Listening right now. Nate's got a great voice for podcasting! Fantastic.

That was the most horrifying laugh from James I have ever heard.

No doubt. I was sitting here playing Tales of Phantasia, then heard that laugh, and the hairs on my arms stood straight up. No lie. I froze.

You're one creepy arse fool, James. I dig it.

At what point was this laugh?

In regards to current gen console pricing, I couldn't agree more. The Xbox 360 has been out for SEVEN years and has only dropped a hundred bucks in price. What the fuck is that? I mean sure they don't all fail now and they have wifi built in but I'm not going to cut them slack for having a feature the fucking DS Phat had in 2004. The Arcade model should have hit $99 a while ago. Then again the 360 has been the best selling console every month for a while now so what do I know.

The survery was pretty interesting.  I'm guessing the kids who chose Link to the past and games older than them have parents that persuaded them to try them.  I just have a hard time believing they found these games on their own and found them to be their favorite (unless i'm underestimating the influence of online message boards when people choose video games to try out).

Gonna side with James again in that I think kids don't necessarily think of smartphone games (angry birds/words with friends) as video games, but as their names itself, or as smartphone apps.  When my nephew says he wants to play video games, he means going to his room and playing Wii Sports or Skylanders.  When he wants to play Angry Birds, he asks if he can play with my phone.

No kidding.  I was taking garbage out in the middle of the night, and the second I heard that laugh, I was doing a paranoid look around my surroundings.

Jonny was describing something, and Gui responded with a simple, monotone response of "that's interesting", as if he wasn't listening for the past 5 minutes and just said something to fill in the empty space.

I'm somewhat younger than most of the guys on the forum (late teens), and I found the letter about teens and gaming to be quite interesting. Most of my peers are strictly "bro-y" FPS-players, or so they seem. Maybe they just cover up the fact that they sometimes play "uncool" games, but who knows. Anyway, I find it somewhat surprising that so many teens picked the games that they picked. Sure, I have my gaming enthusiast friends, but generally, I'd be surprised to meet someone around my age who actually knew what a SNES was. Also of note, other than myself and my aforementioned gaming enthusiast friends, I don't know of a single person near my age that owns a handheld. Interesting.

Oh, and for the record, my favorite game of all time is Chrono Trigger.

(Also, yes, James is indeed right. Most people think of Angry Birds and such as little time-wasters, not actual video games)

Just out of interest Glad0s, how did you get into Chrono Trigger? Was it through the press coverage of the DS remake/Virtual console re issue, a personal recommendation, or something else?


Nice show everybody. But I do think you are going easy on the Wii U. I'm interested to see how it sells here in Europe because the basic console is £70 more expensive ($113) then an Xbox or PS3 and twice the price of a Kindle Fire or Nexus 7. I think the price is too high and the appeal to specific to be a massive hit in Europe right now, although I expect it'll do better then flippin Wonder Book!

FTL's boss is pretty tough but he's not as dangerous as he first looks (well, my first response when seeing that thing was "shit, I'm gonna die in 20 seconds", I actually made it to his third phase on my first try). Also the unlocks don't seem to require chains of random events, as long as you get the event trigger the rest is deterministic/marked (i.e. no hunting for a random node). Except for the secret ship, that is. I got it on my second try at unlocking it (and the first was pretty much just stumbling on the event trigger and learning what I need to do next time) but judging from all the screaming on NeoGAF that's a rarity. It is absolutely worth unlocking, especially the B layout of that thing just WRECKS stuff. You can pretty much take the boss apart at your own leisure with that thing (yes, you need to upgrade it of course but it's very amenable to upgrades).

Well, in all honesty, it was mainly Jonny and Greg's constant adoration for it on the podcast (and Jon's never-ending quest to finish it) that finally got me to play it. It was my first non-Mario-or-Pokemon RPG, and I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. I grabbed it as soon as it showed up on virtual console.




In other news, I decided to make a little video. I hope you all enjoy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwnrcVrmbLc

What IS random about the events is where they spawn. I've had the first event in a quest spawn just as the second stop in the quest was about to be overtaken by the rebel advance. And not all are straight forward: the broken cryogenic chamber quest doesn't tell you where to go for step two.

Okay, I guess that can happen, never happened to me so far, probably due to my pacing (I go close to the exit ASAP and then cruise around there, quest markers appear 1-2 jumps away usually or if the rebels get too close they just get put into the next sector).

