Low Five Gaming

02/07/2025

Trying something new: a quick weekly drop of the 5 biggest stories in gaming.

🥽 Meta’s got an Xbox-flavored Quest
🏀 EA might finally bring back college hoops
🧛‍♂️ Blade & Phoenix crash Marvel Rivals
🤠 Red Dead goes full weird west
🎮 And Switch 2 restocks are still a joke

Gonna try to churn these out every Tuesday. They'll coincide with Pixel Pages, your weekly gaming scoop, retro retrospectives, and the latest from Low Five.

It’s free. It’s rad.You’re rad.

✉️ Now, head to the site and punch in that email!

30/06/2025

PocketPix 004 – Tetris (Game Boy)

The undisputed GOAT. Packed in with the original Game Boy and basically carried handheld gaming on its back.

Cooked up by a Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov in ‘85. Bundled by Nintendo because they had something special... And they had to sell their new system. Well, Over 35 million copies sold. Well done, Taron Egerton.

Loose carts go for about $14. Complete in box runs $99. Sealed? $400. Wild.

More PocketPix on the way. Get your follow on. And if you wanna hear wax poetic about Tetrominoes while Luke scoffs, check out our Low Five Goats episodes.



Is Tetris the GOAT?

28/06/2025

PocketPix 003 – Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective (GBA)

This one’s pure early 2000s Toonami energy.
Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective dropped on the Game Boy Advance in December 2003 — developed by Sensory Sweep and Screaming Games, published by Atari (because anime licensing was absolutely lawless back then).

You play as Yusuke Urameshi — 14, skips school, gets in fights, dies saving a kid from a car, then gets recruited by Botan (aka the cutest Grim Reaper ever) to be a Spirit Detective.

The gameplay’s pretty basic: wander maze-like maps, punch demons, grab orbs, level up your spirit energy.
You’ll swap between Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei later on — each with their own special attacks.

Kinda shallow.
Kinda janky.
Still absolutely hit if you were a Toonami kid.

Loose carts are like $10. Complete in box around $33. Sealed? About $73.

More strange finds from the cartridge drawer coming up.
Follow if you’re into that sorta thing.

26/06/2025

Echoes of Wisdom is proof that Zelda doesn’t need saving—or Link—to feel like Zelda.

In Episode 039, we unpack how this small, strange entry landed so well with us. From its toybox echo system to the way it rethinks puzzles, dungeons, and even who gets to carry the story, Echoes feels like a risk that really works.

🧱 Echo mechanics that start clunky but end up brilliant
🛏️ Solving puzzles with beds, rocks, and chu-chus
👑 A Zelda game where Zelda actually does the adventuring—and it rules

This one surprised us in all the right ways. We’re still thinking about it.

🎧 Episode 039 is live now at lowfivegaming.com or wherever you pod.

25/06/2025

Pocket Pick 002 – Boggle Plus (Game Boy)

File this under: games I didn’t expect to vibe with but kinda do.

Boggle Plus (Parker Brothers, 1992) is exactly what it sounds like — fast, no-frills 3-minute word games on a green screen. It’s got 5 game modes, zero music, and the same energy as a middle school spelling bee you didn’t sign up for. And somehow? It works.

Loose cart’s go for $5. CIB runs $20. Brand new? $40.

Word nerds, this one’s for you.

Follow for more pocket gaming goodness.



What's your favorite board game turned video game?

24/06/2025

Pocket Pick 001 – Harvest Moon (GBC)

Before Stardew Valley romanticized the grind, this little black cart made you name your dog and get to work. No intro. No real instructions. Just crops, vibes, and the occasional accidental axe swing.

Released in 1998 by Natsume for the Game Boy Color, Harvest Moon GBC is peak cozy chaos. You can farm, fish, forage, and straight-up live here—if you’ve got the patience (and a lot of free time).

