[The Giant Bombcast: Retro Gaming, Fitness Apps, and Tech Nostalgia]-[923: Original Urkel]

Giant Bombcast · C1 · 2026-01-13

📋 Summary

The Return of the Giant Bombcast

In this episode of the Giant Bombcast, host Jan Ochoa is joined by Jeff Grubb, Dan Ryckert, Jeff Bakalar, and Mike Minotti. The conversation kicks off with a humorous and long-running inside joke about being "buffaloed," a term the crew uses to describe being playfully tricked or kept in the dark by one another over the years. The banter quickly transitions into a discussion about modern life, fitness, and the intersection of technology and gaming.

Gamifying Fitness and Tech Debates

Jan introduces his current "fitness kick" and seeks advice on how to gamify his health tracking without resorting to complex spreadsheets. The group suggests using the Lose It! app for macro tracking, noting that users can "buffalo" the app's premium paywall by declining offers until a deep discount is provided. The conversation pivots to a heated debate over smartwatches, with the crew discussing the merits of the Apple Watch versus the Pixel Watch. Dan expresses a deep-seated disdain for Apple's notification logic, labeling it "ancient and terrible," while the group reminisces about defunct tech like Pebble watches and the short-lived era of Windows Phones.

The "Urkel" of Games Media

A recurring, hilarious thread throughout the episode is the comparison of Mike Minotti to Steve Urkel from Family Matters. The crew explores the history of Popeye, noting that just like Urkel, Popeye wasn't originally the lead character of his comic strip (Thimbleweed Theater) but eventually became the defining face of the franchise. This leads to a playful assignment of roles, with Jeff Bakalar being cast as the "Carl Winslow" to Mike’s "Urkel."

Gaming Deep Dives

Myst (3): Jeff Grubb and Jan discuss their progress in Myst 3, highlighting a "eureka moment" where they successfully solved a physics-based marble machine puzzle. They reflect on how the series has evolved from static slideshows to immersive "photo spheres," noting that while some players get motion sickness, the game's atmosphere remains unparalleled.
Disco Elysium: Mike Minotti shares his struggle with Disco Elysium, admitting that despite the game's critical acclaim, he found it "dour" and "up its own ass." He reflects on the guilt of not enjoying a title that his friends and community adore, questioning if his recent "Soulsborne" gaming habits have left him craving more kinetic, action-oriented gameplay.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: Jeff Grubb revisits Jedi Survivor, noting that the game runs perfectly on PC now and offers a "From Light" experience—challenging but rewarding without being punishing. The group also discusses a total conversion mod for Starfield called Star Wars Genesis, which transforms the Bethesda title into a full-fledged Star Wars experience.
Final Fantasy Tactics: Mike celebrates finally finishing Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. He praises its uncompromisingly serious tone and deep job system, expressing a strong desire for a collection of Tactics Advance and Advance 2.

Industry News and Closing Thoughts

The episode concludes with a segment on industry news, including the closure of studios under Meta (Facebook), such as Twisted Pixel. The crew also discusses a fascinating quote from the developers of Peak, who philosophize about game pricing tiers, suggesting that in a player's mind, "eight bucks is five bucks," but thirteen bucks pushes a game into the fifteen-dollar bracket. The show wraps up with a lighthearted email segment where the hosts share their favorite "little treats" and discuss what props they would want if they could own anything from film or gaming history, ranging from The Rock's green balls to the Fifth Element's ZF1 gun.

🎯Key Sentences

I'm rarely buffaloed.

Buddy, if I told you, that would give it away.

It's an ongoing buffalo.

That's very bad of you.

I know the world is on fire.

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📝Key Phrases

on top of everything

energy he gives off

in your corner

goes a long way

fleshing out

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📖 Transcript

Hey everybody, it's Tuesday, January 13th, 2026.

Welcome to the Giant Bombcast.

I am your host, Jan Ochoa.

Joining me, co-captain of the ship, he's his own gold-plated HDMI cord, Jeff Grubb.

That's right.

Every single one of my veins have been dipped in gold, and now they work better than ever.