That's the secret ship unlock line, all of its events are random except for the very final step (which is just "collect your reward here"). The second phase is just something that happens, I've encountered it 3 times in one run (not with the cryo pod on me). The third step also looks like you could encounter it without having taken part in the quest line before then.

Considering I belonged to the 15-17 demographic until about a month ago, I'd say I'm qualified to weigh in on the "young gamers" topic.

As far as my tastes go, I love old games. Chrono Trigger and FF6 are both in my top 5 games of all time, Super Metroid is tied with Prime as my favorite Metroid game, Super Mario World is my favorite Mario game, Kirby 64 (which is not THAT old, but w/e) is my favorite Kirby game, etc.

I think that might have something to do with the games I was raised on. My first ever video game was Duck Tales for the GBC, which I played and beat as a 5 year old. My second game ever was GBC Tetris, which is my favorite version of Tetris. Then, after that I played Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

Funny story about that: My parents used to host a Bible study at our house, and the kids would all play upstairs while that was going on. The first time I ever saw Super Mario Bros. was when one of the kids brought it in his GBC. I watched him play and instantly became entranced. After a while, he set the Gameboy down somewhere and we did something else. When everyone went home, I noticed he forgot his Gameboy, but I intentionally neglected to tell him, because I wanted to play SMB! I think it's a testament to the quality of that game, and the true genius of its design that transcends time. I did return both the game and his Gameboy, by the way, but not before getting my own copy! :P

But anyway, for all intents and purposes, I was raised on NES games, which probably contributed to my love of old games. Honestly, I'd say the SNES probably has my favorite library of any system.

I continue to play old games regularly to this day. Just this summer, I played Megaman 1-6, DK 64, and the FF7&8. I even have a functioning NES (which is 9 years older than me, by the way) that I use from time to time.

To be fair, I am a huge exception among people my age. I have a handful of friends with similarly esoteric/niche taste in games, but the majority of the people I know only know about CoD, Halo, GTA, Skyrim, Pokemon, Mario, or Zelda. I get the occasional mention of League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, or Portal, but those are uncommon.

Also, I would say that, in my experience, people who play nothing but iPhone games don't consider themselves gamers, and none of the avid gamers I know would really call playing iPhone games "gaming." I think James is on the right track by saying that people don't really consider them as video games.

I agree. As a younger gamer playing older games, I've found that the SNES holds up the best of any console from the N64-back. I feel that that the SNES is like a perfected NES  and that the GameCube like a perfected N64. I think that both NES games and N64 games are much more dated than SNES games. For example, I never really enjoyed Ocarina of Time until the recent 3DS remake. I played it after Wind Waker, and I found it to be pretty painfully dated, having never played it before. I feel somewhat similarly about Majora, though it's different enough from other Zeldas that it's still somewhat novel. So yeah, as far as playing older games for the first time goes, the SNES is the way to go, IMO.

Dear Teenage Retro Gamers,
Please keep talking. I am really enjoying reading your posts!

FTL is awesome. I've died many times but never thought the game "cheated". Randomness is not the same as cheating. I don't think Tetris cheats when it hands me a Z piece instead of an I piece either.

James Jones is quite the villain. Nice vid.

This kind of resonates with me as well. There are a handful of NES games that hold up really well, but for the most part, I don't really like the early stuff. For the life of me, I can't get into the original Legend of Zelda, and I had to print out a map in order to play the original Metroid. I liked it at the time, but after playing Super Metroid, I will never go back.

As for the N64, I have higher opinions of those games, but that may just be nostalgia from when I grew up with them. My first console game ever was Kirby 64. However, games I've played more recently, like Goldeneye and DK64, I hold in lesser regard. Whether that's because they just happen to hold up more poorly than the ones I played in my childhood or whether I just have nostalgia, I don't know. But it's true that games from the Gamecube (and PS2) are far more memorable to me. Many, if not all, of my other "favorite games of all time" are from the 6th generation.

See, my first Zelda game was OoT, and that may be why I VASTLY prefer the 3D Zeldas to the 2D ones. However, OoT is not my favorite. #1 goes to Wind Waker while #2 goes to Majora's Mask. I played WW when I was about 10 or 11, and MM when I was 14 or so. Played through OoT when I was 9.

Also, this may be blasphemous to some, but I think A Link to the Past is a middling Zelda game. I think the beginning of the game is TERRIBLE (i.e. the first 3 dungeons), and the swordplay is frustrating and not enjoyable. The game picks up by the end, but I was never fully drawn into it. On the other hand, Minish Cap is my 3rd favorite Zelda game. I think that's probably because the format of the game is much more similar to the 3D games than the 2D ones.

