The Free Cheese Game of the Year 2016 comes to an end with Day 5 of voting.

Joe, Marc, Matt, and Dashe discuss the nominees for the fifth and final round of Game of the Year categories.

This episode includes the awards for:

• Most Surprising
• Best Score/Soundtrack
• Best Old Game That We Played This Year
• Most Anticipated
• Game of the Year

The Free Cheese Game of the Year 2016 continues with Day 4 of voting.

Joe, Marc, Matt, and Dashe discuss the nominees for the fourth round of Game of the Year categories.

This episode includes the awards for:

• Best Single Player
• Most Innovative
• Favorite Industry Moment
• Best DLC/Expansion
• Best Narrative/Story

Here we begin Day 3 of voting for The Free Cheese Game of the Year 2016.

Joe, Marc, Matt, and Dashe discuss the nominees for the third round of Game of the Year categories.

This episode includes the awards for:

• I'll Buy It Again
• Best Friend
• Favorite Free Cheese Moment
• 2016's 2015 Game of the Year

Voting continues in Day 2 of The Free Cheese Game of the Year 2016.

Joe, Marc, Matt, and Dashe discuss the nominees for the second round of Game of the Year categories.

This episode includes the awards for:

• Biggest Disappointment
• Please Don't Suck
• Favorite In-Game Moment
• Best Multiplayer

The Free Cheese proudly presents the first day of Game of the Year 2016 voting.

Joe, Marc, Matt, and Dashe discuss the nominees for the first round of Game of the Year categories.

This episode includes the awards for:

• Best One-Session Game
• Best Toilet Game
• I'll Play It Next Year
• Best Aesthetic/Style

This week on The Free Cheese: we drink the elixir.

Joe and Marc gather around the podcast table to talk about Super Mario Run and how Nintendo's fair plumber is doing on his first outing on our phones.

We also talk about the new game from Grasshopper Manufacture, Let It Die, and how rad this unexpected game turned out to be.

We play a little more Final Fantasy XV, but not enough to find our own Chocobo. 

Finally, we talk about which games we'd like to see get remastered or remade entirely before teasing our game of the year content.

This week on The Free Cheese: We finish a lot of games.

Marc climbs to the top of the tower and finishes The Last Guardian. Matt explores the weird, supernatural sidescrolling of Oxenfree. Joe finds all of the treasure and a brother in Uncharted 4.

We also talk about Overcooked, Need for Speed, and Superhot as we run through some of our end of the year roundups.

We talk about what we would do if we could make our own Marvel vs. Capcom game with other companies and our thoughts on Nintendo's recent late night appearance.

Finally, we share our choices for a holiday buyer's guide, suggesting games for each platform.

This week on The Free Cheese: Ellie is 19.

Matt and Joe finish INSIDE from Playdead, while Marc and Joe start an adventure in Final Fantasy XV. Matt nearly creates spreadsheets to plan for Darkest Dungeon. Marc starts a band in Rock Band 4. Joe finishes Hyper Light Drifter.

We recant the results of the Game Awards and lament some of the performances, then we see how we fared when making predictions for the PlayStation Experience 2016. We discuss every announcement from PSX and get really excited about a new entry in The Last of Us. 

Finally, we discuss our choices for Game of the Year between 2011 and 2015.

This week on The Free Cheese: Marc hates ocarinas.

In anticipation for the third annual PlayStation Experience, we make five predictions (or wishes) for what we expect to see from Sony's fan event.

Joe continued in Fire Emblem Fates, and for some reason started working out with a four-year-old game. Marc beat DOOM and revisited Red Dead Revolver. Matt tested a bunch of game of the year contenders and continued Telltale's Batman in its fourth episode. Marc and Joe share some thoughts on the Final Fantasy XV demo and prepare themselves for the game's release.

We bring our month of Secrets and celebration of The Legend of Zelda's 30th anniversary to a close with a conversation about Skyward Sword, the timeline, and our favorite moments in the franchise history.

This week on The Free Cheese: Wii remember...

Join us this week as we look back on ten years of the PS3 and the Wii, recalling the stories of cold nights waiting in line outside of big box retailers.

We talk a lot about DOOM and why it's one of the best games we've played this year. Matt tells us more about his hockey league in NHL 17. Marc finds a new JRPG from SEGA called 7th Dragon III: VFD that he's fallen in love with and plays a game filled with penises. Joe continues the story in Fire Emblem Fates and chooses a side to fight for in the great war between two families.

