Video Game Icons Tournament Round 1 Part 2

Dr. Wiley says we will not take over the world

unless we are listening to Geekcast Radio Network.

Maybe you should play something else. Welcome

to GCR and Wars. This is episode 16. This is

our video game character tournament round one

part two I am one of your hosts TFG and Mike

and joining me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello

Optimus solo. Hello. I'm here and TV's mr. No

Welcome to the next level You got to use that

throughout the rest of tournament That's how

we should end it, your princess. Is there another?

Yeah, Steve, get on that. Bite me. No. I just

want to say something really quick before we

start. Everybody needs to listen to the podcast

to hear our opinions on these matchups before

you vote. We don't just want the popular vote.

What? I'm just saying because I don't want anybody

knowing what the answer is. I'm not giving any

answers. I'm just saying compared to episode

15 and now, in the comments of episode 15, there

was people worried about the popular vote getting

it. The whole point of us doing these tournaments

is ... We record these podcasts, give you our

opinions on the matchups. So last episode, you

know, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, all that stuff.

You listen to that. Make up your mind who you

agree with, who you don't agree with, and then

vote for whomever you want to vote for. But don't

just go and vote to vote without listening to

the podcast. Think of it as watching the characters

battle on Super Smash Brothers. Right. But the

point is not just to go to the post and vote

it's to listen to the podcast then vote After

that disclaimer Positive note No, I mean yeah,

obviously it's good to good to have some reasoning

and some scenarios for why you think somebody

would win instead of just your favorite character

But people are gonna vote the way they're gonna

vote hopefully we'll have a outcome that's not

simply based on the more popular characters,

but we'll have to see how it goes. For those

of you that are coming in, like Neil said, at

the next level and weren't with us for the first

part of this last episode, you can always obviously

go back and listen to episode 15, but last episode

we covered the first half of the tournament bracket.

which featured eight different battles. There

was obviously a Nintendo theme to that half of

the bracket. We'll have to see what kind of themes

we have on today's half of the bracket, but we

have the matchups of Mario and Luigi, Toad and

Yoshi and Zelda and Princess, Link and Little

Mac from Mike Tyson's Punch -Out, Mega Man and

Beautiful Joe, Donkey Kong and Fox McCloud, Bomberman

and Conker and Kirby and Pikachu. So that was

our first half of the bracket. You were able

to vote on who you thought would win on all of

those different battles. We are not, however,

going to tell you who won those battles yet.

We will get the winners of that half of the bracket

the same time that we reveal the winners of the

bracket that we're talking about today. That'll

all be coming up next episode. So you have to

wait until episode 17 to hear all of the round

one winners. Mike, any disclaimers or other notes

that we need to get off our chest before we start

the second half of the bracket and anything they

need to know? I don't think so. Just listen,

then vote. I mean, that's kind of, you know,

it's the same thing when we do our top 100s.

We want people to listen to the podcast and then

discuss in the comments and stuff. And what would

be even better, I think, or what could... be

more fun for everybody is if you go to the actual

website post for episode 16 and have some debates

on there through the comment section, maybe before

anybody, before you cast your vote. Get in a

debate with someone, put your scenario out there,

let us reply. We can kind of hash it out even

more than we do on the podcast in the comments

and then you can vote after that too. So there's

multiple options for how you're going to go about

voting. Steve, anything else before we get to

battle number nine? No, I think that that pretty

much runs it out there. Yeah, obviously the biggest

thing is have fun, listen, participate, and it'll

be more fun for everybody. Starting off today,

and you'll have to see what kind of themes we

get to here, but we're starting with battle number

nine on the right side of the bracket, and that

will give us Sly Cooper versus Crash Bandicoot.

So Sly Cooper versus Crash Bandicoot. Mike, I

hear you. What do you got to say about this one?

Well, first of all, I have to say, Sly Cooper

must be a current gen character, because I do

not know him at all. He's actually on PlayStation.

Well, OK. Still, PlayStation, Xbox, it's all

the same damn thing in the last 10, 15 years.

So Sly Cooper's been around since 2002. Crash

has been around since 97 96. Yeah. Yes. It's

like Cooper was on the PlayStation 2 PlayStation

3 PlayStation Vita, etc He's a thief free I'm

just filling in for Mike since you don't know

or this character Nate you're filling in for

Nate since he couldn't be here he's a he's a

raccoon thief from a long line of master thieves

kind of like a medieval feudal type of raccoon

character I guess you could call him somewhat

pirate somewhat thief so he's got they know that

cunning secret nature but also you know Somewhat

loyal and brave I guess and in some respects

strong, I guess he's always carrying around that

Like sickle I guess is what I kind of attribute

it to I don't know if it's technically a sickle

But that's who sly is do you know who crash manic

it is Mike obviously But you know, it's like

yeah, I know well with sly as your As you're

describing them, like, hey, it's Mario in disguise.

The whole raccoon thing. Something about the

plumber part. Well, yeah, true. Maybe if he's

in his raccoon suit, yes, I'll give you that

much. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I

mean, Crash, who doesn't know Crash? Crash has

been around for years and years and years. I

mean, I remember playing Crash in the 90s all

the time. It was just a fun, fun game series.

