XaiJu
TheBesties
TheBesties

patreon


Poll: Pick future Besties Battle Brackets

We hear you! You love the sleepover energy of the Besties Battle Brackets. But you want a bit more clarity on our rubrics. Or maybe you'd prefer different topics. Whatever the case, we want to learn what episodes you'd like next!

Let us know of other potential topics in the comments! And share what you enjoy about the show so we can expand on that!

Comments

Perhaps a best spin-off game bracket?

Adam Meeks

There are so many good bugs in video games, and I think insects are a good way to show off design...best bugs/insects would be an awesome topic someday :)

Teagan Mulford

I voted best second game and would be happy with most of the others but I also feel like it’s a good discussion to have on series’ that are older. I think there are some titles, but I don’t want to NameDrop and influence the potential bracket, that either get flak when they first come out for differing from their predecessor, or maybe the opposite and they ride the first game’s coattails and get glowing reviews despite not being that original just because of the momentum from the first one. There is one particular title from last year that springs to mind. That’s why I think it would be a good discussion to have on games that have had a while for the hype or hate to die down and actually get judged on their own merits. I’m thinking of so many examples that saw opinion change over time, even if it doesn’t win out this month I’d love to see the topic visited in any future episode. It’s not particularly time-sensitive after all. Plus there are some great indie sequels that have just been announced or are forthcoming in the next year or so and it would be cool to have a solid foundation for what we recognize as important or detrimental to a quality sequel.

EtherEli

I voted for best Sega console because the Sega Nomad was cool as hell. It was basically a switch.

Bendyfang

would love to hear one for best movie tie-in game! we're unfortunately out of the peak era of there but there's a lot to talk about. also an episode on best unlockable character, or even broader, best unlockable/cheat code (even though we all know it's darth maul in THPS3)

Ryan Hill

Who is the best romancable character and why is it Garrus Vakarian.

Hollie

My brain says best 2nd game, but my heart says best inanimate pokemon...

Trevor David Black

Lots of good options! Honestly, Best Romance feels so messy and I have to vote for it 😂 Also, maybe some of these episodes or there’s a version of this idea where they don’t have to be brackets but each Bestie’s Best Of list?

APortableMagic

Best sports game…sports games get no love but there are some all-timers that should be talked about Best game for replayability…I’m usually a beat it and put it away guy but I recently played OG RE2 with Leon and then Claire and wondered what other games do this well

SlimLeaper

Really enjoying these episodes. I do think better time management will help as they get quite rambling near the end. There is a charm in that, but it can get a bit all over the place to follow

Jeff Taylor

Been really loving these episodes! Would love to hear y’all’s romance picks, hahaha!

Elyse

best romanceable character would be fascinating because i have NO CLUE what any of the besties would even be looking for in a romanceable character. i have a mind meld with all my queer friends on tumblr where we all know exactly what kind of scrungly characters each other gets into, but the perspective of the besties guys would be so so foreign to me hahaha

mitzvahmelting

Its dreamcast tho right?

Alexander

I'm gonna need an enthusiastic forty minutes on how amazing Lock-on technology was, supplemented by a well researched history on how hard or expensive it was to implement and why it never caught on.

Jon

Yeah, music!

Benjamin Heasly

Feeling v alone in Segaland

Sir Robert Cashew

Hey, Maybe don't record the episodes when you are so tired that you feel the need to rush through it.

Dustin Siegel

Oh man…I want to hear the Besties talk N64 so bad. Feels like peak nostalgia for them and me both

Matthew Scott

Need some female POV on this romanceable character debate, imo

Audrey Cox

Some ideas for brackets: * Besties Battle Battle Bracket (best fight in a game) * best music (could also be split into best theme, best battle music, villain theme, etc.) * best chill games (I think the vibe contrast between the topic and sleepover energy would be fun) * series with the highest average quality (so you gotta keep all the Final Fantasies, Resident Evils, Sonics) * best non-combat mechanics * best games for introducing new folks to the hobby * most frustrating game that's worth finishing (stealth From Soft bracket?) * best game that isn't worth finishing / has steepest drop off in quality. Maybe you hit a real high point like Andrew Ryan in Bioshock and then the rest is ehhhhh. * maybe rank someone else's GOTYs of the past 16 years, or top metacritic games across 16 years * best game-related non-game media (Double Fine docs, recent TV adaptations, books) * once you have enough of these, a bracket of best Russ rubrics

Peter Komistra

Least Romanceable character?

Mac Pohanka

Can’t wait for Russ to weigh in on the romanceable characters based on this last bracket discussion.

protoform

There's an Into the Aether episode where Chris walks Brendon and Stephen through the history of the dreamcast and he is very entertaining while doing so.

rbar

Damn, these are all really good ideas

Tyler N Capeta

I almost went for best second entry but then saw the romance. They are both pretty close so I’m guessing a lot of the fellow Patreons are like minded. 😅

Andrew Birmingham

In true brackets style I think you guys should do another poll after this one with only the top voted options.

