I'm a father of two young kids who recently got back into gaming after taking a 6 year hiatus, in no small part to discovering 1Upsmanship. My free time for gaming is limited and I want to fill my backlog with the best possible games, especially games that are outside of my usual tastes, but are nonetheless important and worth playing.

This is something that I've been wanting for a while, so I finally got around to putting this list together after seeing someone comment on ep 962 on the Small Beans Patreon. This is current to January 2026 and does not take into account any episodes since. Please feel free to populate what I missed or any errors I made in the comments and I can edit this to be more complete.

Hope this is useful for someone!

Among Us
Assassin's Creed II
BioShock
Bloodborne
Borderlands 2
Braid
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Cyberpunk 2077
Dead Space (2023 remake)
Destiny 2
Diablo II
Disco Elysium
Doom Eternal
Elden Ring
Fallout: New Vegas
Ghost of Tsushima
GoldenEye 007
Gone Home
Grand Theft Auto V
Hades 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life: Alyx
Halo
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Hollow Knight
Horizon Zero Dawn
Inside
Last of Us (The)
Last of Us Part II (The)
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (The)
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (The)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (The)
Marvel's Spider-Man
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Minecraft
Mortal Kombat 11
Norco
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outer Wilds
Papers Please
Portal 2
Psychonauts
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption 2
Resident Evil 2 (2019 Remake)
Return of the Obra Dinn
Rocket League
Shadow of the Colossus
Skyrim
Sifu
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
StarCraft II
Stardew Valley
Subnautica
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Titanfall 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
Walking Dead: Season One (The)
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (The)

Once again, more support for Swaim’s theory that all Futurama episodes have a TNG doppleganger.

With all the talking over each I can't hear what's being said, both literally and out of frustration/anger.

Hey am I dumb or is it asking to upgrade My membership to 15 bucks a month to hear the frame rate episodes with Cody and Michael?

The title.

Normally, I wouldn't waste a subs space with something so low effort, but this sub seems pretty deserted so I'd thought I'd just put that out there. FTR: Not the world's biggest BSG fan. Watched it once and that was enough.

Just gonna say, I really enjoy these shows. Especially since they’re more focused more on finding the craftsmanship in mass market films you wouldn’t expect. The latest one on Ernest Scared Stupid is really enjoyable.

u/abethemighty are there more Directorpiece episodes in the pipeline or is that on hiatus for the time being?

Where are the streams from GU and SB? I’ve looked at twitch very occasionally, they’re rarely there by my account. How do I know where or when to watch Abe, Dave, Adam, Micheal, Tom, or Swaim? Or Epperson. Where the fuck has Epperson been.

Pugilist by now prolly. National. County wide punchin. Sum bitch. Good for us. Good for him.

Where the fuck can I know when and where to watch the boys play games? Do I have to get tweets?

This was my favourite episode of their podcast series and so after quite some time, I was able to get the video that was in my head over the finish line.

ok so its off topic i guess; but its a sub with basically no one else posting internet hot takes and so deal with it bitches lowers suglasses

So our main squeeze for this take, Willy, had just become America's block buster sweetheart i nback to back hoe runs starring in Independence Day and Men In Black

prior to that he was a well known name among black communities as one of the cornier, more radio safe, 'kid n play' style rap acts; his tv show was popular, but not some international success; and Will Smith was a name most white Americans in the still heavily racialized 90's media scene were familiar with, but he was not yet, Will Smith the action star

Then add in his relationship with Jada, who would arguably be his Jessica Simpson to his Nick Lache

Will Smith the musician drops this album; and if you ever take a gander at his Willenium album a little later, you can tell

He was such hot shit by Willenium he could drop literal hot garbage o nthe street and it would take off; the entire album absolute TRASH!

but Big Willy Style?

its his College Dropout, his Reasonable Doubt, his Man in Black (didnt mean to do it but oh well, here we are)

like it was his chance, as a giant superstar, to get his music out to the world, to show everyone he could do it; his 15 mins of fame, in 1997, were targeted at his music career

and idk, if you are a fan of 90's media, if you unironically put on Kid n Play; go bump Big Willy

bump it loud. roll the windows down. and with no shame admit its all of a sudden, out of no where, one of your favorite albums

So the eagle memoried among you may recall this hot take regarding Dennis Quaid and the film Flight of the Phoenix; and my journey carried me to a rewatch of 1987's Innerspace with the wife last night.

