📢 ATTENTION, PLEASE! 📢

This episode, your hosts are back to discuss some of the biggest announcements in video game history! Join us for an insightful discussion as we uncover Matt's past as a Nintendo fan, reminisce about giant enemy crabs, and debate the future of the F-Zero franchise!

HowLongToBeat forums – ⁠https://howlongtobeat.com/forum⁠

Discord – ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk⁠⁠

Email – ⁠⁠hltbpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

0:00:00 - Intro

0:01:48 - Beaten

0:19:55 - Retired

0:25:35 - Playing

1:26:49 - Memorable Game Announcements

2:18:36 - Collections Game

2:35:11 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Diallo: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PC), Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse (PC), UFO 50 (PC)

Lia: Wordle, Murdle, NHL 22 (PS5), Just Dance/Fitness Boxing (Switch), Yoshi's Island

Matt: Bird on Bird (PC), Don't Stop, Girlypop! (PC), Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1), Gold Miner [2003] (PC), Gran Turismo 4: Spec II (PS2), We Were Here Forever (PC), Small Saga (PC)

Roy: Ridge Racer Type-4 (PS1), Wordle (PC), League of Legends (PC), Tabletop Simulator (PC), Slay the Spire 2 (PC)

On this episode of the How Long To Beat podcast, the hosts discuss character creators in video games. Why are certain hairstyles always so wonky? When are we finally gonna get bladder size sliders? And how many possible combinations does the LEGO Racers figurine designer actually have?

In addition to these burning questions, there will also be talk about the decline of Windows default games, the meanest character in all of Tetris, the quality of ice rinks in modern hockey games, what it’s like playing Virtual Boy games without the peripheral, and a Wordle milestone for word puzzle enthusiast Roy!

And if you stick to the end of it all, you will even find out why Matt owes former podcast host Abatage a jar of Vegemite.

HowLongToBeat forums - https://howlongtobeat.com/forum

Discord – https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk

Email - hltbpodcast@gmail.com

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:29 - Beaten

00:49:38 - Retired

01:00:19 - Playing

01:52:14 - Discussion: Character Creators

02:25:30 - Really Handsome Shepard

02:26:23 - Discussion: Character Creators

02:32:40 - Collections Game

02:46:02 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Lia: click to ten (PC), Tennis Clash (Mobile), Tennis Manager (Mobile), Top Seed Manager (Mobile), Hockey Legacy Manager 26 (Mobile), Chess Force (Browser), Selenewrecked (Browser), Wordle, Murdle, Spyro the Dragon: Reignited Trilogy (PS4), Sokpop S04: capy hoky (PC), Galactic Pinball (VB), Golf, The Mansion of Innsmouth (VB), 3D Tetris (VB), Red Alarm (VB), Teleroboxer (VB), Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB), Yoshi’s Island (SNES), Quetzal (Mobile), Superstar Hockey (Mobile), Hockey All-Stars ‘24: 2026 Season (Mobile), NHL 25 (PS5), NHL 22 (PS5)

Matt: House Hunting (Browser), Pee Man - The Game (Browser), The Last Piece of Cake DX (Browser), Drop Cannon (Browser), Playing With Fire 2 (Browser), Frank’s Adventure 1 - 3 (Browser), Old School Rally (PC), Leons Identität (PC), Kami 2 (Mobile), Super Bombliss DX (GBC) via Tetris Forever, Hotshot Racing (PC), Alien Hominid [2002] (Browser), Bubble via Microsoft Solitaire Collection (PC), Small Saga (PC)

Roy: Selenewrecked (Browser), Wordle (PC), Tabletop Simulator (PC), Gravity Blocks (PC)

This week the podcast goes into the past with Flash, everyone's favorite old internet game platform. What were our favorite Flash games and the sites where we gathered to play them on? Were any of these actually Javascript or Macromedia? Did we actually go out to purchase any retail versions of these masterpieces? Which games are we hoping to get revisited in the future by us or some other dev that decided to dig into the past themselves?

Come along on a journey of very few games, what bathroom behavior has got Matt all excited, what ball sports have captured Lia's interests, and what game just didn't want to work for Roy.

HowLongToBeat forums - ⁠https://howlongtobeat.com/forum⁠

Discord – ⁠https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk⁠

Email - ⁠hltbpodcast@gmail.com⁠

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:39 - Beaten

00:25:40 - Retired

00:26:50 - Playing

00:51:24 - Discussion

01:35:40 - Guess the Game

01:45:03 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Lia: Wordle, Murdle, NHL 22 (PS5), Hockey Super Squad (PC), Matchpoint (PC), AO Tennis 2 (PC), RV There Yet? (PC), Elder Scrolls Online (PC), “Mahjong” games (Browser, [games.amny.com](http://games.amny.com)), Superstar Hockey (Mobile), Tennis Clash (Mobile), Tennis Manager (Mobile),Top Seed Manager (Mobile), Hockey Legacy Manager 26 (Mobile), Hockey All-Stars ‘24: 2026 Season (Mobile)

