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This time on Play Comics, we’re sneaking into the glittery, CGI-filled vault of early-2000s tie-in games and asking the question nobody demanded an answer to: “What if Catwoman, but make it even more 2004?” Between the leather, the eyeliner, and the wall-running, we’re checking out the Catwoman movie game that clawed its way onto GameCube, Xbox, PS2, and Game Boy Advance. It’s the kind of experience that feels like someone motion-captured an energy drink and then gave it a whip.

To help make sense of this pixelated fever dream, Chris is joined by frequent guest Billy from his real life friend group, because if you’re going to suffer through mid-2000s licensed game nonsense, you should at least do it with someone who can confirm you’re not hallucinating. Together they dive into the bizarre elegance of magically convenient scaffolding, combat that thinks “pressing one button a lot” is a personality trait, and a story that remembers it’s based on a movie just often enough to be legally distinct from fun. Expect more cat puns per minute than the ESRB ever intended.

So dust off your flip phone, crank up your nu-metal playlist, and prepare to swing through a world where glass windows are just suggestions and gravity is more of a guideline. Is this game an underrated gem, a misunderstood experiment, or the digital equivalent of stepping on a LEGO in high heels? Tune in to find out how this cinematic catastrophe translated to four different systems, and whether any of them managed to land on their feet.

Learn such things as:

• Can we really hold the story of this game against it (for the purposes of this podcast anyway) when it was just following the movie plot lines?
• Since when is the handheld version allowed to be the best one?
• Did we miss all of those jumps and grabs because some cat in the greater universe was pushing our character off the ledge?
• And so much more!

You can find Billy’s writing nowhere because Commandercast seems to be dead. But if it’s not then someone tell me and I’ll switch this up.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.

If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.

A big thanks to Pop Culture Basement and The Last Comic Shop for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who thinks that the best catwoman is Felicia from Darkstalkers.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.

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If you’ve ever dreamed of piloting a transforming jet while sorting through a love triangle and dodging alien laser fire, then without knowing it you’ve been living in the Robotech: The Macross Saga timeline. Chris dusts off his Game Boy Advance for this one, only to find that the same intergalactic mess has crash-landed again, this time in crisp Switch resolution. Because nothing says “future of gaming” like revisiting a handheld title from an era when batteries were a personality trait.

Helping navigate this space-time crossover is DC Dave from The Monitor Tapes, swooping in with the kind of insight only a seasoned comic podcaster can offer. Together, they dissect what happens when ’80s anime melodrama meets early 2000s portable gaming. And spoiler alert: there are missiles, misunderstood heroes, and at least one existential crisis per level. And yes, they both have Opinions™ about which version of Rick Hunter handles better.

So grab your nearest mecha (or whatever piece of furniture doubles as one), set your thrusters to “nostalgia,” and dive into a world where pixelated warfare meets the stirring strains of synth-pop destiny. Whether you’re a die-hard Robotech purist, a Switch newcomer, or just here for DC Dave’s hot takes, this episode’s got something for every flavor of space soap enthusiast.

Learn such things as:

• What does it takes to make a side-scrolling shooter feel like an interstellar soap opera?
• How did licensing rights in the ’80s created a cosmic headache that still echoes today?
• When you have giant fighting robots, do you really need to add all of the war allegory?
• And so much more!

You can find DC Dave on BlueSky @dcdavepodcast, and of course under his podcast The Monitor Tapes on BlueSky @themonitortapes.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.

If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.

A big thanks to Is It Jaws? and Capes on the Couch for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who refuses to acknowledge the passage of time and how what it means to any of us on a metaphysical level.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.