A few other scattered thoughts I have:

I really enjoy old school style games as well, mostly in terms of difficulty. I guess I'm kinda a masochist. I loved the pure platforming brutality of Super Meat Boy, and Demon's Souls is one of my favorite games this generation. Also, the harder the Fire Emblem game, the better.

There are a few things about old games that I just can't stand though. Having to start a world over if you get a game over in SMB or Castlevania is really annoying. I've never fully beaten Mega Man 2 either, because I got fed up with having to fight all the robot masters again if I lost to Wily (without any E tanks at that).

Cryptic shit also turns me off *COUGHORIGINALLOZCOUGH* as well as lack of direction in nonlinear games. I HATE aimlessly exploring just to find my next objective. Exploration should be voluntary, and maybe if I were able to get to the place I needed to go unimpeded, I would have the patience and curiosity to explore the world of my own volition later on.

Pokemon Red/Blue are not good games. They are broken as hell and people only enjoy them because of nostalgia. Gold and Silver are well made, but I simply don't enjoy the progression in those games. I never even beat SoulSilver, despite all its fancy bells and whistles. The 3rd generation is my favorite, but that may be because of nostalgia, since Sapphire was my first Pokemon game.

Can't stand RPGs older than SNES era. Even the original FF4 is kind of unplayable in my opinon. The early Ultima games are painful to play, both physically and mentally.

I REALLY liked all the Super Mario Advance remakes (except Yoshi's Island, which I'm not a huge fan of), but I don't think I could play Mario 2 or 3 on the NES. The presentation upgrades and the ability to save make all the difference in the world.

Uhh... I can't really think of anything else. I'd be happy to answer questions though. XD I like talking about this. It's interesting for me to examine the games I like and analyze the reasons for my opinions on them.

PREACH IT, BROTHER. I'll probably give it another shot sometime, but the one time I tried LttP...I wasn't feeling it. The original Zelda, Link's Awakening, the new Four Swords, and Minish Cap I all liked, however. As far as the original Metroid and original Zelda go, I beat them both, and found them to be fun, but I never would have done it without a walkthrough.

Alrighty then. As far as older RPGs that aren't Chrono Trigger go, I'm pretty "take 'em or leave 'em". I've recently been playing through FF 3/6, and while I'm enjoying it, it hasn't really GRABBED me the way that the very best RPGs do. At this point, I feel like I could stop playing it for good and not feel that bad about it. (For anyone wondering where I am, I just finished the Opera House sequence that everyone seems to love so much. It was cool, but it didn't really blow my mind or anything.)


As far as Mario games go, I quite like both SMB3 and Super Mario World, but my heart belongs to the 3D ones. I suppose that's one of the things that separates me from older gamers quite a bit -- most of my nostalgia lies with Sunshine rather than the first few 2D Marios.


I recently played Metroid Prime for the first time, and while it took me 3 or 4 hours to hook me, MAN, DID IT EVER. Not surprisingly, the game hooked me at the same time that I learned to love the controls. It took a bit of wrangling, but they eventually clicked, and by the end of the game I was completely in love with them. Awesome, awesome game.


Speaking of Metroid, I figured I'd submit my thoughts on Super Metroid....sorry, guys, but I think it's...really good. Not great. But really, really good. See, I played Shadow Complex, Metroid Fusion, and Symphony of the Night before I played it, and I feel that all of those games are sort of like more advanced, perfected versions of the Super Metroid formula.


The only N64 game I've ever truly loved is Paper Mario. Being as late as it was, it felt like it was perfectly suited to its graphics and engine, and thus feels much less dated than other N64 games, IMO. I know it's probably too easy, but hey, it's fun and charming, so what more could you want? (Oh, I forgot about Pokemon Snap. That's another N64 game that holds up quite well.)


So yeah, just like Timmay above me, I enjoy talking about this, and I'm open to questions. So there you go.

Question, Glad0s. Are you playing the SNES version of FF6, or the GBA version? I played the GBA version first, and have played a bit of the SNES version since. I think the retranslation and presentation upgrades in the GBA version really helped draw me into the world. But I was honestly drawn into the game LONG before the opera scene (Which, by the way, is not all that special. It was impressive for the time, but as with all technical marvels, it has become dated). I can't really put my finger on why I love it so much. Part of it is the battle system, with each character contributing a unique skillset, but also the customization available through espers and relics. Finding effective relic combinations is very fun in a tactical sort of way, and I think the relic system is the unsung hero of FF6. Also, Kefka was just hilarious and evil and unpredictable throughout. He IS the Joker, and he is awesome.

