The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Our first draft episode of the year is here! Who can pick the best levels out of Samuel, Matthew, Dave and Ash? You decide. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Discord.This week's music is from the Sonic 2 soundtrack by Masato Nakamura, the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson, the Super Mario 64 soundtrack by Koji Kondo and the Mario Kart World soundtrack by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda and Yutaro Takakuwa.These are the categories if you need a refresh:First-person shooter level (singleplayer)First-person shooter level (multiplayer)Lightgun stageMultiplayer level (can't be an fps)Platforming levelMission in an open world or larger gameBonus levelBoss battleWorst level and location I'd doom my worst enemy to live in Free pick

Five years later, The Guardian's Keza MacDonald returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, Super Nintendo (UK link here, US link here). We then close out with Keza's quickfire list of the 10 most underrated Nintendo games.This week's music is from the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack by David Wise. 

Having conquered GTA III (kind of), Vice City and San Andreas (plus Bully, which is sort of a GTA), it's time for the definitive Back Page podcast on 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Joining us to dissect the first HD GTA is beloved third host and freelance writer extraordinaire Jeremy Peel. 

A mop up of some neat games we missed from 2025, plus Matthew's thoughts on the newest game from Inkle.Games discussed: TR-49, Skate Story, POPUCOM, Wheel World, Earthion, Routine, The Séance of Blake Manor, Demonschool and The Berlin Apartment. 

What makes a 9/10 game not a 10/10 game? Why do video games end up bad? Which NPC would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? What food do they serve at the hypothetical Matthew Castle-themed cafe in Shibuya? These are some of the questions tackled in our first mailbag episode of 2026.Feel free to submit future mailbag questions in the Discord, or to backpagesgames@gmail.com. 

26 (or so) predictions about 2026, based on nothing whatsoever. Plus: our 2025 predictions revisited, and our 5 picks for this year's fantasy draft.This week's music is from the Trauma Center: Second Opinion soundtrack by Kenichi Tsuchiya and Shingo Yasumoto. 

Two top 10 lists of the best games from 2025. This week's music is from the Promise Mascot Agency soundtrack by Peter McCaughan and Ryo Koike.Want to play Matthew's number 3? Head here. 

Need a video game awards show with dumb categories no company would ever sponsor? We've got your back, once again.Thanks to all our returning guests from this year for dropping in!

This episode is all about the games that hit players with emotional gut punches. You get 50 minutes of nice preamble with returning guest, indie developer Lucy Blundell, then 1 hour+ of our combined 15 top emotional moments in games.After the 50-minute mark, this episode features spoilers (some light, some heavy) for these games: Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Final Fantasy X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Final Fantasy VII (and the remakes), Botany Manor, Ori and the Blind Forest (just the intro), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Fable 2, What Remains of Edith Finch, Halo: Reach, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.But...most of it is pretty topline, and it's well worth a listen. Find Lucy's latest game VIDEOVERSE on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.This week's music is from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.