Matt: Birds Organized Neatly (PC), Skate Story (PC), Deep Sleep Trilogy (PC), Flash Games: Murder Taylor Swift, School Escapist, Chess Force, WallGame, Watching Someone Pee Simulator, Watching Someone Pee Simulator 2, Watching Someone Pee Simulator Versus, Preventing Someone Watching You Pee via a Shotgun Simulator, Watching Someone Pee Simulatoria, Old School Rally (PC), Data Wing (Mobile), Don’t Stop, Girlypop! (PC), We Were Here Together (PC), Pokémon Sapphire (GBA), Pokémon Ultra Moon (3DS)

Roy: Soulcalibur VI (PC), League of Legends (PC), Wordle (PC), Tabletop Simulator (PC), Chess Force (PC)

It's that time again! The HLTB Podcast hosts are back to discuss our very favorite games that we played in 2025! Join us for a radical retrospective, in which we talk repeatedly about Pokémon, commiserate about the agony of filing taxes, and attempt to pronounce Nietzsche quotes. Which games will come out on top? Tune in to find out!

HowLongToBeat forums - ⁠https://howlongtobeat.com/forum⁠

Discord – ⁠https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk⁠

Email - ⁠hltbpodcast@gmail.com⁠

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

0:00:00 - Intro

0:01:03 - Beaten

0:45:40 - Retired

0:52:41 - Playing

1:37:53 - 2025 Game of the Year

2:28:29 - Collections Game

2:41:44 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Diallo: First Day at Maze Corp (itch), Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2), Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (PC)

Lia: The Servers Are Shutting Down in 24 Hours but My Pull Rate's Been Set to 0.0001?! (PC), Dinner With An Owl (PC), Let's Go There and Wander Nowhere (PC), BirdLingo (PC), Baba Files Taxes (PC), Devil Express (PC), Birdle, Broforce, Hairdresser Simulator, Max Payne, Tower of Fantasy, Balatro (Mobile), Satan Loves Cake (PC), Wordle, Murdle, 112 Operator (PC), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch), Where's My Seat (Mobile), While Waiting (PC), Is This Seat Taken? (PC), Elder Scrolls Online (PC), Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS), Hypnospace Outlaw (PC), God of War 2018 (PS4), Fitness Boxing (Switch), Just Dance 2020 (Switch), Jump Rope Challenge (Switch), Quasar Blaster (Browser, itch)

Matt: Roguebook (PC), Bunhouse (PC), BirdLingo (PC), Wingspan (PC), Engare (PC), Professor Rubik’s Brain Fitness (PC), Skate Story (PC), Old School Rally (PC), Data Wing (Mobile), Pokémon Sapphire (GBA), Pokémon Ultra Moon (3DS), Birds Organized Neatly (PC), Don’t Stop, Girlypop! (PC)

Roy: Pokemon Blue (GB), click to ten (PC), Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Switch), Pokemon Silver (GBC), Arknights (Mobile), Tabletop Simulator (PC)

Another year passed and the hosts welcome back thread master Knalb to recount the "Game of the Month" winners of the community throughout 2025. Knalb also brings the stats and trivia to play a guessing game around the community's activity!

Did the community choose better games than the year before? Who actually played Hatris? Why has there never been a racing game as GOTM before? And what might be in store for us in 2026? Let's discuss in this extra thick episode!

Feel free to use the time stamps below to avoid spoiler-heavy chat over specific games.

HowLongToBeat forums - https://howlongtobeat.com/forum

Discord – https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk

Email - hltbpodcast@gmail.com

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:08 What has Knalb beaten?

00:14:00 What has Knalb retired?

00:19:16 What is Knalb playing?

00:48:59 January: Paper Mario

00:55:58 February: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

01:01:19 February: Bloodborne

01:14:15 March: Metroid Zero Mission

01:21:26 April: Nier Automata

01:25:10 April: Hatris

01:31:11 May: Fallout New Vegas

01:49:43 June: Portal

01:57:58 July: System Shock

02:03:03 August: Clair Obscure Expedition 33

02:25:34 September: Psychonauts

02:33:36 October: Dino Crisis

02:39:22 October: Signalis

02:47:55 October: Alan Wake 2

02:56:31 November: Aviary Attorney

03:03:38 December: Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3

03:15:44 Stats Trivia!

03:52:40 Future GOTM Plans

04:01:59 Goodbye

Games Mentioned by Knalb: Franzen, Hatsune Miku Bomb Squad, Hades 2, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, House Flipper, Yakuza 5, Balatro, Split Fiction, The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, Mini Metro, Powerwash Simulator, American Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator

With another HLTB community event having wrapped up not too long ago, your trusty hosts Lia, Matt and Roy look back and discuss the games of Itchmas 2025, the annual indie game extravaganza!

Additionally, Matt finally dusts off a game that’s been backlogged for over 10 years, Lia rectifies the error of her ways and retires some brand slop, and Roy finally graduates from Hatsune Miku’s school of bomb defusal!

Wasp simulations, edging in videogames, language roguelites, and another round of the brand-new, flawless, untitled collections game to round it all off. We got it all!