He's the most I attribute or kind of connect

him most to he's almost like the Tasmanian devil

The bandicoot that spins like crazy and knocks

everything over Kind of in the same way Taz would

if he was going through his little tornado action

But crash isn't as dark as Taz can get. Taz can

get pretty dark sometimes with his humor True.

Crash is a very fun loving upbeat jovial kind

of character Yeah, I can see that just looking

at these two characters and kind of what they

bring to the table Neil What do you what's kind

of your first impression and who do you see having

advantage one way or the other? Well to me, this

is kind of a mirror of the of the Donkey Kong

versus Fox McCloud fight because you have the

smart resourceful agile character versus the

big dummy So I'm going to again give it to the

agile character and say that Sly Cooper takes

it because I think Crash will just come in, you

know spinning bouncing off things wrecking shit

and slides just kind of slip out of the shadows

and Take them out. Yeah, I think that's a I think

that's definitely a very good comparison to that

Donkey Kong Fox McCloud Battle and it's just

gonna be interesting to see how people vote based

on you know Just the brute force versus the cunningness

I think the one difference there. It would probably

be you know the that fox more maybe was a little

bit reliant on his vehicle more so than you'll

get with sly so maybe that'll be enough to give

sly the edge where the cunning and the quickness

um will we'll be able to kind of surpass just

the spinny frenzy of crash what do you think

steve um i'm not entirely familiar with sly but

just from what I've researched of him and what

he looks like. I kind of have to agree with Neil

here. I think that in this instance, although

Crash is probably more recognized to some degree,

but kind of not really anymore. He's not really

relevant anymore, whereas Sly Cooper seems to

be more relevant now. I would prefer... for sly

to win plus he's getting his own movie and crash

isn't Probably more of a character that could

have a movie than crash Yeah, I'm kind of siding

with Neil on this one Even though I kind of was

on Donkey Kong side in the first one It was more

so because I didn't think once you take the vehicle

away Fox was as much of a threat where I think

sly is Resourceful enough where he doesn't rely

on anything except for his own kind of intelligence

and cunningness So I think he's gonna be able

to outsmart crash trick crash into I mean He

could probably just get crashed to spin off the

edge of a cliff or something But I don't know

Mike, what do you think I? Gotta go with crash.

I gotta go with the crazy cuz crazy works sometimes

There always has to be that one guy. That's right

I would cast my official vote for Sly. I think

I'm in agreement with Steve and with Neil on

this one. So we'll let you be the lone fighter

for crash. And you'll have to rally your troops

and get them to vote so that you can say you're

right and we're wrong or whatever. I'll just

say this. Number of times the Tasmanian devil

beat Bugs Bunny, zero. There we go. That's the

best comparison, actually. That's even better

than Donkey Kong and Fox McCloud. That's very

close to Tas and Bugs. I like that. Yeah, Mike

the odds are stacked against you anyway, I'm

going to the next one to happen eventually Going

to the next battle on that side battle number

ten We have Spyro the dragon versus Rayman Now

Mike since you're old You should remember Rayman

a little, right? I remember Rayman, but Rayman

was not someone I paid attention to. I know of

the games, I know what the games look like, but

for me, it's Spyro all the way. He's almost like,

I remember Rayman, but Rayman doesn't remember

me. Yeah, pretty much. Rayman, of course, has

been around since about 95, I believe. Last we

haven't seen him this year at all, but I believe

he had a game last year as well So, I mean he's

been around for quite some time. I don't ever

remember playing a Rayman game But it's interesting

because we have our first opponent that has no

arms legs So, how do you really beat this guy?

I mean he has hands and feet and a head but they

move independently from his body so I Don't know

It's Spyro. He's a flame -breathing dragon. He's

a fire -breathing dragon. All's he got to do

is set the thing on fire. Bam, there you go.

Yeah, but with his with his body parts moving

freely, he can seem seemingly get out of the

way of most stuff. He does have a long -range

punch. At times, he's been able to eject things

from his gloves. He can use his hair to glide

and float. So he has all that going for him.

Does Spyro have offense other than The typical

dragon type of offense It depends on which game

you're playing if you're playing the traditional

game He the dragon offense is his offense. I

mean flight fire You know duck roll and dash

So, I mean The fire has to win out. I mean, the

only way that Rayman is not going to beat Spyro

against Spyro's fire is if he has a fire hose

and douses the fire. But is Spyro mean enough

to even try to take it to Rayman? If Rayman was

threatening his family or whatever, yeah, or

his land, yeah, sure. I mean, you're right that

he can do some things, spit fireballs. He even

breathed ice in some games. He's got the, you

know, ramming into people with his horns. I mean,

he has a bunch of different stuff. I mean, it's

not just fire. It could be water, ice, lightning,

etc. that he's breathing out on or kind of sending

towards his opponent. I don't know if he's as.

Kind of. I don't know, like Rayman. It's kind

of a dark horse. I think like you kind of write

them off it like kind of like what you were talking

about like right away It's no spyro is more more

popular. He's the more known maybe character

He's a dragon But I don't know if you write off

Rayman so quickly because like you know with

that free Moving body and he can still do some

long -range attacks and some other things. I

Think it's a closer fight than than you think

at first glance. What do you think Steve? Well

being that I've not played a game of either.