This week on The Free Cheese: we say goodbye to a friend.

Gather around as Marc and Joe talk about what it is to be human, and other lessons we've learned from video games. 

We were unable to procure our own NES Classic Editions, so we came together to make our own. We also have some stories from friends who were out on the hunt for Nintendo's new toy.

Joe awakens from one nightmare only to discover another one inside of Marc's Miitomo room. Marc goes walking through The Beginner's Guide and finds himself truly heartfelt after playing That Dragon, Cancer. Joe finds himself torn between two families at war in Fire Emblem Fates.

As Nintendo announces the end of production for the Wii U, we talk about our favorite features and uses of the system in addition to our favorite games on the platform.

This week on The Free Cheese: we want more free stuff.

We share everything we know about the latest update in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and how we feel about the changes added to the game after three years.

Marc forgets who he is and becomes a clerk as he falls (literally) into the world of Job Simulator. He takes the simulation thing to the next level and plays some puzzles to date girls in Huniepop, and then murders things in the bloody beat-em-up Mother Russia Bleeds.

Matt plays a little bit of NHL 17 but mostly runs on the walls in Titanfall 2 and has way too much fun grappling and gunning and laughing his way through the multiplayer modes.

Joe struggles to play three JRPGs at once so instead sees what happens when you scan amiibo figures into Animal Crossing: New Leaf. 

This week on The Free Cheese: we'll provide copies on release day!

We bring our month of monsters to a close with a conversation about Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, our pick for this month's game club.

Matt continues to love Batman: The Telltale Series in the latest episode release and tries the latest in first-person shooter offerings, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. Marc goes to the eShop and brings back Pirate Pop Plus and Gotta Protectors, the latter is the latest from the developers of Streets of Rage 2. Joe goes to hell and doesn't want to leave thanks to the latest DOOM released earlier this year, but finds himself back in  high school in Persona 4.

We try to guess what Nintendo is announcing at the Japanese Animal Crossing Direct, wonder what a new Final Fantasy on mobile looks like, and why Marc fell suddenly in love with Pokémon Sun and Moon.

As companies begin to withhold review copies from media outlets, we discuss what this means for the future of games media and for our purchases. We talk about which companies are already taking steps to control messaging and what we care about in a game review.

This week on The Free Cheese: it's Marc After Darc™

Gather around as Marc and Joe catch up on all things Nintendo Switch. Marc shares his hopes and dreams for Nintendo's new home console that can leave the home, as well as just how happy it makes him.

As we discuss Now Playing, Joe takes us into the World of Final Fantasy and how classic Final Fantasy is given a Pokémon-styled gameplay mechanic. Together, both Marc and Joe try out the new Pokémon Sun and Moon demo, and feel pretty uneven about it.

Marc runs the gambit of flea market DS finds and loses himself inside of PlayStation VR. Joe takes a journey to the suburbs of Japan and becomes a high school student again in Persona 4.

We talk about updates coming to Miitomo and the next time we'll hear about Nintendo Switch officially. After Marc poses a question about box design, we debate the necessity of cartridges and physical media in video games' future.

This week on The Free Cheese Podcast: we turn 3 minutes into 2 hours.

Nintendo announced its newest home console, the Nintendo Switch. Long known by its codename, "NX," the Nintendo Switch is a home console that has the ability to be carried outside of the home and played wherever you go.

Joe and Matt discuss the nature of this new console and pull at every thread possible from the 3 minute trailer shown off by Nintendo.

We discuss the design and look of both the console and its branding, as well as the overall concept of the console. We share our thoughts on the third-party support announced and hinted at by Nintendo as well as what we want from a first-party output. 

We close the show by looking at the Virtual Console on Nintendo Switch, the future of both Wii U and 3DS, and what our dream launch title would be.

What is the new Mario game? Can you play the console on a rooftop? Where can I get new Splatoon haircuts? All of these questions and more are answered inside.

This week on The Free Cheese Podcast: we turn the castle upside down.

Join Joe, Marc, and Matt to discuss the preservation of video games, the retro section in big box retailers, and how the market for old games is created.

Joe goes Japanese with Final Fantasy VI and Dragon Quest VII, Matt heads south in Mafia III, while Marc returns to a favorite land wearing new skin in Plague of Shadows. Joe tries the new horror rhythm game, Thumper. Matt, since last episode, began, played, and completed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. 

Stay tuned for next week, when we talk about the NX reveal for sure, probably, maybe...

