Advertise on podcast: The Cane and Rinse videogame podcast

The first team-curated selection of the year goes to Double Fine's Stacking. Leon, Brian (who chose this one for the volume), Ryan, Tony and contributors from the Cane and Rinse community nestle into director Lee Petty's marvelous marriage of matryoshka and mystification.

We're back, yet again, for our thirteenth year of podcasts, and we kick off 2024 with a look at a 35 year-old arcade stunner. Leon, Chris Worthington, Michiel and Sean dash and slash their way through Capcom's coin-op of choreographed set-pieces, Strider Hiryu. Along with contributions from the Cane and Rinse community, we also investigate Strider's precursors, ports, the spin-offs and successors.

Wrapping up another year of Cane and Rinse podcasts, we revisit Demon's Souls, this time focusing on the PlayStation launch remake from 2020, put together by Bluepoint Games. Leon, James, Rich, Tom and community contributors drift about the Nexus, boasting of builds, strats and boss techniques. Of course we also consider the game's system-selling paint-job, and any aesthetic pros and cons that come with this comprehensive audiovisual 'glow-up'.

When we covered Subset's previous game, FTL back in... wait, what? Apparently we didn't. Perhaps in the future then. Anyway, here we are with mech vs. Vek strategic manoeuvres in Subset's sophomore effort, Into the Breach. Leon, Brian, Chris O'Regan, James and community contributors wrangle robots and defy insectoid kaiju in this issue of the podcast.

Seattle didn’t invent grunge or coffee shops, but it certainly popularised them. Seattle's Mega Crit didn’t invent roguelike deck builders, but… you get the idea. Chris, James, Jesse, and Leah venture ever upwards to confront the Corrupted Heart and ultimately Slay the Spire!

Is this really the end of Kiryu’s journey?  Well, we know it’s not, but at the time of release, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was the final chapter in Kiryu’s story.  Join Brian, Leah and Michiel as they examine whether or not this was a fitting final chapter for the Dragon of Dojima.

It's the near future. The town of Norco has been driven to the brink of devastation by the Shield Corporation. Ryan, Leah, Jon, and Jesse venture back home to uncover the secrets of the town and the supernatural powers hiding within. In this issue, we discuss point-and-click adventure debut NORCO.

“It did appear that they might be onto something but not so.” After almost thirty years of (more than) annual releases, EA Sports' FIFA series of football (soccer) games ended in 2022. Leon, Chris Worthington, Tony and a team of listeners tackle every generational leap and incremental upgrade from 16-bit Mega Drive to PS5 and Xbox Series X. We remember the highs (FIFA 11) and lows (FIFA 97), the faded cover stars, the features that have come and gone and lament the death of all competition, as EA Sports FC 24 continues exactly where FIFA 23 left off. http://media.blubrry.com/caneandrinse/caneandrinse.com/podcast/cane_and_rinse_issue_595.mp3   Music featured in this issue: 1.  FIFA International Soccer Mega Drive title theme by Jeff van Dyck2. Tubthumping by Chumbawamba Edit by Jay Taylor You can support Cane and Rinse and in return receive an often extended version of the podcast four weeks early, along with exclusive podcasts, if you subscribe to our Patreon for the minimum of $2 per month (+VAT). Do you have an opinion about a game we're covering that you'd like read on the podcast? Then venture over to our forum and check out the list of upcoming games we're covering. Whilst there you can join in the conversations with our friendly community in discussing all things relating to videogames, along with lots of other stuff too. Sound good? Then come and say hello at The Cane and Rinse forum

SEGA AM2 doubled down on an icon in 2003 when it finally released OutRun 2 into the arcades. Updates, expansions and follow-ups came - and went, thanks to elapsed licensing - but it's now been 14 years since a new game in the series was made available. Leon, Chris Worthington and Michiel celebrate Sumo Digital's work in bringing the mighty coin-ops home, while lamenting the expense of securing legacy physical copies. We've also got some particularly passionate user reviews for you in this blue-skied podcast.

It's been a while since we covered Halo 5 (check out that and our other Halo podcasts in the archive), but now it's been a couple of years since the release of its successor, so we felt it was time to review Halo Infinite. Leon, Brian, Karl, Tony and a swathe of community contributors recall 343's rocky road to launch and beyond, assess the state of the game then and now - even considering whether the recent launch of 'Season 5' could be the start (or even the end) of this game's 'redemption arc'.

Our last adventure with Samus for this year as we travel back to 2004 for the GameCube sequel, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Leon, Brian, Leah and Rich - along with contributors from the Patreon and forum - revisit Retro Studios' divisive dark middle chapter of their first-person 3D trilogy. For some, this instalment is one of their least fondly remembered Metroid experiences - frustrating and unfriendly, For others it is their favourite - a moody, challenging masterpiece. Where do you fall? And where's that remaster?

When we scheduled this show, it had been over 18 years since the most recent release of a new F-Zero game. Then Nintendo threw us for a loop with the shadow-drop of the free-to-play battle royale F-Zero 99! Nevertheless, as planned, Leon, Karl and Michiel - along with contribution s from Our Ryan and the wider community - come together to celebrate and analyse this long-dormant future racer franchise, featuring a detailed look at the Super Famicom/SNES, N64 and GameCube 'big console' trilogy, as well as reports of the GBA 'trilogy' of spin-offs/sequels. And a little word on that newest entry too.