I am familiar with them but I've never played

either one of their games. I do have to say I

recognize Spyro more and I like his appearance

more than Rayman and I have to agree with you

as well that I think Rayman kind of doesn't get

the credit that credits do because if you look

at Spyro he had games all the way back from like

98 to 2005. right and Nothing more. He's kind

of faded away. We're it's not true. He's got

Skylanders now Still it and how many years between?

It's still he's still relevant though. Not really

because if you look at it Ray man's been around

since 95 he was on MS DOS and He's still here.

Okay, he's on the Wii U and that the 3ds and

it wears Spyro So I mean I want to give it to

Spyro. They both can somewhat fly and float around.

They both can kind of shoot stuff at each other.

Maybe Spyro has a little bit stronger arsenal

if he can shoot at it. But Raymond has the easier

way of dodging and avoiding getting hit. Well,

he can just throw his limbs in opposite directions

and roundhouse kick him from all different directions.

Like I said, I want to give it to Spyro, but

he's also friends the crash bandicoot. So that

would be like signing with the enemy there. So

So I'm gonna have to go with your ass What do

you think Neil? How do you break this one down?

I'm just gonna go with the with Spyro. I'm not

really familiar with either game series. So I

Don't know. I I think the dragon having the flame

breath would have a better long -distance arsenal

than just someone who can swing his arms around.

Yeah. It's definitely hard to go against dragons.

Alright, look at it this way. Spyro's cocky and

arrogant, which could get him into trouble in

the fight. Right, but not in all of the games.

No, not all. He comes across as a younger, possibly

more immature. but I guess immature. I mean he

comes across as a slightly younger character

than Rayman does maybe. I picture Rayman more

as like that you know teenage slash young adolescent

type age where I picture Rayman as like an eight

or nine year or Spyro is like an eight or nine

year old character. I don't know why I do that

but I think that with Spyro all he's got to do

is collect all of Rayman's body parts, put them

on a skewer, and barbecue that shrimp up. Like

I said, I think it's hard to go against a dragon,

and I think I ultimately would vote that Spyro

would win this matchup. I just think it would

be closer than the votes probably are going to

be. I think Rayman stands more of a chance than

most people would give him. Just because maybe

they're not as familiar with Rayman. I mean,

we could be wrong there. I think it's an interesting

matchup. I think if you actually broke it down

and put them against each other, it wouldn't

be something where the same character wins 10

out of 10 times, where you might get with some

of the other things. Like in what we talked about

last episode, if you put Zelda against the princess,

I think Zelda wins 10 out of 10 times. This one,

I think it's closer to like seven out of ten

times or six out of ten times that Spyro comes

away with it and Rayman sneaks a few wins in

there somewhere. I know you don't want us predicting

too much, but I'm going to say this right now.

It's going to be interesting if Crash and Spyro

win the votes and they have to face each other

next round. They'll pull one of those one things

like the WWE and they'll be like, I can't fight

him. He's my friend. So it'll be Dummy Dumber.

Oh, God. All right, so that does it for battle

10 scene Spyro against Rayman Let us know who

you think would win that matchup and now we're

throwing a twist into this tournament We might

catch a lot of flack from this. I'm not sure

but we're gonna Add just a slight twist on this

side of the bracket with starting with battle

number 11 Some people might call this an unfair

advantage, but battle 11 sees toe jam and Earl

fighting ratchet and clank Now I'm not necessarily

saying that there's anything wrong with this

matchup or that this won't be a blowout necessarily

But you may have noticed that it's a two -person

team Against a two -person team and so far up

to this point in the tournament. It's all been

solo acts so Maybe some people are having problems

with that. We'll see how you guys feel about

it But we have ration and clank against toe jam

and Earl Mike. What do you think? I like it.

I think it's interesting. I mean, you know, they

always are together We're in games together.

More so than just like Mario and Luigi are in

games, or like Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are

in games. Like these are a connected pair, it

seems like. Yeah, they are. They're at the hip.

And it makes sense, because they go hand in hand

in each of their game series. That being said,

does Tojim and Earl have any snowballs chance

in hell of beating Ratchet and Clank? No. But

they made an appearance in the tournament, so

we'll give them that money. They would just send

them away on their magic elevators to Mars and,

you know, dumping them off. And besides that,

Ratchet and Clank are just so much cooler of

characters in general. For those of you that

don't know who the heck we're talking about,

ToeJam and Earl came to us way back in 1991.

I guess you could... wikipedia i'll do that since

everybody hates when we when we do that describes

them as a three -legged red alien and a fat orange

alien so there you go uh they were definitely

an interesting uh group i think it would be hilarious

if they ended up going against somebody else

that we'll later see on this half of the bracket

just because i always kind of equated them as

the same types of characters um but uh i don't

know i i think it's fun to have toja mineral

in this tournament But Neil, is this like a five

second knockout for? Yeah, because Toe Jam and

Earl, I don't even remember them having attacks.

They were just in this weird rogue -like game

on the Genesis. And it was like, what the heck?

Maybe they could fly or pilot something. They

could drive a ship. That was pretty much it.

And they would go through elevators. I kind of

wish there was a tag team division in this. We

could throw the ice climbers in there and a couple

other teams. You know, I almost want to see,

since we're talking about tag teams, I almost

want to see Ratchet and Clank versus Sonic and

Tails. Oh, God. See, I don't think that's an

easy enough one. I know Sonic and Tails are with

each other a lot, but it's not like they're always

together. They're not attached to each other.