I played through all the Metroid Prime games on the Trilogy collection, with the pointer controls, and they are AWESOME. I tried the Gamcube version of Prime 1 at my friend's house and found it exceedingly unintuitive. Wii controls or bust! : P

The first time I played Super Metroid, I got pretty mad at the invisible passages, breakable walls, etc. I had no idea I was supposed to be on the lookout for that kind of stuff, so I got lost A LOT. However, I played through the game a second time about a week later and beat it in one sitting, and THAT was a great experience. I think Metroidvania games get better on subsequent playthroughs, because you already have an idea of how to get past all the roadblocks that frustrate you the first time. When you're blasting through the game at a breakneck pace, you feel like a total badass and it's sooooooo much fun.

I don't understand the hate on the Paper Mario games, especially from the RFN crew and TYP. Simple =/= bad. In fact, there's a very Fire Emblem-esque (which makes sense because both are made by Intelligent Systems) strategy to knowing exactly how much damage you'll deal to an enemy. Also, people tend to overlook how much action commands add to the game. Also, in The Thousand Year Door, there's more complexity, with the Stylish! opportunities which boost your star gauge. Also, you can really spice up the battle system with the use of badges, which add quite a bit of variation to your fighting style. Sure the game is easy, but so are most RPGs in my opinion.

It may seem a strange choice to some, but my favorite game of all time is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I don't know if I could really explain why I love it so much, but I've played through it 12 times, 2 of which were 100% complete files (Including pit of 100 trials beaten, complete Tattle Log, all badges, all recipies, all star pieces, all shines, all troubles solved, all grifty tales heard, all wonky tales heard, all Luigi's books bought, reclaimed the Glitz Pit champ belt; only thing I don't have is level 99, but I am over level 60 in my best file. It's just soooo tedious to level up at that point).

It just never gets old to me. It just has the perfect Mario feel, a good sense of humor, great use of the paper aesthetic, and a great soundtrack. The one big complaint that I will concede to is the TONS of backtracking in the game. It's not great, but I didn't feel like it ruined the experience for me.

Ahhh... writing this makes me want to go back and play it now... I've been planning to do a "masochist run" for a while now: Level up only BP, no badges, no upgraded partners, no superguarding..... : D

Hey, thank's Retro Teens. That was great. Please don't feel like you have to stop yet.


I am so old that I had a NES when it was good, but I gotta say I think the vast majority of games I played are not worth touching now. Including the first 2 Super Mario games. As much as I liked it back in the day, I think the original Super Mario Bros is the worst in the series. It just frustrates me. I go to Mario Land when I want a really retro Mario hit. I honestly feel it has aged much better.


Like you guys I much prefer the 3D Marios. Mario 64 and Galaxy are my favorites.
And LttP is kinda lost on me. I missed it the first time around and went for the GBA port and just couldn't get into it. Played to the half way point and stopped. I'll got back one day for completions sake I expect.


Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 are two more classics I missed and are on my "Must Play" list. I'm 50 hours into Tales of the Abyss right now and just want it to end, so it'll be a while before I get stuck into another JRPG. I need to catch up on my 3DS Mario's first as I have them both on my shelf and haven't touched either of them.


And just to contribute to the discussion, my favourite retro consoles are the N64 (for nostalgia sake because the 1st party games blew my mind) and the GBA SP because it took most of the things I loved about the SNES, improved on it with save files, etc, made it all portable AND had some brilliant original sprite based games in a word of mediocre 3D. That and I loved everything Camelot did.


So Retro Teens - it seems like you two know you JRPGs, can you recommend any recent portable titles that AREN'T Radiant Historia (which is on my Lindy pile)?

1) I am indeed playing the SNES version, and that might have something to do with it.


2) That's exactly how I felt about Prime 1 for the first 3 or 4 hours. I had previous played Corruption, and going back to the GC controls felt bad at first. But by the end of the game, I think I actually like the GC controls better!

3) Glad to see someone else likes Paper Mario. Indeed, Thousand-Year Door is in my top 5 GC games, and I absolutely love it. Yes, the backtracking is slightly obnoxious at times (especially in that part near the end where you have to go to EVERY TOWN in the game. Ugghghgg), but it's still an extremely fun game.

