Friend Code: Recent Episodes
Easy Allies
A podcast for the latest and greatest Nintendo News, hosted by Michael Damiani. Releases every other Wednesday.
Brad and Damiani dive into our Patron questions about the highly anticipated, but still yet-to-be announced Nintendo Summer Direct.
Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa expresses his desire to ensure a smooth transition from the Switch to its eventually successor in a recent Q&A session with inventors. We discuss how Nintendo can achieve this and avoid a repeat of the Wii to Wii U transition.
We say farewell to Brandon Jones as he regales us with tales of his early days with Nintendo, as well as his thoughts on the upcoming Mario movie from Illumination.
Simmons and Damiani originally talk about video game adaptations in the wake of the Streets of Rage movie announcement before diving into the NSO Game Boy Advance leak, but Nintendo dropped a bombshell today with a massive Xenoblade Chronicles 3 info dump, new trailer, and a new release date (It's not a delay).
Special guest RogersBase joins Brad and Damiani to regale them with his tales of adventure in Final Fantasy XIV before the trio dig into the recent announcement of Breath of the Wild 2's delay to spring 2023.
Damiani and Simmons dive into the recent Kirby and the Forgotten Land demo and share their enthusiasm and optimism for the game's upcoming release.
Special guest Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames joins the panel for a deep dive into all things related to the recent announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Special guests Rebecca Stone and ChronoKatie share their impressions of the recently released Pokémon Legends Arceus and what impact the game may have on future installments.
Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames is back again with Damiani to discuss how the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft could impact Nintendo's business strategy in the coming years.
Damiani, Bloodworth and Jakejames Lugo gather to dive into what could be the biggest year for Nintendo since the Switch's launch back in 2017, with heavy hitters such as Breath of the Wild's sequel, Splatoon 3, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Bayonetta 3, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and potentially Mario Kart 9.
Brad, Huber, and Damiani look back at Nintendo's 2021 offerings and highlight some of the best and the worst moments.
Daan Koopman and Stealth swing by to share their insights into the recent no show from Nintendo at The Game Awards 2021, as well as the reception to the recent release of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Special guests Jakejames Lugo and Ash Paulsen join Damiani as they attempt to tackle the topic of what's next for the Mario Kart series after the phenomenal success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames sits with Damiani as they delve into the recent shortcomings of Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack, as well as debate whether Smash Bros. could continue without Sakurai.
Jones and acclaimed multimedia entertainment journalist Sofia Hariz drop in the share their enthusiasm over the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise DLC before debating the value of the recently announced price for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.
Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames joins Damiani as they dive into all the big announcements from this week's Nintendo Direct.
Blood and Damiani take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce about the Nintendo VHS promo tapes from the 1990s and their legacy.
Brad sits down with Damiani to discuss their impressions of Skyward Sword HD so far, including how they think the game holds up, do they like the new changes, and will its legacy have any impact on future installments?
Nintendo reveals the Switch OLED model, but it's not quite the Switch Pro. So what exactly happened? Special guest Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames joins the panel as we share our insight into the situation behind the Switch Pro rumors and what the Switch OLED means for the future of the platform.
Huber and Damiani dig into the issue of Nintendo's lack of content in recent releases like Mario Golf: Super Rush, special guest JakeJames Lugo drops by to share their passion for Kazuya in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and finally Huber returns to rant about Nintendo's adversity to making older games easy to play on Switch.
Blood, Brad, and Damiani go over all the big announcements from Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct and Tree House Live presentations, including Breath of the Wild's sequel, Metroid Dread, and more.
We're (hopefully) two weeks away from Nintendo's E3 2021 presentation, which means its time for our final speculation before the big event. Huber, Isla, and Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames each sit down with Damiani to share what they each hope Nintendo will bring to the table, as well as take a brief stroll down memory lane to recall some early E3 experiences.
Brad and Damiani share their hopes for the rumored new Donkey Kong game, discuss any concerns they have with the upcoming Breath of the Wild Sequel, and decide whether they'd want a new Star Wars or Mario themed Musou. Jones also joins for a special bonus segment to express their joy over the recent Mario Golf: Super Rush trailer.
On this week's episode, we share our initial impressions of New Pokémon Snap, discuss Super Mario Party finally getting full online support, marvel at Monster Hunter Rise's 6 million copies sold, get excited about The Great Ace Attorney's localization announcement, and wonder what Monolith Soft's recent staff expansion means for Nintendo's upcoming lineup.