This week on The Free Cheese: we learn which games Marc likes.

Joe and Marc are joined by our good friend Matt to talk about why From Software doesn't make Zelda, eSports and mainstream media, and the new Pokémon evolutions.

Matt deletes MLB the Show only to redownload it later. He just wrapped up the latest Deus Ex game, Mankind Divided and gets ready for Mafia III. 

Marc finally gets Galak-Z to run properly on PC and makes it through a few stages, certifying it as a Marc Game™. To kick off our celebration of Castlevania this month, Marc plays through Aria of Sorrow for the first time, wishing he could become Soma Cruz in 2035.

Joe talks about his final review for Slain: Back from Hell, cries some more about the NX, and shares his newfound love for the anime aesthetic of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.

This week on The Free Cheese, we enter Ultra Reality.

Joe and Marc gather this week to discuss the Nintendo 64 and its twentieth anniversary. We share the stories of receiving ours and the games we got at launch.

Marc plays some Hyper Light Drifter in a glorious 60 frames per second and wonders why he has to in the first place. Joe wants more out of Slain: Back from Hell and finds it in Super Mario 64. While Joe treks deeper into Dragon Quest VII, Marc leaps higher with one hand in Leap Day.

Finally, we talk about how a decade-long rival ended up as a partnership and strong collaboration.

This week on The Free Cheese, we become human.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in North America next week, we discuss our list of favorite 20 N64 games and some of the games that made the cut. Marc tells us about the time he tricked a child.

We find out if Joe was right about the NX after last week's prediction, and why Marc and Kyle struggle to find enjoyment in thatgamecompany's Journey. We discuss the uniqueness of Journey and how it holds up after almost five years.

Dragon Quest VII is out and so far we've delivered one sandwich. Shovel Knight is still a great game and Plague of Shadows is still a perfect expansion to the original title. Finally, Slain: Back from Hell is released on PS4 and we find out if it feels as great as it looks.

Witness the return of Lightning Round as it leads us into our topic of the week, all about the ethics of VR development and what the future holds for our X-Files episode called "Life."

This week on The Free Cheese, find out more next year. 

Joe and Marc gather to talk about the swath of games that have been delayed and what is the appropriate reaction to disappointment. We look at how positive reinforcement can do a lot of good and how toxic it is when we spew negativity.

We played FAST Racing NEO this week in attempt to fill the F-Zero void that lives in our hearts. We learn that Nintendo has a real level of polish that continues to make its games that much better. Marc makes his hands happy in Drawful 2 and entertains his backtracking brain with Strider on PS4. Joe uncovers 3D models in Picross 3D Round 2, returns to Bloodborne to meet the Old Hunters, and wishes he could kill things amidst blood and black metal...

To celebrate the N64's twentieth birthday, we talk a little about some of the games that have made our countdown list. We bring the show to a close by predicting when the NX will be revealed.

This week on The Free Cheese, we get upgraded.

Joe, Marc, and Kyle gather to discuss the PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 4 Slim, and what those consoles really mean for our market. 

We learn about Nintendo's mobile delays and its new game bringing Mario to the platform. Hyper Light Drifter gets cancelled for Wii U and PS Vita and we talk about why that's okay.

Kyle struggles to find something to play while Joe and Marc race slot cars against people they walk past in the streets. StreetPass updates excite us while Super Mario Maker on 3DS reinvigorates our love for the Wii U version.

This week on The Free Cheese, we just want to be heard!

Joe, Marc, and Dashe gather in a conversation about the classic days of Castlevania and Final Fantasy. We learn about Dashe's gaming history and the first game that he ever beat. We talk about the two very different camps of Final Fantasy fans and how Marc walks the line in between them.

We go a little further into some of the Nintendo Direct announcements, if only to create new conspiracy theories to flood the internet with. What have we already seen from Nintendo that points toward NX? Why are there mobile homes in Animal Crossing and why don't we know anything about the mobile game yet?

Dashe brings some strong insight into No Man's Sky, as someone who entered it without giving into the negativity surrounding it. We try to figure out how a developer can release a huge title and then go completely dark. We then remember why we hate MMORPGs.

Marc wants pants and Marc wants shoes. He wants them separate from one another but he can't get that in Rock Band 4. After finding a face that sort of works, he tries to fight everything in Mystical Ninja, what the big deal is with Paragon, and figures out how to quickly spend too much real money on pretend badges.