💾 Loose cart: ~$34
📦 New/sealed: $178+

More strange, charming, and “why do I own this?” picks dropping soon.

Follow for the full shelf tour.

23/06/2025

We played Control… and honestly, it kind of ruled.

The brutalist weirdness, the floaty powers, the “what even is the Bureau” mystery box energy—it all hit. But real talk? This game also broke us a little. It took forever for both of us to finish. Like, minor podcast hiatus levels of forever.

In Episode 038, we talk: 

🌀 Why Control is cool even if you never fully grasp the story 
🎯 Combat that feels great once it clicks 
🗺️ A map that isn’t great, but gets a pass 
🧠 The weird joy of committing to a game

🎧 Listen now at lowfivegaming.com or wherever you pod.

Oh, and butt rock. In the words of Jesse Faden, "That was awesome."

23/06/2025

This one would've made more sense to promote last July, but hey, maybe we'll hit this year's hype cycle???

In Episode 036, we talk EA Sports College Football 25—a game we wanted to love. Did it recapture that PS2 magic? Not really. But it’s still fun. It still feels like college football. And there’s something undeniably nostalgic about a looped-to-oblivion drum line.

We talk player fatigue, wild difficulty spikes, and our mutual disappointment in online only modes.

Even with the flaws, we’re glad EA's College Football is back. And with the amount of hours Coach Dukes sunk into this one, it's hard to argue it not being a success.

🎧 Listen now at lowfivegaming.com or wherever you pod.

23/06/2025

We finally did it! Again. 🐐

In The Return of the Low Five GOATs, we revisit our Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time—because, surprise, we’ve changed. The games we love have changed. The way we think about them? Changed. It’s a lovingly chaotic re-rank full of deep cuts, tough calls, and at least a couple picks we’re pretty sure we’ll regret later.

🎧 Available wherever you listen to podcasts, and at lowfivegaming.com.



This episode and the next 8ish episodes attached to posts I'll be dropping have been available for awhile, I just haven't been promoting very much. But that's ok. I'm having fun doing that now. And you can have fun listening, liking, sharing, and just being an all-round rad person! Hell yeah! 🤘🤓

20/06/2025

🕵️‍♂️ Episode 035: Disco Elysium

There's a case to be solved… but like, is there?

In this one, we talk about what makes Disco Elysium a once-in-a-generation RPG:

💬 Dialogue so good it’s almost a book.
🧠 Thought Cabinets and inner voices that feel too real.
🎲 Failing skill checks and loving it anyway.
🍷 Role-playing as a disaster human in a haunted city full of ghosts and karaoke.

We get into how Disco invites you to lean into absurdity, ask big questions, and let the game break your brain a little—in a good way. This episode goes deep, gets weird, and might just leave you wanting to punch a mailbox.

🎧 Listen wherever you get podcasts
🕹️ lowfivegaming.com

30/04/2025

Finally jumped into Star Wars: Outlaws, and I've been searching for months to find a game that really hooks me—looks like this could finally be it!

The intro was fantastic. Characters? Super likable. Playing as a scoundrel instead of a Jedi feels fresh (and I'm loving the Han Solo vibes). Yeah, it had some rough edges at launch, but that's typical nowadays. Picking it up late on a good deal (despite a corrupted first disc—first time that's ever happened to me!) seems to have paid off.

Gameplay is tight, and it's got that classic Ubisoft feel—some stealth, climbing, and exploration mixed in. Definitely excited to dive deeper.

Anyone else playing/ed Outlaws? How are you liking it so far?

24/04/2025

Curious about the crank-powered yellow handheld that's captured indie hearts? I share my hands-on experience with the Playdate, its unique design, and why it's a must-have for handheld enthusiasts.

Discover the Playdate—a unique handheld gaming console with a crank, made for indie game lovers. Explore its history, standout features, and why it’s become a cult favorite among developers and retro fans. Read my firsthand thoughts on what makes Playdate special, the appeal of its season model,...