Damiani and Huber are joined by special guest Godswill Ugwa Jr. to share their highlights from the recent Indie World Showcase as well as guess the meaning behind the Nintendo Switch featured on Phil Spencer's shelf.
Special guests Shesez of BoundaryBreak and Kyle Hilliard of MinnMax join Damiani to see if they're cut out to be in charge of running Nintendo as CEO.
Special guests Simmons of YoVideoGames and JakeJames Lugo join the panel to discuss the implications of the Switch Pro on future releases, what marquee titles Nintendo has in store for the 2nd half of 2021, and what fate awaits Super Smash Bros. now that Sony owns EVO?
Special guests including Rogersbase join Damiani to discuss the big announcements from the recent Pokémon Direct including Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends Arceus.
Special guests Rebecca Stone and Ash Paulsen join the Friend Code panel this week to share their favorite memories from The Legend of Zelda series as we approach the series' 35th anniversary.
Brad and Huber join Damiani to discuss the report of Netflix cancelling a live-action Zelda show, go over some of the highlights from the recent quarterly Nintendo financial report, and revisit Resident Evil 4.
Ian, Ben, and Damiani chat about the Monster Hunter Rise Demo and dive into the new details of the recent trailers for New Pokémon Snap and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury.
Brad, Huber, and Damiani field questions from out Patrons regarding what games we may or may not see in 2021.
Brad and Damiani talk about the recent addition of Sephiroth to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Miyamoto's tour of Super Nintendo World, and answer a few Patron questions.
Ian, Blood, and Damiani look back at the major Nintendo related events and releases from 2020 and reflect on the impact each had on the industry.
Special guests Daan Koopman and Stealth join Damiani to share their final impressions of the recently released Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Special guests Rogersbase and Shesez join the panel for an in-depth chat about all things Pikmin, including the recent Pikmin 3 Deluxe for Switch, how well the previous entries have aged, and what's up with the next installment in the Nintendo series.
Ian and Blood are back again! Ian shares their impressions of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, and we debate whether Nintendo is going to the Disney route by vaulting games after a limited release.
Ian, Blood, and Damiani share their impressions of the Halloween Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the recent Pikmin 3 Deluxe Demo, the latest update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and Minecraft's Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Ben and Brad sit down to chat about the recent Tokyo Game Show presentation for Monster Hunter Rise and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the latest information drop for upcoming DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield, The Crown Tundra, and share their impressions about the newest addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Steve and Alex from Minecraft.
Special guests Rebecca Stone of Twinfinite and Kyle Hilliard of MinnMax join Brad and Damiani to discuss how Breath of the Wild holds up in 2020, why we're excited about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and what we'd like to see in the sequel to Breath of the Wild.
Huber and Brad let it all out in this in-depth discussion of the recent announcements from the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct.
Special guests Stealth and Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames join me in a discussion of what the developer is working on currently, including a new Xenoblade and Breath of the Wild's sequel.
We dive into the recent Indie World showcase and highlight the best of what we saw, what some of us got hands-on time with, and how the overall presentation was a much needed return to a modicum of normalcy in these trying times.
It's time for a deep dive into Paper Mario: The Origami King with Rogersbase and NFG on this week's episode. We talk about how we feel about the game's various aspects, as well as the direction of the series in light of recently remarks from Paper Mario producer Kensuke Tanabe.
Special guests Daan Koopman and Ash Paulsen swing by to chat about Xenoblade Chronicles, what we want out of the next installment, and what the future might hold in store for Monolith Soft.
Jessica Lynn Verdi and Sofia Hariz join Damiani to share their impressions of the recent summer update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as well as discuss the long term implications of the changing landscape of the summer convention season in favor of online events due to COVID-19.
The YoVideoGames crew of Steve, Kenny, and Simmons enter the fray to discuss the recent announcement of Min Min from ARMS joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as the state of representation in Nintendo games, Smash's poor online netcode, and how the fighting game community is holding up during COVID-19.
In another timeline we'd be discussing all the big news from E3 2020, but alas it was not meant to be. Instead, Nintendo drops a new Paper Mario trailer that makes us more optimistic about The Origami King, the May 2020 NPD numbers are in and Nintendo is still doing well, and we debate whether Nintendo's good fortunes will continue as we near the launch of PS5 and XSX.
Special guests Rogersbase, Ash Paulsen, and Stealth stop by to give their in-depth impressions on the recently announced Paper Mario: The Origami King for Switch.
Ian and Don hit the podcast again to share their "final" thoughts on Super Mario Maker 2, what features they would have liked to have seen that never made the cut, and what the future could hold for the next installment in the "Maker" series.