True. Like we have with Ratchet and Clank or

Toe Jam and Earl. That's what we ought to do

next video game tournament we do eventually.

We ought to do tag team matches. That would be

awesome. That'd lead for a whole nother level

of uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

wrestling references in here. I'm going to equate

this to the Royal Rumble when the Bushwhacker

guy literally went down the aisle, went in the

ring, got tossed over the rope on the opposite

side of the ring, left the arena. It was like

a three second thing, but he made an appearance.

Toe Jam and Earl are second tier characters,

whereas Ratchet and Clank are more primary than

they are. There's no comparison. No. This should

be the - if this isn't the biggest blowout for

a voting matchup, then something's wrong with

people. We'll have that one person, we'll have

that one guy that's like, I'm gonna vote for

Toe Jam and Earl just because I think it's funny.

Ratchet and Clank flawless victory. Well thankfully

none of those characters are involved because

that would not be fair. We can still make the

reference. No I know, I'm not saying you can't.

And now we have some zero the tournaments Party

over Getting into the 12th matchup battle number

12 now You probably could say that it would have

been a better matchup if I would have paired

one of the contestants and The battle 12 to one

of them in a battle 11 and vice versa But maybe

we're leading up to a better matchup next round.

We'll have to see battle 12. We'll see Banjo

Kazooie Banjo and Kazooie Versus Jack and Daxter.

So again, we have a pair in a pair that were

always together Possibly just as much of a landslide,

I don't know Steve What do you think about Jack

and Daxter and did you ever do play any of the

Banjo Kazooie games? I haven't played Banjo Kazooie.

I've played the Jack and Daxter before which

wasn't too bad Banjo -Kazooie is almost like

freaking Donkey Kong. Yeah a little bit. It's

it's almost like playing Donkey Kong and Very

similar Jack and Daxter is more like Ratchet

and Clank than than I knew any of the you know

anything else so Banjo Banjo -Kazooie you got

like jumping climbing swimming rolling into enemies

you know like I said a lot of the same stuff

you would see and in Donkey Kong, they do have

some things where they could use feathers to

fly or certain movements. They did have to have

the intelligence to solve certain puzzles, I

guess, along the way. They could transform, though.

At one point, there was magic powers that allowed

them to turn into things like crocodiles, bees,

termites, etc. And that would give you more variety

of Some abilities so maybe that could come into

play but Jack and Daxter got a lot going for

him. I'm sorry Plus Jack and Daxter actually

had crossovers with Ratchet and Clank Mm -hmm.

Yep in their games Yeah, and they are Pretty

Pretty impressive looking fighters, too. I always

thought I like the Jack and Daxter look I think

they look cool Not that that has anything to

do with anything. Mike, what do you think about

this one? I honestly think this, if we were going

to turn this into a comedy session, Toe Jam and

Earl versus Banjo and Kazooie would have been

funnier, but I think this is going to be interesting

because to see who wins these rounds to see if...

Ratchet and Clank and Jack and Daxter get to

face each other because as Steve said, they did

cross over in each other's games. Jack and Daxter,

I've played a couple of the games. I like them.

I think they're cool. They're cool characters.

The games are interesting. All the weapons. Jack

and Daxter to me is like a... When did you say

they started? Is it PS2? So it's PS2 basically?

Yeah, they are the PS2 era combination of Crash

and Spyro, but they're more competent. It's just

funny, funny characters. Well, they're dark and

sarcasm. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And they

would wipe the floor with Banjo and Kazoo. I

would think they'd be pretty formidable people

in this whole tournament. Oh yeah, most definitely.

Pretty big arsenal. You know, I think even if

we would have put Banjo -Kazooie against Toe

Jam and Earl, I still think Toe Jam and Earl

stands no chance. No, well, no. Well, because

you'd have a bird eating them. Yeah. Did Jack

and Daxter wipe the floor with Banjo -Kazooie,

Neil? Yeah. I mean, I'm not a big fan of either

game series, but I'm looking at Daxter here,

and I just see this elf guy with his big, what

looks like a rifle over his shoulder. I'm like,

yeah. What's Banjo gonna do? He's like, I'm Banjo

and he's gonna go look for note blocks and he

doesn't stand a chance. I'd like to see the the

bird and I don't know what you consider Daxter

to be. Whatever little animal type. He's almost

like a weasel. Yeah, it would be interesting

if the two kind of sidekicks went after each

other. But yeah, Jack is gonna annihilate Banjo.

Which brings us to our next matchup, which is

Battle 13, and this is where we're getting to

something that I was talking about earlier. I

think it would have been interesting to see Toe

Jam and Earl against one of these two characters.

Battle, I keep saying episode, Battle 13 sees

us with Earthworm Jim versus Bubsy. I think Earthworm

and Jim and Toadjam have a lot in common. Go

ahead, Neil. One of them has a gun, period. And

come on, the other one's Bubsy. What could possibly

go wrong? I think you could fall on a cliff.