HowLongToBeat forums - https://howlongtobeat.com/forum

Discord – https://discord.gg/v5F26DkEmail - hltbpodcast@gmail.com

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:07 - Beaten

00:38:03 - Retired

01:02:32 - Playing

01:29:27 - Itchmas 2025

02:20:04 - Collections Game

02:31:46 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Lia: Marathon, Saugzwang, Zugzwang (PC), NEET Girl Date Night (PC), Funko Fusion (PS4), The Falconeer (PC), ᗢ (PC), Wingspan (PC), Super Bernie World (PC), Wordle, Murdle, God of War 2018 (PS4), Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS), Elder Scrolls Online (PC), Red Dead Online (PS4), Balatro (Mobile), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch), Birdle (Browser)

Matt:

Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle-Dama (PC), Parallel Experiment (PC), Rayman Origins (PC), Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (SNES), Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA), Pigeon Simulator (PC), Christmas/Xmas Carnage (PC), Wasp Nest Simulation (Mobile), Old School Rally (PC), Bunhouse (PC), Roguebook (PC), Skate Story (PC), Worms Reloaded (PC)

Roy:

7 Days to End With You (Switch), The Servers Are Shutting Down in 24 Hours but My Pull Rate's Been Set to 0.0001?! (PC), Megane Breaker (PC), Pokemon Blue (GB), Wordle (PC), Tabletop Simulator (PC)

New year, new me, new ...games? The HLTB podcast hosts ring in the new year with everything we've left in 2025 and what we're bringing into 2026. In addition, we recount all the old childhood games we've tested out as adults and debut a whole new Guess the Game: The Collection Game.

Listen in as we discuss those games that are just not easy no matter how old you are, learn how our childhood imaginations created games that don't actually exist, franchises that took us on a ride, and technical issues that left old games never to be replayed again.

HowLongToBeat forums - ⁠https://howlongtobeat.com/forum⁠

Discord – ⁠https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk⁠

Email - ⁠hltbpodcast@gmail.com⁠

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:11 - Intro

00:01:28 - Beaten

00:39:24 - Retired

00:53:56 - Playing

01:46:29 - Discussion

02:29:40 - Guess the Game

02:42:03 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Diallo: Kirby Air Riders (Switch 2), Tokimeki Memorial (Switch), Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Mega Dimension (Switch 2), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PC)

Lia: Rainbows Are Carnivores, Apollo 2, Shapeshit, Stickshift, Hurt Me Plenty, Succulent, Rinse & Repeat, Where’s the Beef, Logjam, Hard Lads, Cobra Club, That Lonesome Valley, Wordle, Murdle, Demos (The Art of Reflection, B.I.R.D., ServiceIT: You Can Do IT, Aviarium, Gecko Gods, Backpack Battles, Tiny House Simulator), Red Dead Online, Elder Scrolls Online, Funko Fusion, God of War (2018), Good Authority

Matt: Puyo Puyo Tetris (PC), Sonic Racing CrossWorlds (PC), Christmas Celebration Escape (PC), Christmas Massacre (PC), Magic The Gathering Arena (PC), Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (PC), SleepTown (Mobile), Crypt of the Necrodancer: Amplified (PC), Wordle (PC), Parallel Experiment (PC), Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle-Dama (PC)

Roy: Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch), Wordle (PC), Madden NEXT 12 (PS2), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch), Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch), Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (PC)

As the year draws closer to STAGE COMPLETE, the HLTB Pod hosts gathered one last time in 2025 to discuss everything video and games, especially the elusive freebie known as gifted games. What holidays and event do get them for as well as memorable gift and moments. Who finished off their gifted games too fast and who let their gifts gets dusty?

HowLongToBeat forums - ⁠https://howlongtobeat.com/forum⁠

Discord – ⁠https://discord.gg/v5F26Dk⁠

Email - ⁠hltbpodcast@gmail.com⁠

Music – Ian Edward (intro/outro), Abatage (incidental), call me lethargy. (incidental)

Graphic design – M4thew and Matt

00:00:11 - Intro

00:01:13 - Beaten

00:26:21 - Retired

00:33:56 - Playing

01:30:39 - Discussion

02:13:02 - Guess the Game

02:24:40 - Goodbye!

Games Mentioned:

Lia: Arrows (Mobile), Drop the Cat (Mobile), Wordle (Discord), Murdle (Browser), Tiny Bird Garden Deluxe (PC/Mac), Tori Note (Mobile), Travel Frog (Mobile), Professor Layton and the Last Specter/Spectre’s Call (DS), Quetzal (Mobile), Logic Puzzles (Mobile), Funko Fusion (PS4)

Matt: The Beginner’s Guide (PC), Worms 2 (PC), Shady Lewd Kart (PC), Isopod: A Webbed Spin-off (PC), Magic The Gathering Arena (PC/Mobile), Puyo Puyo Tetris (PC), Pigeon Simulator (PC), Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (PC), Sonic Racing CrossWorlds (PC), Worms: Revolution (PC)

Diallo: Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2) Kirby Air Riders (Switch 2)

Roy: Wordle (PC), Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Switch), Shin Megami Tensen V: Vengeance (Switch), Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch), Fire Emblem: Cerulean Crescent (PC/GBA)