Brad and Damiani sit down and have an in-depth discussion about Castlevania II: Simon's Quest for the NES.
After having so much fun with the Mario 35th Anniversary rumors, Kyle and Ben join Damiani to speculate about what Nintendo may do next year for Zelda's 35th Anniversary. There's also talk about Animal Crossing, the recent Switch firmware update, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the joy of living with cats.
Huber and Blood convene with Damiani to go over a few of the big announcements from the Nintendo Mini Direct before fantasizing about what they want in the rumored remasters of the 3D Mario games as part of the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary reports.
Kyle ranks the complete A Day With Pikachu series, and Ash Paulsen joins in as we dive into all the announcements from Nintendo's March 2020 Indie World Showcase.
Sofia and Ian join the panel to share memories from the past three years spent with the Nintendo Switch.
Special guest RogersBase joins Brandon and Damiani to share their hype for New Horizons after the recent Animal Crossing Direct. Later on, Roger and Damiani sit down for a deep dive into the new Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC, Cindered Shadows, and speculate about the future of the franchise, as well as what Nintendo may have in store for us this year.
Kyle and Blood join the panel this week for a talk about the recently announced Platinum 4, and The Wonderful 101: Remastered, DAEMON X MACHINA coming to PC, and Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa not being worried about the new console launches.
Ian and Huber join the panel to share their feelings on Byleth's reveal in Super Smash. Bros. Ultimate and try to tackle the reasons why their inclusion drew such a strong reaction from the community. We also rip into Nintendo for their anti-consumer practices in Europe.
Ian shares their thoughts on Fire Emblem: Three Houses, we brainstorm new content and changes we want to see in Smash Ultimate, and new reports claim the Switch Pro is coming this year.
Our panel combs through the 16 announcements featured in the recent December 2019 Nintendo Switch Indie World Showcase.
Kyle and Brad join the panel to show their Love & Respect for various Nintendo series just in time for Thanksgiving.
Special guest Ash Paulsen and Huber join the panel this week to discuss Terry Bogard's arrival in Smash Ultimate, Luigi's Mansion 3 impressions, and whether or not Huber can will Mega Man Legends 3 into existence.
Entertainment journalist Sofia Hariz joins Huber and Damiani to share their experience training with Ring Fit Adventure.
Ian and Brandon, two Allies who never played the original Link's Awakening, share their impressions of the Switch version.
Special guest Sofia joins Ian and Damiani as we share our initial impressions of the Switch Lite.
Ash Paulsen joins Damiani and Bosman for a deep dive into the original Link's Awakening on the even of the remake's release.
On this week's episode, Huber, Blood, and Damiani dive into the multitude of announcements and updates from the 40 minute September 2019 Nintendo Direct.
Brad and Ian join the panel as we go over all the announcements from the recent Indie World Showcase, analyze Nintendo's dominant performance in the July 2019 NPD results, and spend way too much time talking about relationship options in Fire Emblem Three Houses.
Special guests Ash Paulsen of GameXplain and Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames join the panel to react to the new Pokemon Sword & Shield info, recount their memories of the Game Boy, and share their experiences from EVO 2019 and Smash Ultimate's record breaking performance at the event.
Huber returns along with Brad to discuss their multiplayer adventures in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, as well as share their thoughts on the recently announced DLC plans at San Diego Comic Con. The panel also tackles the Joy-Con drift situation (unfortunately we recorded right before the news that Nintendo will fix affected Joy-Cons for free), the June 2019 NPD, and we finally get to talk about the Switch Lite.
Recording just hours before the announcement of the Switch Lite, panelist Bosman, Ian, and Damiani miss out on the big news and instead discuss their dreams for Pokemon Snap 2. Afterwards, Damiani torments Kyle with a deluge of new Pokemon Sword & Shield info from the newest trailer.
Special guest Rogersbase joins us as we share our hopes and dreams for the upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
An all-star panel comprising of Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil, Ash Pauslen of GameXplain, and Daan "Nintendaan" Koopman join Damiani to go over the highlights and letdowns of Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct announcements and what the publisher had playable on the show floor.
Nintendo kicks off the E3 hype train a bit early with an in-depth look into Pokemon Sword and Shield's new Wild Area, Dynamax transformations, and a handful of never-before-seen Pokemon, including the reveal of the two new legendaries.
Special guest Don Casanova joins the panel to share his insights into the latest Nintendo Direct featuring Super Mario Maker 2.
GameXplain's Ash Paulsen joins Jones and Damiani as the panel shares their favorite memories of the 3DS, as well as what features from the fading handheld they would like to see revived on the Switch.