You definitely have a lot of interesting characters

on this side of the bracket so far. Yeah, I mean,

Earthworm and Jim... Back in 94 is when we first

saw him Obviously he Has a suit that he wears

And he has that gives him the arms and the legs

because otherwise he is a worm so that wouldn't

be very Intimidating I guess but you know with

that suit on and the ability to have that gun

that has a pretty potent kick there to it you

definitely have stuff going against you but Can

Bubsy, as a fly cat, somehow get Earthworm out

of the suit? Well, he is Rob Paulson. So, I mean,

that would probably be his only chance is if

you could somehow get him out of the suit so

that he's forced to just, uh, you know, slither

around like a worm. I guess slither is more of

a word for snake, but I don't know what you would

call. He would just inch along. There you go,

inch along. That was a good pun for once. Shut

the hell up. I don't know how Bubsy would actually

try to go about getting Earthworm Jim out of

the suit, because I think that's got to be his

only shot. What do you think, Mike? No, Neil

already said it. Earthworm Jim has a gun. Bubsy

would just get his head blown off. Bubsy does

have nine lives. Nine bullets. And he can throw

some massive yarn balls, hairballs at him, or

whatever Bubsy did. I don't really remember the

Bubsy game super clearly. Bubsy's been around

since 93. I didn't play a lot of his games. I

mean, I know what the character is, et cetera.

I mean, he did have the ability to buy items.

So he also had some suits and some different

things. Nerf gun smart bombs that would clear

the screen slingshots, so I mean he does have

some some ways to At least put up a tiny bit

of a fight. I think I don't know Steve Well earthworm

Jim had his own animated series and bubsies got

canned after the pilot Very true We're going

on that yeah I mean bubsy did have some good

voice actors, but again No, again, I think Earthworm

Jim is going to take it just because he's more

of a badass. He's got the suit. He's got the

gun. You know, if nothing else, he would throw

Bubsy off a cliff. I mean, I don't really think

that there's much to go on here besides he's

going to take it. All right. Any other thoughts

on Earthworm Jim and Bubsy? Mike? Nothing? Alright

before I announce it we'll get to Mike in a second.

I think he has something to say but We're getting

down here because we only have three more battles

to announce That means we only have six more

competitors that we've yet to reveal in this

tournament So this is the point where I'm assuming

people that are listening are thinking of their

favorite characters and wondering Are we were

really gonna leave them off of the tournament?

Are they gonna show up? Are they not gonna show

up? Because we only have six more people that

will appear. You probably somewhat noticed the

theme so far on this side of the bracket whereas

we had the Nintendo on the left side so far we've

had a collection of PlayStation and some Genesis

and some stuff like that over here. Let's see

we got six more characters so going into battle

14. 15 minutes could save you on 15 percent or

more from Geico's car insurance. Oh my. Battle

14 we'll see Gex. In Sonic the Hedgehog Mike

Go ahead and start this one Geico gecko. Oh my

god Not quite. What what is this? I don't even

know who this character is. I've never seen this

thing before you've never seen that No No He

Yeah, he had a lot of almost James Bond ish Yeah

type looks and gaming cover he is a gecko so

you had that obviously I can see that thank you

his dad worked for NASA so that was good you

know he's got some smarts does he actually have

his own damn game or is he just a mascot for

companies no no he had his own game Yeah, he

was around back in 1994, he debuted on the 3DO.

That's why I don't know him because I didn't

have a 3DO. Well, he was also on PlayStation.

Yeah, then immediately the next year he was on

PlayStation and then Sega Saturn and some computer

platforms as well there. I mean, he is a fighter.

He's gone through different worlds. He, you know,

he's not necessarily like some of the other characters

we've talked about where they just kind of roam

around a map and do things, maybe fly something

or whatever. I mean, he does have the ability

to do some things, to put up a fight, but he

is going against probably one of the most iconic

video game characters of all time in Sonic the

Hedgehog, so I don't know how much of his...

If people are voting based on popularity, Sonic's

gonna immediately take this. Neil, are you familiar

with Gex at all? Um, a little bit. Do you think

he has any type of offense that he can put against

the supersonic speed of Sonic the Hedgehog? Not

really. I mean, Sonic's basically immortal as

long as he has rings. Even if you hurt him, he

just gets another set of rings and he'll be okay.

Whereas, I don't know, Gex is kind of, he's more

of a platforming character. I'm looking at the

game right here, doesn't seem to be much of an

offensive character. Plus, you know, Sonic's

got blast processing. I'm sorry, that's not a

thing. I mean, unless he has the ability to turn

himself into a wall of spikes that just happens

to be in Sonic's way, I don't see him doing much.

Great point. Yeah, Sonic is pretty indestructible.

You gotta hit him a couple times, get all his

rings, and then hit him again. And Gex is more

about the charisma and the wisecracking and kind

of the image, so to speak. Not to say he doesn't

have some offense and some sneakiness and some

good blood in him as far as strength and intelligence

and whatnot, but I'm gonna do something that

Mike usually does. I'm gonna project a... Since

it would be a finals matchup, I don't think it's

going to influence much, but it would sure be

interesting to see Sonic somehow matched up against

Mega Man in the finals. For some reason, I think

that would be an interesting matchup. Steve,

what do you think? Is this one Sonic all the

way? Yeah. For one, Gex has not that much longevity

in his gaming, and it's pretty much all side

-scroller, and looks pretty lame by comparison

to Sonic. And I mean, Sonic comes out with a

new game. He's like the damn Mario of Sega. He's

everywhere. I mean, it's sick the amount of times

he comes up, but there's a reason. Oh, I agree.

He's more fun to play. And I know there was probably

a lot of people at that point that were wondering

why Sonic hadn't been mentioned yet and getting

worried that we weren't going to put him in here.