Joe uses his New Nintendo 3DS to continue revisiting his 3DS library in a new way, specifically Mario Kart 7, where 3D finally makes a difference. The heart machine continues in Hyper Light Drifter as we make a weird comparison that kind of works.

This week on The Free Cheese, we talk directly to you about Nintendo.

Kyle and Joe close out our month of Metroid coverage with a conversation about Metroid: Zero Mission. We talk about our experience with the game, why every Metroid game should be like this one, and why it's okay that Nintendo is a little strict with the use of its IP.

After a week, Kyle has explored and understands a bit more of No Man's Sky, yet he still is not convinced the game is anything more than he originally thought it to be. Without knowing how much longer he'll stay with it, Kyle still found himself terrified when he landed on a planet that was filled with water and gave him flashbacks to the N64...

Joe bought his New Nintendo 3DS and used it to revisit some old classics and see how they fare. Impressed with how quickly Super Smash Bros. booted up, he put emulation to the test by returning to EarthBound on the small screen. As naturally as it was to return to it, he is just as eager to race around in Mario Kart 7 again.

We highlight a story about a lawyer who left his practice to make an RPG where everyone dies. We throw out some questions for another edition of lightning round. 

Finally, we recap everything from today's Nintendo Direct presentation and share the parts we are most excited about (or not so excited about).

This week on The Free Cheese, we break hard drives!

Marc responds to Kyle and Joe's conversation from last week, adding some insight into where we were last episode. Kyle contradicts himself from last week and finds himself piloting a ship to nowhere. Joe breaks his computer and has to borrow his girlfriend's to record!

We talk about how certain games are like a secret garden to us, and how we've always felt like they were special to us; no one knew about our little secret. Yet today, there's at least one subreddit and twelve t-shirts in the mall that showcase your little secret.

Marc plays some of Team Ninja's Nioh and gets mad at the new slim PS4. Joe raves about Hyper Light Drifter even though he still doesn't understand half of what he's doing.

We close with a brief recap of Metroid Fusion as we near the end of our month of Metroid.

This week on The Free Cheese, Joe and Kyle try to understand discipline and attempt to balance their expectations with reality.

We wonder why No Man's Sky is no more exciting than a trailer, and how difficult it is to create something that still provides thrill and surprise to encourage playground chatter in the modern era.

We look at what makes stories interesting to us and try to uncover why we are so easily dismissive and how we never accomplish anything.

Kyle tells us stories of his recent journey to Philadelphia and Joe trades the secrets of success for a day on the couch.

We create the formula for Nintendo's EarthBound adaptation, discover the games we'll be playing when it snows, and talk about Super Metroid all in under two hours in one of our best episodes ever.

This week on The Free Cheese, Marc and Joe learn to love together forever.

While Kyle is away, Marc and Joe talk about the cancellation of Metroid Dread. The lost game from 2005 remains a mystery but as we look back, we try to understand what it may have meant canonically for the series.

Marc sees red in Doom and sees nothing inside of Metroid Prime: Blast Ball. Joe remains unimpressed with the 2.5D Bloodstained, but gets super spooked in the midst of Metroid Prime.

We talk about the upcoming PS4 revision and what it might mean, as well as new information on the New Nintendo 3DS in North America. We share the games that we wish would've never been cancelled and we take a moment to remember someone who shaped the worlds of Square Enix. 

This week on The Free Cheese, we talk a lot about homeless Mario. 

To start our month of Metroid coverage for the series' 30th anniversary, we briefly discuss our own personal histories with the franchise. We talk about the horror/not horror elements of the games and what makes a great Metroid.

Kyle finds himself riding a bike in circles to hatch more eggs, while Joe plays pretend soccer in Metroid Prime: Blast Ball, and Marc is too young to die so he grabbed himself a copy of Doom to murder monsters.

During Show and Tell, Marc tells us about Prey for the Gods, Kyle hates the Alola region, and Joe tries to describe the NX.

We let a CPU match decide on this month's pick for Game Club and we initiate another thrilling installment of Lightning Round.

Finally, we discuss why 2017 is potentially the year of platformers, looking at the likes of Sonic Mania, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Yooka-Laylee, and Mario NX

Marc bought a PlayStation 4 and Kyle teaches us things we never asked to learn.

This week, Joe and Kyle are playing through Pokémon to complete their respective Pokédexes. Kyle just ran through the Delta Episode for his second time while Joe struggles to hatch the Unown.

Marc played a lot of Overwatch because he doesn't have Rock Band (or Bloodborne) yet, but also found a lot of joy in the challenge and gameplay of Furi.