Ben and Brad join the panel as we attempt to wade through the deluge of news this week including Joker and Version 3.0 arriving in Smash Ultimate , as well as sharing our impressions about Cuphead for Switch.
Bosman and Damiani tag-team a round of reports and rumors including the Wall Street Journal's latest report of two new Switch models arriving this summer, Monolith Soft hiring for a new Zelda, and a ton of leaked Switch games courtesy of Best Buy.
Bloodworth returns from GDC 2019 to share his hands-on impressions of several of the Nindies announced during the Spring Showcase 2019, and the panel dives into the significance of Cuphead on Switch and their excitement for Cadence of Hyrule.
Huber and Bosman join the panel to say farewell to outgoing Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime, worry about the well being of Masahiro Sakurai, and wonder why Capcom is charging more for the upcoming Resident Evil Switch ports.
Jones and Bloodworth join the panel to share their thoughts and reactions to the new Gen 8 Pokémon games, Sword and Shield, coming to Switch later this year.
Nintendo unleashes the first Direct of 2019, and it sure was full of amazing announcements. Bosman and Bloodworth join the panel as we comb through each and every game reveal, as well as sneak in a few juicy rumors.
A ton of news hits in time for the episode, and the panelists dive into the Metroid Prime 4 delay, the Mario Kart Tour delay, the announcement of Dr. Mario World, the report of a new Switch model, the speculation that achievements might be coming to Switch, and the best selling Switch games to date.
20 years ago, Super Smash Bros. released for the Nintendo 64, and our panelists share their first experiences with the game, as well as dive into some news about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, SNES games coming to Switch, and a brief NPD analysis.
As we welcome the new year, this week's panelist dive into the upcoming releases and share our expectations and predictions for what Nintendo has in store for 2019.
This week's panel dives into the Nintendo related announcements from The Game Awards, Reggie Fils-Aime's statement on E3's importance to Nintendo, and the top 10 selling GameCube games.
Ian and Kyle find they might get more Zelda than they bargained for as the panel dives into the Skyward Sword rumor, how we feel about games like Smash Ultimate leaking ahead of release, and what Breath of the Wild's final timeline placement means for the Zelda series going forward.
Huber and Bloodworth join the panel on this week's episode as we speculate about the upcoming Smash Ultimate DLC, share our thoughts on the Detective Pikachu trailer, and start dreaming about what we want to see in the next Zelda.
A massive Smash Bros. leak comes courtesy of a wild story filled with some impressive internet sleuthing and crazy plot twists. Do these new characters really sound believable? Is a promotional piece from the upcoming Grinch film the smoking gun to put us on the side of #TeamReal? Or is this one of the most elaborate fakes in recent memory? We'll let you decide, but we only have to wait a few days for the truth to come out.
The Nintendo news well is still very dry, so we dive into Patron submitted questions this week with Ian and Huber.
Kyle and Brad join the panel to judge Patron submitted ideas for achievements for Nintendo games. We rate whether we like them or not, whether or not Nintendo would actually implement them, and how rare would they be.
Nintendo delivers its big fall direct, revealing new games like Luigi's Mansion 3 and Animal Crossing as well as providing updates to others like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Yoshi's Crafted World.
Ian and special guest Ash Paulsen of GameXplain join us on this week's episode to discuss the recent Nindies Direct.
Not much Nintendo news came out of Gamescom 2018, so we focus on answering 10 different Patron submitted questions which just so happen to cover almost all of the small news stories from the past two weeks.
Special guest Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames joins Bosman and Damiani to share their initial reactions to the recent Super Smash Bros. Direct, Nintendo updating the official Zelda Timeline, and settle once and for all how to pronounce NES.
Ian and Damiani return from San Diego Comic Con and share their thoughts on the convention with Huber before diving into hands-on impressions of Mega Man 11, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Blood and Jones dive into Sakurai's latest comments about the Smash series, what's up with Nintendo's stock prices, and what unannounced games for 2018 are in store for us.
Huber and Bosman join the panel to give their final thoughts on Nintendo's showing at this year's E3 and whether or not the decision to heavily focus on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate paid off.
Special guest Ash Paulsen joins the panel to discuss our expectations for this year's E3, from first party game like Smash Bros and Metroid Prime 4 to what third party surprises might be in store.
Correction: I say 9.99 for the 1 year Switch Online plan, but it's 19.99 and I even had it in the notes.
Ben and Blood join the panel to discuss the Switch's paltry online details, Capcom announcing Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate for Switch, just how good is Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and is Retro Studios really working on a Star Fox racing game.