So there you go. There's Sonic. If you're thinking

about your favorite, you know, PlayStation, Xbox,

Sega Genesis characters and waiting to see if

they'll show up or not. Master Chief. No Master

Chief. But you might be disappointed because

we're gonna go even a bigger twist I think now.

I mean we've had our two -person teams. Now we're

gonna go somewhere where you might have thought

we weren't. Possibly going to go in this tournament

as we get to battle number 15. We have one more

kind of world or genre that we haven't really

talked about yet That's the world of classic

gaming and battle 15 we will see Probably doesn't

get any more classic than this pac -man versus

Frogger Pac -man versus Frogger Mike. What are

your thoughts? Now, before you say anything,

Frogger's been dodging cars, crocodiles, and

all kinds of stuff for years. But Pac -Man just

eats everything in sight. Well, they both showed

up about the same time. Pac -Man's a freakos.

What was that, Steve? I said they both showed

up about the same time. That's true. Pac -Man

1980 and Frogger in 81. I don't know if Frogger

has much of an offense there. He's more of a

character that's gonna avoid things and not get

hit by things. I don't, you know, him getting

to the goal isn't much for offense, I guess not.

But if he could trick Pac -Man into following

him to try to eat, you know, if he convinced

Pac -Man to try to come eat him, maybe he could

jump around enough to trick Pac -Man into jumping

into a crocodile's mouth? Was it crocodiles or

alligators in that game? I don't even know. It

was alligators. Okay. Maybe he could trick him

into jumping in the alligator at the wrong point

where he's mastered where to jump and when to

jump, but I think that's his only chance, Neil.

Does Frogger have anything else besides trying

to trick Pac -Man into jumping in the wrong thing?

I don't know. Pac -Man's not that stupid. I mean,

Pac -Man had his own cartoon. He seemed pretty

intelligent. Frogger also had a cartoon, but

he's got no offense. He's a frog. I mean, he's

always like 10 seconds away from being a grease

spot on the road. We definitely have a variety

of different animals on this side of the bracket.

I mean, it's like saying, OK, you got a football

player and a baseball player who's going to fight,

who's going to win. Well, it's going to be the

football player. And yeah, Pac -Man is afraid

of ghosts, but he at least has some offense against

the ghosts. So he can't attack. Especially if

he gets his little power. tell it or whatever

you call it. Yeah. So Mike? I think if we have

like a loser's bracket somewhere, no seriously,

I think if we have a loser's bracket somewhere

and Frogger ends up in the loser's bracket along

with Peach and whoever else, Peach will just

kiss him and they'll go live happily ever after.

He would just, she would just beat him with her

parasol and that'd be the end of Frogger. Oh

my. And I know some people might be looking at

some of these matchups that we've been going

over today and the end last episode and thinking,

these aren't even close. Like, what are you guys

doing? But just keep in mind that these will

all lead to future matchups and we'll get more

intriguing as we get going through. The first

round of any tournament usually has some blowouts

in it. Steve, any thoughts on Pac -Man and Frogger?

Well, Pac -Man would just eat him. That's the

main thing. What if we had pac -man and Kirby

going against each other? That's kind of what

I was thinking Who can eat first? You frog legs

And then he'd get an even bigger mouth All right,

and our final battle of the first round is the

last two competitors to join our tournament here

so we've had a 30 to 30 character so far we got

these final two battle 16 and Sticking with the

classics. We got Q Burt's versus Dig Dug Now

at least as has a has it has the Whatever you

call it shovel pickaxe digging apparatus Q Burt's

obviously Q Burt. I don't know Mike. Where do

you go with this one? At first I thought that

was um Dig Dug and Frogger would be epic Yeah,

that would be an epic losers tournament. And

I first saw the image before I zoomed in on it,

and I thought it was a turbo from Wreck -It Ralph.

I really did. Oh my god. Just because of the

graphics. Shut up. It's gotta be Qbert's. I don't

know if Dig Dug has offense enough to fight Qbert.

He's got a digger. What? He's got a shovel. He

does. He's got a shovel, but Qbert can just jump

on his head. No. Qbert, if you jump on the wrong

panel, you'd fall off into the abyss. Dig Dug

would just dig a hole around him. I know what's

going to happen here. You know what happens when

Qbert jumps on an enemy's head? Qbert dies. Plus,

the one thing that has been mentioned here is

that Dig Dug has the air pump. And what does

Qbert have? He has a big schnaz. All you have

to do is plug that air hose into the schnaz and

pump him up and he would just explode. And that'd

be the end of Qbert. I mean, easily, Qbert is

the more known, probably more popular character.

I'm assuming a lot of kids these days, sound

like the old grandpa on the lawn, don't know

who Dig Dug is, maybe. If there was ever the

right matchup for a complete upset, I think Dig

Dug has a chance. I know people love Qbert, but

Dig Dug has more of an offense, I think. Qbert,

even though... Go ahead. Dig Dug, look at his

gaming resume. I mean, his game has been ported

again and again on multiple different platforms

and Qbert's kind of fallen off the... kind of

falling off the abyss. I mean, I haven't seen

a Qbert, I haven't even seen the arcade game

re -released on a modern console. Not that I'm

aware of. And Qbert's almost more like Frogger,

where his strength is just being able to jump

on the right thing to avoid things. Yeah. Like,

maybe he'll jump on one of his little rainbow

discs and move to a different part of the level,

but that's not beating Dig Dug. Yeah, that might

work with Coily, but that's not gonna work with

Dig Dug. It might work with Frogger, but he's

going against somebody that actually has a weapon.