We welcome the return of Lightning Round with five rapid-fire questions that leave us confused and laughing. Then, Kyle shows us a picture of the Pokémon timeline and we try to make sense of it all.

Finally, we heard about some NX possibilities and we don't really know how to break them apart...

This week, we realize how often we say the word Pokémon in an hour and a half. 

Marc strips out the color of his world and plays a weird, Western version of Hotline Miami in 12 is Better 6. He also uses horses to play solitaire somehow...

Kyle is facing the Elite Four and trespassing charges (Kyle found the one guy not playing Pokémon GO).

Joe gets weird to the beat in Rhythm Heaven Megamix and details the key to the perfect lasagna.

We talk about Animal Crossing: New Leaf getting updated after four years, NX rumors, and teeny, tiny HD NES consoles coming this November.

Pokémon GO is finally here and it is the only thing that we can talk about! At least in the second half of our episode.

This week, Joe, Marc, and Kyle talk about weird neighbors, bleeding ankles, and weird monsters that are crawling in the streets. We decided to save the Pokémon GO conversation until the second half of the show, and spent the first half discussing the other games we've been playing and some of the other topics that have piqued our interest this week.

Joe gave A Boy and His Blob another chance and fell in love with the puzzle platformer and its unique sense of charm and adventure. He also spent a little bit of time realizing that he doesn't know BASIC and should've researched a little bit more.

There's a Kirby Café opening up next month and we wonder what other Nintendo properties will become public venues. We also discuss the potential of Final Fantasy XIII coming to current consoles and the new features shown off for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, and the super rad new Pokémon. 

Marc goes on a boat while Joe goes on a tangent.

On this week's episode, Marc finally gets into the head of Psychonauts and bounces his way to the beat in Crypt of the Necrodancer.

We discuss the logistics of crowdfunding games and how game financing has changed how developers are creating what we play.

Joe tries to make sense of A Boy and His Blob but instead joins Marc in Shovel Knight co-op and the Plague of Shadows expansion.

Pokémon GO launches in the middle of our recording but we are unable to log in, so instead we talk about what we've been reading about in a new segment called "Show and Tell."

Listen to us recant the thrilling Q&A section of Nintendo's Annual Shareholder's Meeting as well as what felt like the spiritual successor to Iwata Asks in the form of a chat session about Miitomo from two longtime Nintendo collaborators. 

20 years ago, 151 monsters debuted on the Game Boy. While we didn't get Pokémon in North America for another two years, we still caught the addiction to catch them all.

Joe, Kyle, and Marc spend a few hours talking about Pokémon. We start with the first two titles, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, sharing our memories of playing the games for the first time and revisiting them on Virtual Console nearly 20 years later. We share our must-have monsters for getting through Kanto, and which ones we think are the dumbest-looking designs.

After an image search goes wrong and we take a brief break, we talk about the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. We discuss our favorite of the new Pokémon and make our wishes for new monsters. 

Then, a civil war breaks out over the best Pokémon generation and we bring the episode to a close by naming our favorite Pokémon. 

It's been five months since we've recorded an episode and we all missed it. Joe, Kyle, and Marc sit down to discuss E3 2016 and all of the secrets revealed. 

We talk about what Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo brought to the annual show and what we liked best from each. 

Xbox has two new consoles on the way, PlayStation is bringing back a lost friend, and Nintendo celebrates 30 years of a dude in a green tunic. 

We're all pretty stoked about Injustice 2 finally becoming a reality and we're even more excited to be back to talk about it. Thanks to all of those who have waited for us to return and who are looking forward with us to see where this thing goes.

We wonder if games are better than they ever were or if the best years are already behind us.

Joe is joined by Mike to discuss the 20th anniversary of Pokémon and buying a New Nintendo 3DS. Mike spends some more time with Black Ops III even when the Zombies mode makes no sense. Joe plays fake crane games for 3DS menu badges and learns how to build a video game console.

Oh, and Joe finally beat Bloodborne but it won't lay to rest for long...

Herein lies the episode where we put 2015 to rest and do our best to guess what will happen in 2016.

Joe is joined by Sandeep and Tyler to talk about how Bloodborne should have and could have won game of the year in 2015, the return of Amplitude, and how awful Fighting Force was.

We review the predictions that we made in 2015 and award the victor with the crown of Nostragamus. We take turns sharing our predictions for 2016 and talk briefly about which games and consoles will be celebrating anniversaries this year.