We are back for Season 7! After looking over our listener stats and surviving the break, we're bringing actual structure to the pod this season, starting with our brand-new overarching theme: Status Effects in Video Games.

In this premiere episode, we dissect how status mechanics like poison, silence, haste, and sleep mess with combat action economy in RPGs and survival horror games. But before we get technical, we tackle the big gaming questions of our era:

• Can you complete a Pokémon Nuzlocke in Kanto with literally zero Pokémon?

• What is the official Donkey Kong family tree canon (DK Jr., Cranky Kong, and Pauline in New Donk City)?

• Why did Patrick Stewart's hair keep glitching in Oblivion Remastered?

• Is NVIDIA’s DLSS 5 AI tech revolutionary or just photorealistic slop?

Plus, we rant about Sims 2 pre-DLC expansions, $100 Dead or Alive swimsuit packs, and why game preservation on the upcoming Metal Slug collection is a win for gaming history.

It’s the season 6 finale and in order to celebrate the pokemon season we’ve got a DOUBLE KILL WHO WANTS THAT GUY TO BE A MASTERMIND double bill. Richie takes on Dunsparce. Cunzy takes on Omastar. May or may not include a far too long talk about the going rate for handy men. That Guy’s A Maniac. Why’d He Bite Me?

This week the maniacs talk about how World of Warcraft is not very interesting to look at, the frog/salamander/whale Pokémon Heatran and the top Volcanoes in games (the only Volcanoes they could remember).