“What is the first game you can remember playing?”
Axle1324
Initial Summary
The initial episode of Iconic Video Game Podcast starts out with a brief introduction of our main cast, a panel of three consisting of Axle1324, DoggyDog420, and Princess Zelda, whose channel I unfortunately could not find in the mass of Zelda’s on YouTube. That said, they got right down to business, and in comical fashion too. The questions they answered included what their first games were, what their first consoles were, favorite gaming franchises growing up and favorite ones today, and of course favorite games that did or will release the year of the episode. (2021 for those who are curious). The titles they refer to throughout the video ranged from early retro titles like Megaman, to modern marvels such as Halo.
Impressions
What caught me by surprise is that I found myself answering these questions alongside them. Of course, there were obvious deviations from my own list. Fortnite was one of the titles thrown out by Princess Zelda, and though it has its fan base, I am not part of it. Regardless, her enthusiasm was infectious, so I might give it a second look now. The parallels really hit home though. Axle1324 himself brought up Halo as a favorite franchise, and growing up, that was one of mine as well. And of course, hearing DoggyDog’s enthusiasm about Forza Horizon has rekindled my interest in racing games, and brought back a strong sense of nostalgia.
Overall, the group was extremely positive, enthusiastic, and energetic, each to the point of being infectiously so. Even while playing my games or doing homework for class at Uni, when listening, I often found myself nodding along, grinning wildly at the enthusiasm, scratching my chin in thought at some of the more outlandish sounding answers (at least to me), and even laughing heartily at some of their humor.
An added note I want to point out is that, at the time of recording, Axel said the game he looked forward to was Halo: Infinite. Gotta admit, the parallel there was a nice surprise. Call me biased, but I was very happy to hear that answer. I was not disappointed by Halo: Infinite’s Campaign story either, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out. My full review for that game will have to come at another time though.
The biggest strength of the podcast from the get go is how engaging it is for the gamers who find it. During the initial stream, the panel steps out of their internal interactions to engage with a live audience, a little detail that adds to the entertainment factor even after recording has ended and the final Podcast episode is up. It also leads to the discovery of game titles I’ve never even heard before, so it’s worth paying attention to those moments, especially if you’re on a tour of discovery.
Conclusions
Episode 0 is a strong pilot episode with a goofy start that does a great job setting the vibe and expectations for the rest of the series. I found the series does a great job of engaging you in asking questions about video games, whether you have a history with them, or have yet to start developing one. In my case, I even rediscovered my love of older, iconic titles such as Starcraft II, Halo 3: ODST, and the original Forza Horizon games. I would recommend checking this podcast series out as soon as possible yourself. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about other games that are out there, and what is considered iconic by older generations. For your convenience, I have the episode embedded below.