Steve? I'm going Dig Dug. Dig Dug for the upset?

Yeah. Think there's gonna be a lot of upsets

on this side of the board. I mean, I love Cuber

Don't get me wrong. I love playing Cuber. I love

Cuber from back in the day That was fun stuff,

but I don't see how he beats dig -dug Mike you

seem to be voting for Cuber, but how does he

how does he beat dig -dug? I Guess he can't sadly.

I mean, I guess you can get him to jump off the

wrong thing But that's the same thing that Frogger

was hoping for when we voted against Frogger

You guys got to get the the chubby checker singing

the dig -dug theme. Oh god. Yes All right Yeah,

that is a thing you'll have to send it to Steve

Neil, okay Before we go over who you think are

the most intriguing matchups, and who is going

to be the biggest blowout, and who are some of

the people that you like on this side of the

bracket to kind of make it far, just a quick

quick review of what we had on this side of the

bracket. We started with Battle 9, which was

Sly Cooper versus Crash Bandicoot. Battle 10

sees Spyro the Dragon versus Rayman. Battle 11,

in the pairing combinations here, we had Rasha

and Clank versus Toejam and Earl. Battle 12,

Jack and Daxter versus Banjo Kazooie. Battle

13, Earthworm Jim versus Bubsy. Battle 14 Gex

versus Sonic battle 15 Pac -Man versus Frogger

and battle 16 Qbert versus Dig Dug Mike, what

is the biggest blowout of this round? We're gonna

have two big blowouts Bells 11 and 12 no contest

Yeah, Ratchet and Clank, Jack and Daxter I think

depending on who likes I think The popularity

thing is gonna come into effect with battle 10

depending on who likes Rayman and who likes Spyro

I wish crash would pull out, you know an upset

not that much of an upset but a close race with

with Sly Cooper sadly, I don't think it's gonna

happen I think there will also I mean, I think

there's a potential blowout there with Sonic

against well, yeah, but I mean like Frogger right,

but I mean some some people might Look at Sonic

versus Gex and they might you know go either

way, but I'm saying like overall like I I would

assume like 20 or 30 to 1 or 2 for for Jack and

Daxter and and Ratchet and Clank versus Toe Jam

and Earl and Banjo and Kazooie. Ratchet and Clank

should be the bigger blowout just because of

Toe Jam and Earl. Well yeah, but I'm saying like

those two battles should be like double digits

to single digits. It really should. Steve, are

there any one matchup or two matches in here

that you could see being pretty darn close? 50

-50 or an intriguing matchup that you're not

quite sure how the people will vote? I'm going

to go with, I mean there's quite a few that I

think could be kind of neck and neck. Sly and

Crash I think could go either way. Spyro and

Rayman I think could go either way. Those, I

mean, I think those are pretty much the closest

ones in this round. A lot of them are either

highly, more action -packed characters going

against some slums. Yeah, to put it nicely. I

think it'll be somewhat telling to see how people

vote in that QBird dig -dug matchup. To me, that's

an intriguing one that should be close, not because

it's a close matchup where like I think you're

right. I think Sly Cooper and Crash Bandicoot

and then the battle with Spyro and versus Raymond

are the actual closest battles. But battle 16

could be close because of the fact that one is

way more popular and the other should really

probably win. So it might make for an even voting

between that not because it's a should be a close

matchup But because for two different reasons

depending on how people vote Neil what's the

what's the most interesting matchup you saw here?

Neil Sorry, I muted myself. That's right. What's

the most interesting match you see here? I want

to see Q bird versus dig dug because I really

think that Dig Dug has the upset here. I think

a lot more people are aware of Dig Dug today

than Qbert. Qbert is really kind of, he's only

come back because of Wreck -It Ralph, and still

he doesn't really have a new game. I think there

was one or two, I'm gonna use figure quotes,

sequels to Qbert, but they really weren't like

really known. And Dig Dug has... He's really

held his I mean he's not like he's not like Mario

or Sonic, but he's really held his own About

the decades as being like a C list of Video game

character, so I think he's got it I'm definitely

intrigued to see how that one plays out. Mike,

we saw a couple different things here. Number

one with the classic characters like Pac -Man

and Dig Dug and Q -Bird. We also saw the parians

like Ratchet and Clank and Jack and Daxter. Anyone

standing out on this side of the bracket as an

early favorite? Do Ratchet and Clank and Jack

and Daxter have like an edge because of the duo

aspect to it? Do you see someone like Sonic being

able to blow through this just based on his speed

and abilities or someone like Pac -Man that can

just eat everybody up? Like, who's your early

favorite on this side of the bracket? It's gonna

be Spyro and Sonic I think that the dragon fire

is gonna be helping Spyro big -time in his favor

and I mean Sonic he's a Speedster, you know and

once you have Urkel voicing you there's no going

back Come on, did I do that? Come on. You did.

