Franchise Festival

1 Creator

A podcast covering the development of noteworthy video game franchises from the 1980s to present.

All episodes

Best episodes

Top 10 Franchise Festival Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Franchise Festival episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Franchise Festival for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Franchise Festival episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Season 4 Episode 4 - Mega Man X

Franchise Festival

04/04/24 • 90 min

Chris and Hamilton are joined by special guest Nadia Oxford, author of the Maverick Hunter's Field Guide, to talk about Mega Man X (1993). Along the way, they learn about Capcom's difficulty growing Mega Man past its 8-bit roots, discuss changes between the original and its 2006 remake, and let listeners in on Dr. Cain's secret weakness.

Be sure to support Nadia's work over at Axe of the Blood God!

Season 3 Episode 7 – Sonic Generations

Franchise Festival

08/01/23 • 86 min

Chris and Hamilton recall the first 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog by taking a close look at Sega's Sonic Generations (2011). Along the way, they discuss what happened to the property over the preceding decade and why some characters' names were changed during the localization process.

Season 3 Bonus Episode – Stories Untold

Franchise Festival

08/07/23 • 109 min

Chris and special guest Celeste Roberts go in-depth with NoCode's Stories Untold (2017). Along the way, they manage to discuss Zork (1977), Cold War-era cyanide tooth capsules, and the Alien film franchise.

For more from Celeste, please check out the Boss Rush Network, Another Zelda Podcast, and Read Only Magazine!

Also, this episode was guest-edited by Carly Pryor! You can find more of her great work on Instagram and YouTube.

Season 3 Episode 9 – Sonic Frontiers

Franchise Festival

10/01/23 • 86 min

Hamilton and Chris explore Sonic the Hedgehog's first "open zone" adventure, Sonic Frontiers (2022). Along the way, they discuss the game's development, its peculiar minigames, and how well it succeeds at shifting the franchise away from linear stage design.

Noteworthy sources include interviews with Sonic Team Creative Officer Takashi Iizuka by IGN and Eurogamer.

Season 3 Episode 3 - Transistor

Franchise Festival

04/01/23 • 89 min

Chris and Spencer discuss the development, gameplay, and story of Supergiant's Transistor (2014). Check out NoClip's documentary for more information on how this game was made!

Season 2 Episode 5 - Resident Evil REmake

Franchise Festival

10/31/21 • 77 min

Chris, Hamilton, and Spencer discuss the development, gameplay, bosses, and puzzles of the Resident Evil REmake. Lisa Trevor and Crimson Head Zombies make a strong impression. The Aqua Ring receives an extensive makeover.

Season 2 Special Episode - Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness

Franchise Festival

07/18/21 • 41 min

In a rare bit of zeitgeist-capturing, up-to-the-minute coverage, the Franchise Festival crew offers their impressions of Netflix’s Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021). Spoilers abound, so be sure to watch the show before you listen if you want to remain surprised.

Season 4 Episode 1 - Mega Man 1

Franchise Festival

01/01/24 • 82 min

Chris, Hamilton, and Spencer embark on a new season covering Capcom's 11 classic Mega Man side-scrollers. Unfortunately, in order to appreciate the heights which the series would later reach, this requires taking a critical look at the franchise's inauspicious 1987 debut. Even so, there's always joy to be had in learning about abandoned concepts and early installment weirdness!

Sources on development information include:

Season 3 Bonus Episode - Resident Evil: Death Island

Franchise Festival

12/23/23 • 60 min

Hosts Chris, Spencer, and Hamilton got into the eggnog and decided to cover the Resident Evil: Death Island CG movie as a Christmas bonus show. It may not have been a great film, but we all had a great time talking about it! Happy holidays, friends!

Season 3 Episode 8 – Hades

Franchise Festival

09/01/23 • 125 min

Spencer and Chris get downright crunchy with Supergiant's Hades (2020), working through the finer details of how its gameplay systems interact with one another to produce one of the best roguelikes of the last decade. Along the way, they explore how Hades was made and how the elusive good ending plays out.

Sources

MCV Interview with Jen Zee

Gamasutra Interview with Greg Kasavin

Noclip Documentary Series - "Hades: Developing Hell"

Show more best episodes