sega

Jaguar

RC Cola

Konami

Amiga

Dreamcast

Ramune

Hamburger

French fries

6: Death_Strandicoot asks, who should be the first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Video Games? (16:16)

The Hague

Geoff Keighley

David Cage

Shigeru Miyamoto

Mario

Pac-Man

Pong

7: Mnemogenic asks, how would you adapt a 10 yen game into a big budget AAA video game? (18:24)

10 yen coin

Call of Ponchy : Mahjong Warfare

Frogger

Dragon Quest

Web3

8: Taliesin_Merlin asks, design an Amy Rose video game based on one of the following novel premises. (20:41)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I, Robot

The Name of the Rose

I, Claudius

I, Tonya (2017)

The Name of the Rose (1986)

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic and the Black Knight

Lollipop Chainsaw

9: Tom asks, what are the seven basic game genres? (23:33)

The Seven Basic Plots

10: mtvcribs asks, what happened to thong-era final fantasy (26:19)

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy XIII

Tetsuya Nomura

Final Fantasy XV

Cindy Aurum

Final Fantasy XIV Online

Final Fantasy XVI

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Clive Rosfield

Jon Snow

Game of Thrones

11: mack41 asks, is Google Maps cop warning alert a strand game? (29:07)

Death Stranding

Dark Souls series

12: beets asks, if you were going to make a table from videogame hardware, what would you use? (30:53)

BattleTech pod

Xbox One

PlayStation 2

Logan Paul

13: rootfifthoctave asks, is sega the company that gets the most “[not-sega game] feels like a [sega] game” comments spoken about it? (32:24)

Soulslike

Treasure

Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed series

Stardew Valley

14: KingTubb asks, how often do the following characters change their bed sheets: (35:11)

Solid Snake

Naked Snake

Venom Snake

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Jack Bauer

Liquid Snake

Raiden

Princess Peach

Heavy Rain

Harvest Moon series

Deadly Premonition

15: PassionQuotient asks, what’s the video game equivalent of reading all of Shakespeare? What about James Joyce? (38:26)

William Shakespeare

James Joyce

WarioWare series

Dragon Quest series

Final Fantasy series

Geoffrey Chaucer

Kingdom Hearts series

Dune

Atari 2600

16: Kiki asks, what’s Jollibee? (41:07)

Jollibee

Jollibee x FINAL FANTASY XIV Collaboration Campaign

Watch_Dogs 2

17: YellerDog asks, what game is the most fun with the worst graphics? What game is the least fun with the best graphics? (42:58)

Dwarf Fortress

Rogue

MindsEye

Grand Theft Auto VI

r/GamingLeaksAndRumours

18: adashtra asks, What is the “telling your puppy to stop biting your feet, but he’s so dang cute you don’t wanna yell at him” of video games? (45:20)

Animal Crossing series

LIGHTNING ROUND: Arcade of Our Own (48:58)

Recommendations and Outro (01:05:42):

Brandon: some of The Magnificent Seven sequels but not others, Possession (1981), microchip your animals

Ash: Is God Is (2026)

Esper: Esper Quinn’s Top 10 Hottest Games of 2025, Witch Hat Atelier, Absolute Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, The Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic

Jaffe: Read Berserk at work

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

The finest minds in video games discuss flying in games, retaining players over the course of a series, and self-lubricating anuses.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Zencastr

Power Rangers

Sailor Scouts

“Attention street operators! If you’re not operating Mr. Do!‘s Castle you don’t want to make money!”

Mr. Do!

Muenster

Swiss

Mozzarella

Goat

Cheddar

Parmesan

Macaroni and

Chipotle Mexican Grill

La Tur

Humboldt Fog

Tillamook

Cottage

Chocolate syrup

1: How do you make flight feel good? (05:48)

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Earth Defense Force series

Panzer Dragoon

Wing Cap

Steel Battalion

Diamond Vince

SkyGunner

Superman 64

2: What makes a good shop theme? (10:22)

Muzak

QVC

Earthbound - Buy Something Will Ya!

Wii Shop Theme

Kmart

Persona 5 - Weapons Shop

Demonschool - Shopping

Jeopardy!