Friend Code is back! Bosman and Bloodworth join Damiani to parse through the recent Nintendo Financial Briefing for Fiscal Year 2017 and discuss Nintendo's new incoming president, Kirby Star Allies' performance, Breath of the Wild's sales and what impact they'll have on the future of Zelda, and Nintendo's plan to support the 3DS into 2019 and beyond.
Huber and Brad are hyped up as we discuss all the new announcements from the most recent Nintendo Direct.
The Switch hits the one year mark, Sonic's designer reveals the mascot almost ended up being a human boy, datamined DLC outfits found in Super Mario Odyssey, and Diablo 3 might head to the Switch.
Huber and Bloodworth return to celebrate StarFox's 25th Anniversary, debate the new Metroid Prime 4 rumors, and describe what could possibly get us excited about paying for Switch's upcoming Online Service.
Bosman and Ian join the talk about the recent wave of Nintendo news including Illumination's Mario movie, Mario Kart coming to mobile devices, and Switch's paid online finally arriving in September.
Brad and Damiani are joined by Nova Crystallis' Tony Garsow to decide the Top 5 Square Enix games to grace a Nintendo platform.
After a slight mishap with the first episode of the year, Ian and Brad join Damiani to talk about Dark Souls (and more!) finally coming to the Switch, and we share our thoughts on Nintendo Labo.
Huber and Bosman join Damiani as we spend the hour answering as many Patron's Pulse submissions as we can get to!
WARNING: Super Mario Odyssey spoilers are present in this podcast. Bloodworth, Bosman, Brad, and Damiani leap into the land of jolly to discuss all things related to Super Mario Odyssey.
Bosman and Blood join the party to discuss Switch's November lineup of third-party ports and we dive into the latest Nintendo earnings report and September NPD numbers.
Special guest Matt Simmons of YoVideoGames joins us to share his thoughts on 2D vs 3D Sonic games in the wake of Sonic Mania and Sonice Forces, and we dive into the rumor of Nintendo of America clamping down on review copies in light of a major leak.
Bosman and Brad join Damiani on this episode of Friend Code to discuss the SNES Classic's launch, the controversy over FIFA 18's sales on Switch, and the announcement of the Wii Shop closing.
The tag-team of Huber and Brad join Damiani as they dive into the past to relive the debate over The Wind Waker's toon rendering in Nintendo Power, argue the importance of Switch's newfound third-party support from the likes of Bethesda and RockStar, debate whether Metroid: Samus Returns should have featured sprite work, and when does a company go too far revealing too much about their game before a release?
Bosman and Brad join Damiani to dissect the numerous indie game announcements from the recent Nindies Showcase Summer 2017 presentation, get the fact straight about Travis Strikes Again, the No More Heroes spin-off that isn't a spin-off but also isn't No More Heroes 3, share their thoughts in a post-mortem of Mario + Rabbids, and debate whether achievements coming to Switch is a good idea or not.
Huber, Bloodworth, and Damiani dig into the big news and announcements from Gamescom 2017 and chime in on the SNES Classic pre-order fiasco.
Bloodworth, Bosman, and Damiani dig into the EZA crew's recent playthrough of Super Mario Sunshine to discuss how they feel about the game 15 years after its original release on GameCube.
First time guests Ian Hinck and Brandon Jones join the discussion about San Diego Comic-Con, EVO, the Nintendo Online App's woes, the rumored N64 Classic, Kingdom Hearts III for Switch, Fire Emblem Heroes printing money, June NPD numbers, the possible end of Miiverse, and the ridiculous amiibo functionality in Metroid: Samus Returns.
In our first spotlight episode of Friend Code, get some insight into why Damiani still loves Super Mario 64.
Ben Moore and Mike Huber join Damiani to react to the recent announcement of the SNES Classic and its inclusion of the previously unreleased Star Fox 2.
In the last episode before the big show, Damiani, Blood, and Brad go over the Kingdom Battle leak, the final ARMS Direct, and share their expectations for E3.
In our final dive into the past, Blood, Bosman, and Damiani dig into the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance years.
Bosman, Bloodworth, and Damiani reunite to resume their stroll down memory lane with a look back at the Nintendo 64 and it's library, the arrival of Game Boy Color, and the ill-fated Virtual Boy.
Bosman, Bloodworth, and Damiani dig into the SNES Classic rumor, March NPD data, and the recent April 2017 Nintendo Direct announcements.
On the first episode, Bloodworth, Bosman, and Damiani share their first experiences with the NES, GameBoy, and SNES.