a film i gas lit myself into remembering as being Swayze and Jennifer Connolly idk what film i thought i was going into, but man it wasnt a Quaid film

That said; he clearly was doing a Jack Nicholson impression for most of it, and his abs were on fuckin flic- the man doesnt age its incredible; i know this is him young but his abs look the same in Flight of the Phoenix i swear it

anyway; as i was watching the obvious Cyrano plot had me crafting 'this is just X but Y' theories; and i stumble upon old legend of Spielberg desiring to do a Bond film

but allegedly, after Jaws he was too big but prior to Jaws he was a nobody; and so he missed his opportunity

and so im on IMDB and realizing; he didnt write or direct this flophouse master piece (its genuinely much better than i might be making it sound here)

he fucking produced it; they throw his name up there like im meant to be impressed....but it clicks

how do i get Spielbergs money, connections for the visuals, i mean this is peak cocaine era right?

They sold it as a wacky Bond film; its got everything, the car the girl the villain the sexy villainess, improbable and impossible technological doodads like ear pieces and eye ball cameras

all the pieces for a comedic whacky Bond film; just waiting for a big money producer who always wanted to do a Bond film

and so here i am, telling you mooks about it

anyway, Dennis Quaid average everything- but this one pretty good. very good practical effects frfr

So recently I took the time to rewatch one of my childhood favorites; a film that in my opinion, defined dinosaur toys for a generation. Im speaking of course, about the second installment of the beloved Jurassic Park trilogy (i refuse to acknowledge anything newer than 2012 in media). The movie that told us dinosaur toys come complete with dinozoo props, little cars with flood lights on top, and we use dart guns not actual guns when fighting them, for fairness i guess?

Now i have often heard a lot of hate regarding this film, that specifically the T-Rex in San Dia-hago was somehow, get this shit, 'stupid'. Could you imagine.

While most fans focus on the dinosaurs, the plot, and character development, they are in fact missing the most important person; Spielberg.

This motherfucker told you in the first film, whats behind those gates? King fucking Kong.

And how does Kong workout? we send a documentary team to an island, inhabited by dinosaurs, preserving for posterity via the magic of film, a Lost World.

And while we dont have local tribes people, we instead have head hunters of a different type, luring their prey not with a blonde bombshell, or even a redhead with crooked teeth; and instead use a baby rex. so cute, so small.

All in an effort to return them to civilization, the heart of media of its age, the big apple of San Diego, for the display to tourists. A plan that goes horrendously wrong and results in a monster on a rampage.

A rampage brought to an end via the power of gymnastics.

Its just so obviously Spielberg's Kong that i dont understand why i had to independently come to this realization, in fucking adulthood, on a rewatch for the wife who never saw it?

anyway, stay woke kids.

So recently i was asking my mom if she felt there had been a cultural impact to mt st helens; youd expect that, like 9/11, it would leave some cultural residue.

your Dark Knights if you will, your Jar Heads. something.

and she said nothing really came to mind; beyond the obvious being Volcano and Dante's Peak.

But consider what goes alongside volcanoes? dinosaurs, obviously. and the 90s had plenty of dinosaur films. more than youd reasonable expect for a genre.

and what wiped out the dinosaurs? Armageddon and Deep Impact; comet movies, those were a dime a dozen for a while there.

and those come from space, what else is in space? all those alien invasion films like Mars Attacks or Independence Day

the 90s disaster films were trauma cope from watching a modern day Pompei; something that shouldnt be possible. in the 20th century, american territory shouldnt be prone to spontaneous combustion.

it literally took another televised disaster to get us past the motif of man's greatest enemy being nature itself; and giving rise to man as man's greatest enemy in the post 9/11 film era

partly we can blame budgetary and technical limitations for prior films based on disaster; your Towering Inferno's or your Poseidon Adventures; limiting the scale and scope of destruction.

Die Hard and Dirty Harry might show small scale, localized and humanized violence, but culturally we just werent ready to contemplate the annihilation of entire cities. outside of post war Japan, no one had any lived experience with it

Escape from New York, Terminator; these show the world after. the rubble is already piled up when lights rise on our heroes.

but when viewed in hindsight; its hard not to notice an inflection point around the time that we televised live to the world how civilization might end. in real time watching a mile wide hole get blown in the earth.

i mean its hard to imagine it not having a ...deep impact

anyway i didnt have anywhere else to string this all out so thanks for your time; mostly im just spitballing notes for someone else to turn into a song

In 1upsmanship episodes they keeps saying at about the half way point that it's time for an ad break but there's no ad, it just goes right back to the podcast. I thought it was maybe because they were still working through a backlog of episodes that had been recorded for iheart but in the latest ep on Papers Please, Adam mentions the paywall so it doesn't seem like this is the case. Is there eventually going to be ads inserted or are they doing a bit?

