Ray manages to tear Super Nintendad away from Trombone Champ for a moment to help run down the list of games talked about in today’s Nintendo Direct. Lots of excitement and opinions about the announcements listed below are but a click away!

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When it came to useless peripherals, the original NES and Game Boy were never in short supply. There were all kinds of third party products attempting to hop aboard Nintendo’s money train at the time, selling themselves as clever new methods of enhancing the gameplay experience with very few of them actually even y’know working properly. Still, a lot of the concepts were cool enough to spark the imagination of even the most cynical grade schooler. Typically they would revolve around some “awesome” new method of control that promised nothing short of stepping into a future world once plugged in. The U-Force had kids waving their hands sans controller into a refurbished battleship folder. Konami’s Laser Scope was an early attempt at manipulating your game’s actions via voice command. And of course there was the immortal Power Glove which if you’re not familiar with, I’ll probably yap at length about somewhere down the line. These are all still cool in theory yet ended up being nowhere near practical which brings me to today’s topic: The Light Boy for Nintendo’s original pea green portable system.

As a kid the VHS box cover for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 scared the everloving bejesus outta me. I grew up on a steady diet of scary movies and trips to The Video Park in my hometown were a regular occurrence, specifically the haunted castle themed horror section. Apart from staying up past my bedtime on Saturdays to catch the Whitey Gleason hosted "Fright Night Theater" (of which I'll go into further detail someday, I'm sure) a great way to score a quick creepy fix was by staring at those great VHS covers and reading the summaries on the back. This is how I first came across many movies that would eventually become all time personal favorites (Your Creepshows, Your The Gates, Your Phantasms and Pet Sematarys, etc.)

But there was something that felt so…off about this particular box which really got under my skin. So much so that I couldn't even bring myself to read the back of it.

If like me, you grew up in the 80's loving video games, E.T. and for whatever reason Dabney Coleman, chances are you've seen Cloak & Dagger. It follows this kid named Davey (Henry Thomas) who's obsessed with an Atari game featuring super-spy Jack Flack (Coleman). In fact he's so into it that he actually runs around town acting out his own secret missions complete with an imaginary version of Flack popping up in his head to offer advice and support.

While I’m at it consolidating all of my various nerd interests and habits from the last Lord knows however many years onto this website; it’s time to introduce yet another hobby of mine and drag it under the umbrella of the Dorkside. This is actually a combination of a couple of things I enjoy: one is collecting select figures from the toys to life Nintendo Amiibo line and the other is taking pictures of them out in the wild or sometimes against a fancy backdrop.

I know, I know, it doesn’t get much cooler than this…

Rob and Ray take a third spin around the MCU galaxy with James Gunn’s final installment of the Guardians trilogy! AND we also yap a bit about that other big Chris Pratt release of 2023, the Super Mario Bros. Movie. Woo-Hoo! Much nerdiness awaits.

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It’s an unusually overcast and brisk day here in the bay area, so by my guess and if the several Halloween decorations that have managed to strategically place themselves around the house are any indication: We have officially entered the spooky season! My plan this year is to post something horror related every Friday leading up to that greatest holiday of holidays. This doesn’t mean that other creepy content won’t be posted on other days over the next 2 months, just that each Friday until October 31st, you can count on some kind of trick or treat to read, watch or even listen to! Beginning right now with yep, House II: The Second Story.

Let’s dig in.

New power ups, challenge modes, playable characters, online features and a fresh coat of red paint on the OLED Switch model! Join the Dorkside as we welcome Super Nintendad to help break down today’s Nintendo Direct showcase for Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The first 2D sidescrolling installment in the iconic franchise since the last one!

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Join Rob and Ray as our nerd heroes have an excellent adventure through time and bogus journey in the afterlife before finally facing the music with what is now the Bill and Ted trilogy! WARNING: Spoilers and space/time travel abound.

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*originally recorded September 2020

Like any complicated relationship, mine with Godfather’s pizza has always been an unresolved one with hard, strong, traumatic roots planted firmly in my childhood. But the desire to revisit this franchise was one plagued by geographical location. Y’see, there hasn’t been a Godfather’s pizza shop (that I knew of) anywhere near the Bay Area/Northern California since around 1993, which did nothing but forge the damn joint into legendary status in my memory.

I've had a deep love for Superman ever since a drive-in screening of the Christopher Reeve led Part II. Apparently, my Mom was on a date and she propped me and my diaper up on the front hood of the car while God knows what was happening in the back seat. I was entirely transfixed and going back I have a fondness for those movies but boy it sure is all about that Reeve presence, huh? So anytime there’s a new take of the big budget variety on the horizon my adrenaline really kicks into overdrive (yes, even after the entire Snyderverse fiasco). Batman has always meant a lot to me and I love him deeply (that is a whole other story), but Superman is the one fictional character I have always felt the strongest emotional bond with. With that in mind and all of this current speculation as to how well James Gunn will handle the character with his upcoming reboot of the DC cinematic universe, I've decided to write a little something about DC Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #31 aka the first comic book I ever owned.

Ray has been waiting for this one and this new show with the Nerdman Robman gets deep into our love and indifference toward Warren Beatty’s 1990 comic strip adaptation directorial effort. Check it out to find out who’s on what side!

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The Super Star Wars series of children’s video games for the SNES are just 3 of many countless reasons why I was never destined to become a world class athlete. In this 16-bit sidescrolling arcade action platforming series, players are given the chance to pick their favorite characters from George Lucas’ imagination and run through that galaxy far, far away recreating scenes that for the most part never even happened in any of the movies. Featuring detailed animation, incredibly authentic sound effects/music, fancy mode-7 graphics and a challenge level that could turn a 12 year old kid bald, these games were very popular in their time.

Gate II is of course the follow up to The Gate (not sure why they dropped the The) which starred an adorable, young Stephen Dorff. In that first movie, he and his heavy metal loving neighbor Terry accidentally open up a gateway to Hell by playing one of his records backwards and then burying a dog in the backyard, which also inadvertently doubles as the sacrifice necessary to conjuring up the portal. Y’know, standard kid’s fare (that movie was rated PG!). It’s an all timer for me and one that I have very fond memories of. There’s a lot of strong imagery in there that’s stuck with me ever since they were burned into my brain during those formative years.

Bats are in the air! Please check out Comic Book Heroes Podcast where Rob and I party like it’s 1989. Come along on our stroll through Tim Burton’s game-changing cinematic and highly influential interpretation of the Dark Knight. Let’s get nuts!

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