I'm now voting against him. Oh, stop it. Just

kidding. Stop it. No, but seriously, like Sonic,

like Steve said it would be interesting, I think

Steve said it would be interesting to see if

it ended up being Sonic and Mega Man. Nope, that

was me. That was me, but that's okay. Anyway,

whatever. Steve, is it fair to have these parians

of Ratchet and Clank and Jag and Daxter, etc.

in the tournament? I think so. I think... You

think someone can beat? a pair like that? I think

so. I think if they're done right, I think that

they could. Yeah, that's why I wasn't too afraid

of including them. Again, they are iconic. You

know, if you think of like Nintendo, you know,

obviously you have like your Marios and your

Zeldos and your Donkey Kongs, et cetera. But

for some of these others, systems, you know,

Ratchet and Clank, Jack and Daxter, those types

of characters are some of the most iconic. So

I don't think we can not include them in this.

So that's why they're here. Mike, any other thoughts

on this side of the bracket or just kind of how

you're seeing this now that you can see all 32

combatants? I almost wish we mixed it up a little

bit more and didn't have the left side of the

bracket be so Nintendo based versus each other,

because I think it would have been made. Here's

what you got, though, by doing that. If you're

a Nintendo fanboy, you're going to clear side

of the board and you're forced to vote your own

characters against each other instead of if they

were all mixed, just voting straight Nintendo

all the way through the whole tournament. So

that's one reason. Plus, I just think it's cool

to see the Nintendo characters face off against

each other and the Sega, you know, slash Xbox

face against each other. Not that there's a lot

of Xbox characters, but PlayStation, etc. Yeah.

But I understand what you're saying. And I think

a lot of people would probably agree with you

on that. Steve, now that you can see all 32 participants,

any thoughts overall? I have my lucky suspicions

that I think I know who's going to win. To that

fact, I'm actually building my own fake version

of the tournament lineup. And I'm going to leave

it that way with little black boxes over it,

just in anticipation that I'm right. He's going

to make all the arts prior and see how many he

can actually get right. See, we should have done

a pool. We should have had people predict from

here on out. And then see who's actually right.

I am pretty good at judging the future. I did

that during the last wars permit. That's true.

You definitely have a lot more humanoid characters

on the left side of the bracket with the Nintendo

and a lot more animal characters with the other

half. Not that that makes any difference whatsoever.

Neil, now that you can see all 32 people, any

favorites early on from either side? Uh... God,

I keep wanting to say Samus, but she's not in

this. Probably still Mega Man. We need to address

that. Why was Samus not... Because I know people

are going to be pissed once they hear this episode.

Like, oh my God, how could you forget Samus?

I just think that's a different level of character

that's... That would be along the same levels

of including Master Chief and the Doom guy and

Duke Nukem and... Yeah, I think it just makes

it too much of an easy win for that character.

If there was anybody that I could just look at

and say this person's gonna steamroll through

the whole thing and then nobody has a shot at

beating them, I was more apt not to include them.

Now I know some people have said that about Kirby.

You know, some people think just by having Mario

in here he's gonna just go through just based

on popularity, but I think all the characters

that are... here have weaknesses and have somebody

somewhere in the tournament that if they're matched

up against them could be beaten I could be wrong

but I feel like everybody has somebody that could

beat them just maybe they don't have to face

them maybe they somehow find a path that doesn't

end up going against them but that would take

somebody else from somewhere in the tournament

taking that person out for them kind of you know

otherwise they would match up in the finals so

Sure, that's the reason why I didn't include

Samus and and there's other characters as well

I know a lot of people you know would probably

like a more mature version of a tournament that

we could do later on with characters from you

know Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and You

know Master Chief and that type of stuff and

that would be a fun tournament to do in the future

But I think including any of those types of characters

with the likes of Spyro and Sly Cooper and you

know Donkey Kong is not quite fair. Yeah, no.

Oh my god, can you imagine if we did another

32 where the first 16 are Street Fighter, the

second 16 are Mortal Kombat? We'd almost have

to expand to our bigger tournament, our 64 -man

tournament. That would be a long process, but

it would be fun. So how are people going to vote

and do all that type of stuff, Mike, or? Basically

go stay in tune with what's going on with this

tournament go to geek caster .com Look for the

wars g -sharon wars episode 16 post listen to

the podcast and then vote Comment as well on

the post You can always gonna be given their

predictions and projections now that they can

see everybody they're gonna be out Everyone's

gonna be trying to play the crystal ball game,

which will be fun to see what people think Yep,

exactly. So just head on over to geek caster

.com Click on the episode 16 post and Bob's your

uncle, there you go. Shut up. And then tune in

for episode 17 when we will go over all of round

two. This was the only round that we'll split

half and half since there were so many battles

going on. From here on out we'll do each round

fully within an episode. So next episode will

be all of round two. And we'll give the results

of round one. Yes. How could I forget that and

tune in for episode 17 to see who wins every

matchup of this first round? Thank you for listening

to GCR and wars you can get a hold of us in the

following ways you can contact us on Facebook

by searching Geekcast Radio Network. You can

comment on this episode post with the poll. Please

be sure to fill out the voting and if you'd like

to leave an explanation, leave it in the comments

below. You can get a hold of us on Twitter at

Geekcast Radio, hashtag GCRNWARS. That's G -C

-R -N -W -A -R -Z. So until next time, tune in

and check out GCRNWARS tournament on episode

16, where we cover the other half of Round 1's

fight. Until next time, unleash the geek in you.