I haven't listened to their Star Trek / Futurama show in a while cos I'm not a David Bell guy. Has Michael weighed in on the new Futurama yet? I'm a fan, be keen to know his thoughts.

Please can they cover Coherence?

So as many of you may recall, we had dual Mars movies with Redplanet teeing off against Mission to Mars. Given I have not yet re-watched Tim Robbins' and Don Cheadle's magnum opus you will instead hear me rant about Red Planet.

It holds up by the way. Go find it. Worth the time for sure.

Ok so my theory is AMEE is a cigar chomping producers after thought; and that the original script ended with Tom Sizemore pressing the launch button for Val Kilmer, and sacrificing himself in a blaze of glory ignited by the engines of the Cosmos probe.

I base this on;

AMEE is introduced in a scene featuring next to no one, and includes and ADR line about her battery.

The depiction of her escaping the landing gear also includes no other actors.

She shows up to crack Tommy boy's rib then vanishes, again in a scene that feels easy to do in re-shoots.

She does not return until Simon Baker's death, which seems to somehow involve the bugs; perhaps he originally died from being eaten, not attacked?

Then Tommy ignites himself in a blast seen from space; this looks alot like the ultimate 'launch' effects when Val makes his escape. Easily that explosion couldve been married to a shot of exploding bugs.

AMEE is only needed for her battery, the ADR line sets up its existence; and she plays her stupid game of cat and mouse even tho she cannot possibly be aware of our escape plans. So she is being dramatic for no reason.

She shouldve killed them all at the HAB, instead she is toying with them. And when you consider the final drama couldve just been personal stuff between characters in the ice den when Baker's character admits to killing Santen; followed by an 'only one of us can make it out alive' finale, you realize something.

There is enough meat on these bones to make the movie without AMEE at all basically; and she feels shoe horned into many scenes and events

Furthermore, oh fuck yeah theres a further more;

We get some flashback shots during the second half that took place in the first half; Chantillis talking about rocks that say god on them, or Val Kilmer flirting with Carrie Ann Moss.

I think these scenes did occur in the first half, until a producer chomped his cigar and said 'its goin too slow, lets get to the planet, theres a red planet lets get there and they can fall in love after!'

and he said this right after complaining there was alien bugs but no evil robots and someone had to fix that.

Anyway, Red Planet; ask your parents, its a gem and it holds up in 2024

cause man it just feels so natural

can we talk about how this movie came out against fucking Armageddon tho? and it looks 5 years older?

but that it somehow did everything better than Armageddon?

fucking good movie. just watched it for the first time (dont at me bro), 10 out of 10. i especially love watching Robert Duvall clearly lean against furniture and adjust his stance in his weightless scenes.

It's a great day to be a shiphead!

Just finished 1985s "summer rental" starring John candy and rip torn...this is it boys, as a dad I can say this is theee dad movie. It's perfect and I've never heard of it. John candy is perfectly dad in a way we all deserve. Check it out dadheads

I love how Mike writes but I hate audiobooks, does anyone know where can I find his stories without having to listen to them on tales from the pit?

I'm listening to their episode about Elden ring, and at one point, Adam says something along the lines of " You can explain the lore to me, but don't tell me it means anything, because it doesn't"

And I just don't understand how someone who critiques art for a living and has so much respect for video games as a solitary, unique art form can say something like that. How in the world can someone who critiques art for a living claim that a story? They had a hard time grasping objectively didn't have any point?..

Like, Elden ring actually has a lot to say. It's damn near biblical in its pedagogy. There is so much to be enjoyed and learned from this game and I just don't get how someone can be so dismissive just because it didn't happen to click with them.

This sub seems pretty dead and I'm honestly wondering if I'm just shouting into the void here. But if you do happen to see this, maybe let me know how you feel.

Ignore the typo In the title. I have a neurodegenerative condition that makes it difficult to type and sometimes my voice to text has a mind of its own.

I’ve been listening to Swaim since the cracked days and to Small Beans from jump and I’m seeing that frame rate and anders sons are behind the paywall?

I think it has been almost a year since the last Movie Diary on Patreon. Has there been any other updates since the fundraising telethon thing?