Christina Warren and Casey Liss return to discuss video game retail and all it entailed: sexual harassment, death threats, Pokémon cards, babysitting kids, "quick change", and the loss of camaraderie and caring over the last 15 years. Part 2 of 2
Pictured: NOT Casey Liss, but close. Adam from the FuncoLand training video.
An "extended cut" combination of both episodes will appear in the Master Feed (iTunes) as "Trouble in Pikachu City". Let us know if you like that sort of thing.
SPONSORS
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PANELISTS
- Christina Warren is the Senior Tech Analyst at Mashable. She's also a big-time film nerd. Big. Time.
- Casey Liss writes software and is one-third of Accidental Tech Podcast (ATP if you're nasty).
SHOW NOTES
- Part 1, "The Summer of '99"
- Funcoland commercial "Back in Five Minutes" was the bane of many's existence because a) it encouraged dropping kids off, b) minors could not sell back items, c) no one got a check or cash equivalent for trade-ins, and d) no kids were ever allowed to have that much fun in the store. Where did they think they were, FuncoLand???
- Pokémon cards are the devil, and Redemption (which is still around!) fought the devil and all the "Satanic" other CCGs of the 90's.
- Not only is Redemption still around, but they have "Women Booster packs" and a 2008 expansion set called Rock of Ages.
- Casey inaugurates "Shrinkwrapping, shelving, helping customers on the floor, or ringing in customers?" as the new "F/M/K"
- Keymaster/Gatekeeper
- Consumerist is a great site filled with loads of customer service horror stories alongside some of the best-ever reporting on consumer advocacy issues.
- Quick change scams are mean, awful things to do.
- Superman 64 is still 100% awful.
- Intelligent Qube is a great, tragically forgotten puzzle game for the PlayStation worth saving life good scotch. Chu Chu Rocket too.
- Syphon Filter really wanted to be Metal Gear Solid.
- People often forget the N64 had a bunch of really great games like Wave Race 64 and Banjo Kazooie.
- Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica were an obsession for many. Both games would be sold back and re-bought in Moisés' store repeatedly.
- Earthbound, part of the Mother series in Japan, still has an enormous cult following (including creator Shigesato Itoi) that drove its being made available on the Wii U eShop and the digital release of the classic Nintendo Strategy Guide.
- A combo GameCube/PS1/PS2/XBox controller to USB adapter. An yes, this makes it possible to use a Wavebird or two.
- A two-port N64 controller to USB adapter.
- You can still find loads of original vintage-plug controllers, but USB "alike" variants are all over too.