I'll kill two birds with one stone: FOR GOD'S SAKE, MAN, GET CHRONO TRIGGER ON DS!!!! IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!
Also, all of the Mario and Luigi games are excellent, particularly Bowser's Inside Story. Dragon Quest IX is also incredibly fun (and incredibly addicting.) I would love to play Radiant Historia, but I can't find it at a decent price.
Tales of the Abyss was, IMO, a decent RPG. Nothing too special, but the story got slightly interesting as the game progressed, and I kinda liked the battle system. I'm now stuck on the final boss, which I find funny, because I haven't been stuck on a boss for probably...I dunno...30 hours?!? That's one problem I have with the game. Lots of the bosses go down without a fight, so I kinda feel like I'm just moving through the game for nothing more than the story, and it's just pretty good.
Also, as far as 3DS Mario's go...I found 3D Land to be very solid, but NSMB2 didn't thrill me AT ALL. I sold it on eBay as soon as I finished it. (Fun fact: I used the PayPal money to purchase Xenoblade. YAY!) So yeah. I'd start with 3D Land.

Haha yeah that's the most egregious example in the game. Dunno who thought that would be a good idea. >_>

Actually, I'd say I like the older games more, overall. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, in particular. I actually think Super Mario 64 is pretty overrated. Sunshine gets a lot of hate, but its not totally unwarranted. I had a few issues with that game... mostly in the polish department, which was far below the standards I expect from a Mario game. Galaxy, on the other hand is amazing. Galaxy 2 is almost as good, but it just didn't have the same wow factor that the first one did.

Recent portable JRPGs? Damn... that might be tough. I've been trying to catch up on older stuff, so I'm right in the midst of FF9 on PSP right now. I would agree that all of the Mario & Luigi games are very good (Partners in Time is the weakest, but it's not NEARLY as bad as people make it out to be). I never got into DQ9. Just not my thing.

And Radiant Historia has an excellent plot and the dual timeline stuff is really cool, but I feel that the battles are just too hard and even random encounters are very prolonged and actually taxing on your characters. It kinda ruins the pacing, IMO and I only got about 15 hours into the game. Gotta get back to that eventually.

Of course, Pokemon games are always a good option. Black and White were very good, and I expect B&W2 will be as well.

If you count strategy rpgs like Fire Emblem, I can sort of recommend Shadow Dragon, although that game feels really bare-bones compared to the ones on GBA, GC, and Wii. Not my favorite in the series, but it's alright. Also, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was very good. It fixed a lot of the off-putting mechanics of the first Tactics Advance (like the stupid judge system, accuracy based on orientation of characters, characters being able to permanently die in Jagds, etc.).

If you have a PSP, FF4: The Complete Collection was pretty nice, and it includes The After Years, which were decent, but not great. My friend is also a complete PSP fanatic, so he recommended a bunch of JRPGs to me. Can't vouch for the quality of them, but I trust his taste enough. The ones he recommended were:

Riviera: The Promised Land
Hexyz Force
Yggdra Union
Knights in the Nightmare
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Ys 1, 2, 3, 6, and, 7
Final Fantasy 1&2 (Played the GBA versions, which these are up-ports of. Liked both quite a bit.)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Persona 3 Portable
Half-Minute Hero (Played the demo of this, it was AMAZING)

Other than that, there are tons of great RPGs on PS1 classics that you could get on your PSP.

JRPGs are kinda my thing. I'm still educating myself on some of the more obscure stuff, but I'm moderately knowledgeable about the genre.

Advice taken. I think it'll be the next JRPG I play. But it's not likely to be this year.
I agree, Tales of the Abyss is decent enough. I'd never have made it to the 50 hr mark if I didn't enjoy it. But there is a bit to much "go to this location to trigger a cut scene. Rinse and repeat." especially at point I'm at in the game. And there are far too many skits for my taste.
But I found the central characters arrogance and rudeness pretty funny at the beginning (which surprised me, the RFN guys compared it to The World Ends With You and the central character in that ruined the game for me) and I've enjoyed watching him adapt to the world around him. Also the story's question of whether it's good or bad to have a prophetic "Score" dictate world history is one that interests me. But boy oh boy do you have to cut through a lot of techno-bable early on. There have been moments when I have watched a cut scene, not really followed the conversation or had a clue what I am supposed to do next and had to consult the Library menu. But after the first 3rd that calmed down a lot.
I agree that the difficulty curve on the bosses is a bit weird. Overall it's a very easy game, 2 of the bosses have given me course to restart once or twice. It looks lovely on my 3DS XL and some of the music is works very well. I like it enough to want to finish it but not enough to investigate the Tales series further.