Look for the wikistreetteam.com. discord channel additionally you could go to bombcast.com slash wiki go help him out over there and on top of that shout out to our homies at main gear maingear.com slash giant bomb go buy yourself a pc go buy yourself a plate go buy all of them if you buy all of them i'll kiss you So there you go.

It was called Thimbleweed Theater and it was about like these other people, including a guy named Castor Oil and his sister, Olive Oil and Olive Oil's boyfriend not popeye, just some guy and they were just having their own adventures until one day castor oil and olive oil's boyfriend had to hire a sailor.

But it's not just that. dourness it's it's dour but it's also kind of up its own ass yeah uh and I I like that game a whole bunch it but it's like you have to like get on its wavelength with that tone it's a game for people from like what's that uh neighborhood in Brooklyn where all the hipsters hang out uh um Well, thank you.

Nah, I think Wizard of Oz is still so like... um omnipresent in culture that it somehow still even exists outside of the shadow of wicked which you know that second movie has come out that's already retreating a little exactly it already feels like it happened and it's not an ongoing concern yeah okay okay uh dan another game that you've been playing is star wars jedi survivor yeah i uh grub was you that was telling me uh that you started playing it again recently Yes.

I don't have it installed on this computer, but i gotta figure out if i could just play around with that photorealistic thing who knows like how complicated, and so you know, it's probably probably not, because i mean, there was the photo realistic stuff for grand theft auto and i did that a couple times and yeah oh, that's amazing.

The things they were doing with Final Fantasy VII, Mighty, for, like, the next 10 years afterwards were just incredible. i like the blitz ball yeah no i i did too um i think i forgot how much final fantasy 10 just feels like it is ripped from um star wars the phantom menace but with more water it is very phantom menace coded in a lot of ways yeah in terms of like uh the aesthetics of everything uh but also is orin one of the coolest motherfuckers in the world he's yes Yeah.

It's it's the most like it's just a sort of like a vibe read in the in the most accurate, like sobering way. yeah and it's like the evidence is before us where that game just absolutely cracked everything uh at eight dollars and just came out and destroyed uh all right uh the xbox developer direct will feature a secret fourth game uh that thing is happening january 22nd they've already confirmed forza horizon 6 fable and beast of reincarnation uh so we're going to get a good look at all these beast of reincarnation is the game freak game the people make pokemon this is their Maybe Soulsborne looks like a Soulsborne game.

So it's like I think they want to continue that momentum and see if they can break it through to a bigger audience. uh real quick uh ubisoft also uh seems to be hinting at teasing straight up confirming the division definitive edition uh there was a poster for that at a ubisoft event in japan uh seems like it would just gather up all the dlc and all the expansions and everything that you can get put it on all in one package and put it out again uh they've done some events in the division too to like make the world like snowy and feel like the division one so maybe they're trying to bring it all together and set up for whatever division three is going to be i don't think i've ever been interested in the division at all i don't think i could point it out in a police to be a little dad coded it's it's it's like the most tom clancy of the tom clancy game i think yeah maybe splinter cell still is but this is very i had a I've had some good times with division two.

But yeah, he talked about acquiring Dynamo Pictures, which is now Nintendo Pictures, which are making these animated shorts like the pikmin stuff they're like we're going to do more of that and then they were asked he was asked about what about anime he's like if we can do it in a unique nintendo way we might do that does it sound like that's that means there's anything in the works currently um so dan reicher which nintendo anime do you want to see i would watch i don't know if there's any i would watch i I would watch a Mike Tyson's Punch Out anime.

I do think a bedrock GTA would be fun. oh my god yeah yes gta bedrock you go oh man mr slate will be there and pebbles will be there bam bam will be there all the yeah what part would you want this in the story to take place mike is it like post pebbles and bam bam or after It's Pebbles and Bam Bam are babies.

There's probably stuff in the Appalachians, but no one goes there, not unless you want to be taken by the Appalachians. and then you're practically in west virginia so like look out right exactly yeah for sure out yeah i think it used to be the margaritaville but they closed it in cleveland i never go too far from the twin cities but it's like it's just like there's just a million really nice lakes it's not like there's this one oh my god vista you have to see it's just like there's a million just really fucking nice lakes around here wait does the butter come from you dan but it's wisconsin wisconsin they're they're the no like lando lakes butter Maybe.

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