Yoshi

Super Mario World

iMUSE

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 2

3: What are good ways games can reward you for playing the previous entry in a series? (16:48)

BioWare

Suikoden series

Yakuza series

Bob Utsunomiya

Mass Effect series

Sonic & Knuckles

Metal Gear Solid series

Resident Evil series

Final Fantasy VII Remake series

Silent Hill series

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Nier series

4: How could you “walk the room” giving a talk at a video game conference? (21:29)

GDC

Omegaverse

Alpha and beta male

Mpreg

Supernatural

Dark Angel

Pon Farr

5: Yeso asks, what is the soda vs. pop of video games? (30:41)

Soft drink

Sega

Ryu

The Legend of Kage

Ninja Gaiden

Nintendo Entertainment System

Final Fantasy VI

Tidus

Chocobo

Mortal Kombat series

Midway Games

Toasty!

Cow Clicker

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Drew Carey

Hydrocity Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog series

The Boss Baby (2017)

City Escape

GDQ

6: What’s the difference between a director and a lead designer in video games? (37:33)

7: What stats would you add to fighting game character bios? (40:14)

Street Fighter II

Maiden and married names

Quentin Tarantino

Guile

Blanka

Myspace

Uptown Girl

Star Search

Mega Man series

Pokemon series

LIGHTNING ROUND: 21 Questions (45:51)

Recommendations and Outro (01:06:31):

Brandon: You can make watermelon gazpacho out of unripe or unflavorful watermelons, Alyzea, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979), Convoy Busters (1978), Mona Kimura

Frank: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) if you want to just delete 2 hours of your life

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield cover GameStop making an offer for eBay, the hotness of the new StarFox designs, and dead rabbids.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Nail Bat

Final Fantasy VII

Die Hard (1988)

Gotham City

Jean-Paul Valley

“Shilly-shally.”

Oreo

Hydrox

TurboGrafx-16

1: GameStop isn’t gonna buy eBay, right? (08:56)

GameStop

eBay

GameStop makes unsolicited bid to acquire online auction giant eBay for $56B

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen banned from eBay after takeover bid stunt

Game Informer

Sumo Fighter

Mega Man 7

Video Game History Foundation

Vintage Video Game Magazine Monthly Subscription

FuncoLand

Funko

Relooted

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Indiana Jones

2: What are the level 1 magic spells you want to make available to a player in a game? (14:00)

Hang on. Is Indiana Jones’s hat a fedora?

Indiana Jones: His Hats Explained

Okay back to Question 2.

Metroidvania

3: Are the Star Fox characters hotter now or not? (18:41)

Nintendo announces new Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

Falco Lombardi

Garrus Vakarian

Mass Effect series

Vince Lombardi

Doug Lombardi

Nintendo confirms destruction of original Star Fox puppets

The Amazing Digital Circus

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Kermit the Frog

Krystal

Waluigi

Star Fox 64

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Sonic Adventure

Rouge the Bat

4: Write five clues for a Jeopardy! video game category (24:18)

Jeopardy!

Pac-Man

Donkey Kong

Mega Man

Mario Mario

Luigi Mario

Minecraft Steve

PewDiePie

Ninja

Bonk

J.J. & Jeff

Hideo Kojima

5: LeFish asks, what is the best French thing in video games, and what is the best fish? (28:57)

David Cage

Freddi Fish series

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Ubisoft

BioWare Montreal

Dragon Age series

Another World

Rabbids

Captain Ahab

Super Mario World

Seaman

Leviathan

Putt-Putt series

James Pond series

6: What is a more useful aggregation tool: Metacritic, which averages scores, or Rotten Tomatoes, which averages positive vs. negative reviews? (33:53)

Metacritic

Rotten Tomatoes

Star Wars series

IMDb

7: What is the Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) of video games? (37:10)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The Groundlings

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Diddy Kong Racing

Pee-wee’s Playhouse

Pee-wee Herman

Bayonetta

Tim Burton

The Pee-wee Herman Show

PlatinumGames

Donkey Kong Country

Tiptup

Drumstick

Wario

WarioWare series

Tingle

Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Irozuki Tincle no Koi no Balloon Trip

The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls

LIGHTNING ROUND: User Reviews (43:14)

Credit Corner (56:54)

Recommendations and Outro (57:19):

Brandon: The Sting (1973), Get Carter (1971)

Frank: Rollick N’ Roll

Ash: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Love and Deepspace

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!