I never played a JRPG or strategy RPG before the GBA so I have a lot of catching up on. I've still never played a Dragon Quest of Final Fantasy game. I'm hoping to do what you've done and play through some of the classics as I really enjoy the genre and then put up some obscurer titles. But I find that for everybody online saying things like "FF6 FTW" there's some one saying "Hmm, it's good but I think you had to play it at the time to really love it". It 's liek this for all the famous JRPGs I know of with the possible exception of Chrono Trigger, which I rarely see any negativity for. With that in mind I'm keen to play some more current games in the genre as well in the hope of loosing myself in something incredible.


Thank you for the PSP recommendations. I have a Vita and quite a few of the games you mentioned are compatible. I've got Half Minute Hero and Tactics Ogre in my download list, and I'm hoping to pick up Person 4 eventually. I didn't get on with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but depending on Tactics Orge I may check out the PSP or DS additions.


I only play hand held stuff these days so Xenoblade, etc are lost on me. But I have plenty to play through. Currently I've got Chrono Trigger, Radiant Historia, FF 7, Half Minute Hero, Tactics Ogre & Dragon Quest 4 all staring daggers at me, which will take me months to get through at the rate I play. James Jones I am not. But based on this weeks maniacal laugh, that is probably a good thing!

I'm editing much of this week, and I'm not quite done yet. I'll be up tonight...at some time.

FTL is an absolutely fantastic game. It is a very easy game to lose a couple hours on as you fight your way through one encounter at time, sometimes by the skin on your teeth, while at other times trumping the opposition so hard you take pity.

I haven't unlocked the secret ship yet, but my current favorite is Mantis ship type B with it's 4 teleport pads. Who needs guns when you can send 4 veteran mantis to disembowel everybody on the ship for maximum loot. With it's starting load out it has a high enough defense ability to stop damage from most attacks. It does lack gun of any kind, which means running away from sector 1 drones if they have unconnected rooms and the scrape cost for the weapon system power is steep for that second bar. but by sector 3 you are rolling in the cash.

The boss is pretty much a walk over at this point. It doesn't have any real tricks, so once you know what it does, you can methodically take it apart with minimal damage.

If you are having trouble with boarders, invest in doors, max it out and introduce them to the finer points of space travel by opening the air locks on them. Let them see stars and choke the bitches out. It is also great for fires.

I personally upgraded my doors to max and would vent out the air.  That rarely did anything to the boarders but slow them down.  I have yet to see the lack of air stop boarders.

It depends on the situation. With max doors a pair of humans beaming into an double airlock and you immediately expose them to vacuum, they are dead. Mantis will break out if they attack the same door otherwise die, but be weakened and killed in the next room as that goes into vacuum. Just make sure you keep the door behind them open.

If four mantis beam into the engine room of the Kestral Type A, evacuate it, open it to space. They might do one point of engine damage, but they will then be too busy trying to get out of the airless room to do more harm. You then drive them towards the weapons room making sure the back third is spaced as they break through each door. You can then fight them there as they have been heavily weakened or you can open the middle airlocks and continues to flush them to the front of the ship towards the medbay.

It gets real messy if they beam into the front of the ship in the type A as flushing them towards the medbay is a lot more involved and abandoning the pilot seat is last resort in a fire fight.

The key to dealing with boarders to to set it up so that they fight on your terms. Even if you don't kill them, if they came from a ship they will retreat and not come back. Yeah it sucks a little to lose the crew bonus, but it's better than losing the crew or the system. Also remember the air in the ship has a rudimentarily phyisics system. More doors you open, quicker air escapes. To get air back into a room faster, use the open all doors button, but remember to press the close all doors button first then open all and only once as clicking twice will open all doors which will almost immediately space the ship.

Even if you don't space them, doors gives your guys time to get back to the medbay to heal and fight them for another round. Max doors can actually contain a fire long enough for it to burn itself out.

Of course if you have a Mantis team of your own, you can counter board them before they can board you keeping the fight on their ship. Or a preigniter to blow out that system, but they will try to board once the system is repaired and if the boarding party is still alive.

I've been really behind on podcasts, so I only listened to this tonight. I'll be student teaching in the spring, and I will definitely be doing a survey like the one mentioned here.

With the added Question of:
Who do you think is the best Moderator on NintendoWorldReport.com:
NWR_Insanolord
JP Corbran
Insanolord
One of those other Guys

I always guide boarders to my medbay and kill them there unless I'm flying a boarding ship (which usually means that I have a strong enough crew to waste all invaders wherever I please).