Frankenjam

Best romanceable character is going to have some quality cringe discussion.

Jacob Troxell

Baldur's Gate 3 better sweep the romance category. And the romance category can easily become most hostile work environment. Side eye to all Mass Effect games.

Dan Reeser

So many good ones! How do we make this rank choice voting?

Dan Reeser

I want all of these! But would especially love best N64 game

Joel Castelli

let's get sexy

Alice

Best City in a Video Game - not explicitly designed or inspired by a real place.

Benjamin Paulus

Some of the we are really strong

Sandy Archer

Best (FF7) Weapon

Kirk Hamilton

All good choices, tbh

Matthew R

I want roguelike just so every round there will be a debate about what constitutes a roguelike and the bracket will be changed on the fly constantly

Jester Rubella

Best Game that should never have been made? You guys have such good insights about the industry it’d be cool to hear you guys decide officially which game was the “hardest” to get made/finished

Max!

"Best defunct gaming website," mostly so we can listen to old Joystiq anecdotes.

Eryk Nielsen

Love this. If we get to hear it sometime, I hope they take time to ridicule those publishers which cut the true ending off a game and sold it back to us as DLC (looking at you, Dead Space 3).

DenimMudslide

Fantastic suggestion

DenimMudslide

These are some strong choices! I love a lot of them. I voted but, I'd be thrilled with any of these: Best Sidekick Best Rougelike Best Second Game in a Series Best Mascot Best Romanceable Character I'm really enjoying the chaotic, almost delirious vibes of these episodes, and the rubric shenanigans.

AaronElWhite

the virgin Best Romance-able Character vs the Chad Best Roguelike

Myles Donohue

Wow, this is such a great idea for an episode. These levels are almost always the ones I remember most years after finishing the game. Since you've brought up Remedy, we can't leave out that bonkers level in Alan Wake 2. The airport fight in Max Payne 3 (song was Tears by Health) has always held a special place in my heart, too.

DenimMudslide

Ah! But isn't the Gravity Gun more of a misused tool? :D

Chuck McDuck of the Duckburg McDucks

Best seconds/worst seconds. If you're thinking about the best seconds your mind already goes to the worst. Of course we're on iteration 7 of everything anymore so we'd really have to reach back into the vaults.

MechRepairGuy

Best game…in California Games.

Chris Bobb

Best Metroidvania?

Chris Laun

Pfft. As if the Gravity Gun doesn't take this easily.

Peter LaCara

It's very funny to be the only person who voted for best sega console.

Bryan McGee

My Dreamcast is still hooked up, and I got it a brand new VM2. My heart belongs to the Saturn though.

bjorktribe

Best romanceable character only if Russ describes the sex in detail

Rob W

But make it best rougelite

Taylor Dorsett

My favorite part of these episodes is Russ’s discussion criteria.

Michael B.

Same! The whole soundtrack was pitch perfect for the nostalgia of the era, and the vibe of each level. Truly a masterpiece of a soundtrack.

L.B. Morse

The laugh I let out when I saw the percentages for best sega console after I voted for it. Listen, I just wanna hear you guys talk about how cool the Dreamcast was.

Todd

I’m very interested in multiple of these, which is why i’d like to suggest the next of these poll to allow multiple choices!

witchcatcher

Best rogues is the obvious choice, but can I take the moment to ask why in the world y'all put SH2 in a bracket if none of y'all had ever played it to the point of experiencing the twist?

DMAN

Throw my precious Hades boy Thanatos in the romanceable characters bracket

David Miller

Shredder's Revenge has such an incredible soundtrack from beginning to end. I was honestly furious that it wasn't nominated by any major award shows that year.

BucklingSwashes

I'm very excited for how much Justin will hate the Pokemon idea

DukeDingle

I like topics that boil down to more than just preference of a particular game, so I voted for best second game. That feels like it could lead to discussion about franchise evolution, moreso than just the games themselves. But I'll admit that "dumber" topics like Pokemon based on objects sounds like a ton of fun.

Snoozy

I would love to see a Best Romanceable Character episode. I know it's going to be extremely subjective, but I can't wait to hear the discussions/arguments. Also, I know it would be unusual and potentially unfair to have multiple characters from the same game on there, but both the Mass Effect series and Baldur's Gate 3 have so many all-time greats that it feels kind of unreasonable NOT to allow more than one. Tali, Astarion, Liara, Lae'zel, Garrus, Karlach... Each of these have amazing writing and acting, in addition to some incredibly memorable and often very touching scenes. If I had to pick one from each, it'd be Tali and Lae'zel, primarily because in addition to the romances themselves being so well-written, each of them also have a massive degree of character development that makes it feel like they really grow over the course of the story, which is improved even more if you follow their romance path.

