NOCLIP Pocket E57 - Group Project Vibes - The Bouncer

I don’t care if I destroy my podcast, as long as I slaughter all of
you! Welcome to the final episode of Fanbruary, which happens to be
in March, but February is a short month so cut us some slack. In
this episode, we’re going to be talking about The Bouncer, a weird
little 3D beat ‘em up from Square and the first game they released
on PS2. This game feels like a release that was feeling out what
could be done on the new hardware, that Square would eventually put
to use in the games that would define their presence in this
console generation. And because of the success of games like
Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X, this game tends to slip,
largely forgotten, into history. Now, I’m not here to say that this
is a big tragedy, on the contrary, this is an extremely odd game
with a pretty niche audience who is going to really engage with it.
But if you find yourself in that audience, or if you’re looking for
an experience that seems to defy explanation both in its narrative
and by its very existence, this game might be worth checking out.
We’re going to be talking about how buck wild the story can get at
times, the impressive technical elements of the game, and how old
you have to be to undergo Kung-Fu training. Thank you for joining
us this week! This is our last episode that was explicitly listener
suggested, but stick around, particularly if you made suggestions,
because some of them will worm their way into our schedule one way
or another. Did you play the Bouncer when it came out, or is this a
totally new experience for you? Did you go through the game a
hundred times to unlock all the playable characters and their
moves? What bouncer rank are you? Let us know over in Discord or in
the comments below. Next time, we’re going to be talking about
Shovel Knight, another game we have had on our list for some time,
but now seemed like the best time to pull it out. Something about a
grand fantasy quest just feels right post February 25th for some
reason…oh well.