BucklingSwashes

Y'all just a bunch of horndogs voting hard for the romanceable character episode. The answer is clearly Princess Elise in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

Joe Moore

Best island to buy property and build a house on from Riven: The Sequel to Myst.

Casey Francis Alger

😜

David Tobin

Boo this man! Jkjkjk

Chane Larkin

Well, Plante maybe - I think everybody else generally recognizes BOI as possibly the goat

Chane Larkin

I picked "Best Weapon" but we all know it's Crissaegrim from Castlevania:SotN, so I guess it's not really a necessary discussion.

Chuck McDuck of the Duckburg McDucks

Oh man, I have been playing so much of both those games the last week. My sleep schedule is effed

Chane Larkin

Need mascots bracket so bad

JayKnicks

Topic proposal: Best singular musical moment in a game (i .e. The Ashtray Maze in CONTROL, or the Raekwon/Ghostface track that drops when you battle Shredder in SHREDDER’S REVENGE).

L.B. Morse

Pleaseeeeee. I wanna hear about all your pixel childhood crushes

Cindyy

Invite the guys from Something Rotten on to do "grittiest gritty protagonist"

Faith Quist

I would love a sincere discussion of sequels that improve upon the original. I feel as though it used to be far more common, though usually because the turnaround would be a year or two at most. There was definitely a time period where the first game you made was almost always a bid to get a sequel, to finish developing your ideas

Majima Cookie

Agh these option are too good... I want to vote for like 3 of them.

Nicky Bodsworth

This!!!

L.B. Morse

Can you add to the sleepover energy with some hot gossip and/or scary stories where the ad breaks would normally be?

Ultimate Danny 5000

Best Idle/Incremental Phone Games would be my dream ep

The Spouter-Inn

I end up feeling strongly but in a "god I wish I could be in the conversation to make my point" way, not actually getting mad that they aren't approaching things how I would.

Faith Quist

Freaking love this show and all the hosts. Thanks for giving me a cool video game club that I want to be part of.

sirusXsirus

I love the pod but the bracket episodes are not my fave tbh

Dan

Best diegetic UI!

Anthony Basilio

I love arguing about rules. Gimme an hour of debating the rubric itself.

Mat Yunker

I like the rubric chaos however, I don't want it to be the sole reason anything advanced. I loved that Griffin had the secret rubric in his heart. Pirate life forever. It's more of a guideline anyway. Also I would love the a bracket on the best ride or die character. That character that just screams we in this together no matter what. Such as BD-1, Garrus, Diddy Kong, Sgt Johnson etc.

Josh Andrews

I’m also throwing in my appreciation for the diffuse rubrics, love the sleepover energy, too. Would you consider as a bracket topic “best/most fun glitches in a video game”? I have really found memories of trying to go off the map in Blood Gulch in the original halo during a sleep over as well as trying to get that weird miss no. Glitch in Pokémon red.

Jason Mariotis

Seconding the chaos!

ThanaThots

So many good choices!

Glorious Griffin

I can't wait for more Muk jokes

sven sven

Best Pokemon whose names are the reverse of another pokemon. The Muk Cup.

Derek Springer

How about best 13 Sentinels character for Chris to paint all over his Cybertruck?

Tom

I'd love one that is something like 'best short games' -- they can define the criteria more, but I'm always looking for interesting things like Norco, Citizen Sleeper, Braid, the Stanley Parable, Samorost 3, Her Story, Never Alone, Season, etc.

Bret Scofield

There's definitely a difference between "sleepover energy" and "not wanting to be there" energy.

Michael Sullivan

I’m here for the chaos. I need Hades vs. Spelunky. Cadence of Hyrule vs. Cave Noire. Binding of Isaac vs. Dead Cells. Shiren vs. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

El Pescado

Haven't had the chance to listen to new besties just saying y'all are the bestm

Brad MacDonald

Lol except for best sega console which is sitting at a hot 0% of the vote at the moment

Garbanzo Ben

News you can use is always fun. N64 games, second games, and rogue likes are all good options. Best weapon also sounds like a pretty good time

Garbanzo Ben

lol I would be so lost on that one. I know Besties don’t do videos but that would be a sweet little Patreon slideshow.

ames

Whatever you guys pick, maybe do it an hour earlier? Y'all very clearly lose steam at the tail end of the recording.

IHaveARussFrushtickBodyPillow

Some potential categories that could be fun: Best one and done games (games that came out of nowhere and had no sequels) Most overrated game Best multi-decade franchise Best console generation Best unique game mechanic Best video game music

Isaac Goff-Mitchell

I like topics that otherwise couldn't/wouldn't exist in a "regular" Besties episode. Go niche, personal, or just straight up dumb with it. Probably goes without saying that I voted for the Pokemon one.

Samuel W

Best Balatro jokers

dilkbottle

Strong Dad vibes, I'm here for it

DieselDonkey

Lot of heat on this list

Andrew Owens

Exactly this

Brad Heyen

vs Hades vs Balatro!

Taylor Kelty

2%! We can do it!

DieselDonkey

Omg romanceable character. Now, SADLY, the characters I most want to have my person romance are rarely options 😭 Persona 5, WHY CAN’T I DATE YUSUKE. (See also Ignis in FFXV) But also—AC:Odyssey? My Kassandra has left a legion of broken hearts and satisfied bodies behind her, lol. Can’t tie her down, she’s got merc work to do!!

ames

Anyone emotionally invested enough to be mad about the rubrics should relax and enjoy the silly. Let the boys cook and have fun.

Stephen Vallely

Roguelike would be good for reccs but I think the Pokémon one would be funnier

DieselDonkey

I personally love the wild rubrics, I feel like they make the conversation much more interesting. Otherwise, I feel like lots of the matchups just turn into what is the better game - not necessarily the topic of the battle.

Ella Mozier

Best romanceable character is a one way ticket to finding out who the horniest bestie is and there’s no going back

The Biggest Papa

I simultaneously can not wait for and yet am so afraid of all of you talking about which romanceable character revved your engines the most.

Taylor Kelty

C'mon, guys! You know inanimate object Pokémon is gonna be some good Jokes material

DieselDonkey

Y'all should brainstorm design of a Besties fighting game. I'm talking stats, move sets, ultimates, skins, stages, etc. I realize this is kind of a visual thing, but we have great imaginations.

Corpo_Canine

Best magical beans in gaming. Do best magical beans in gaming.

Beefy Belo

most unhinged anthropomorphic video game characters

Casey Fetta

Hades easily top 5 in both Romanceable character and rogue like.

Tyler Willing

Best sidekick but only if we have an honorable mentions for worst sidekicks. Ashley from Mass Effect, 100%

Luke

Anything but Roguelikes! They’re so ever present and tedious at this stage. I’d take the poison of live service games over them any day of the week.

David Tobin

Russ will somehow find a way to put Metroid or Spelunky into the romanceable character bracket

Monty

Can I pick "all of the above (Except Pokemon)"?

I am a robot who turns into a car and I find no humor in this

I think it would just be better if listeners could contribute some ideas or things in the bracket. I feel like the Besties missed on A LOT of the twist discussions by talking about the wrong parts of games.

CPT_Turboshaft

The fucked up rubrics that have to be debated about before deciding which option wins a round is literally some of the best part of these episodes.

TheZeldaMuse

Best Nintendo Wii games (and why is it BoomBlox as directed by Stephen Spielberg)

Henry Hunt

Best roguelike is just giving them a chance to praise spelunky for an hour haha

Joe Payne

Can we pick top 3? A bunch of these would lead to the anarchy I crave from these goofs.

Kevin Proff

It's not so much clarity on the rubrics so much as it feels like ya'll aren't even taking the conversation seriously? I know that sounds silly since it's largely a comedy show but bending the rules and not taking the rubric at least a little seriously feels bad to listen to

William Sobel

My pitch is away with the rubrics, tiebreakers only

Leo Siebert

Best Roguelike is the best option. Best Pokemon based on an inanimate object is my second choice

El Pescado

I would very much like to hear the boys tear themselves apart over Spelunky vs Isaac

Chane Larkin

I don't need a decision justified. I just need to know what wins in a bracket format obviously. (Also please do roguelikes)

Walter Blakey

Best romanceable character so Hoops has diarrhea the whole time

Landon Pate

Best second game in a series, has got to be Soul Reaver from the Legacy of Kain series

X_Blade_Mage

I feel like best mascot could be a huge opportunity for NY Giraffe content.

TaterBe

I was thinking "Best expansion/DLC" could generate some fun battles! Like Shivering Isles versus Burial at Sea would be so fun to listen to lol

Lindsey

I'm here for the pillow fights and the restructuring of brackets halfway into the episode.

Ross Felder

I love the idea of you guys duking it out over romances. But of course we all know Garrus is the best

Jenna Stoddard

I'd love to see one on the best performances in games(like yknow acting)!!

Joshua Whitmore-lyons

It is shocking to me that the Pokémon option isn’t winning. That seems like a no-brainer

Greg

Love the energy except when someone complains they have to stay up past 10pm

Tartar biscuits

Even if most romanceable character does not win this time, can you please do an episode on it in the future 😆

Mathilde Ronan

If it's romanceable character there's no question it would be Plante

Monty

Honestly I could get behind any one of these!

Patrick

I don’t care about rubrics that are coherent. I am here for the chaos

Paige Reiring


More Creators