On April 25th 2020 Mike & Neil sat down at their desks for the first time to try and record a test episode of their upcoming podcast "The GameCube Was Cool". After being sealed away in the GameCube vault the boys are bringing it back. You'll hear a very rough version of what the podcast would become that will hopefully make you appreciate how far t…

As is tradition Mike & Neil take some time in the last episode of the year to talk about their favourite games, movies, albums, and other big events that happened in 2023. With that also comes news of 2024. The boys will be taking a hiatus for the better part of next year, taking some time to do some life sidequests and having a little break after …

You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you? Well if you have maybe this podcast has the answer to your problems. Sit down, grab your favourite mask, and enjoy Mike & Neil and friend of the show Kira (@toonietwirls) chat about The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. With only an 18 month turnaround for development time after Ocarina, MM, the first tru…

Today is a BEEG episode of the original Super Mario RPG released way back in 1996 for the SNES. Mario's first foray into the RPG genre proved extremely successful for both Nintendo and developer Square. A mix of the nintendo charm and Final Fantasy style gameplay, it continues to be one of the greatest entries in the Mario universe. The success sto…

Oy Ginger, back from Holiday? Well the holidays are right around the corner and it's time to kick off December with one of the best stop motion movies ever made. It's Chicken Run! just in time for the sequel to be released Mike & Neil sit down and talk about one of their favourite childhood movies and one that has aged surprisingly well. With great…

Who doesn't love reminiscing about their favourite childhood snacks? Mike & Neil certainly love it as they "gush" (ha get it) about their favourite snacks from the 90s and 2000s on this special patreon elected episode. Sit back, relax, and listen to the boys rattle off a nostalgia filled lineup of tasty treats like fruit roll ups, sunny d, bits and…

Can you believe it's been 10 years since the Last of Us released on PS3?? Since 2013 the game has been remastered and remade, got a sequel (which is now getting it's own remaster) and a HBO tv series making it one of Sony's top selling franchises. Mike & Neil reminisce when they first saw the trailer to this game back at E3 2011 and how this was on…

DO A BARREL ROLL! Join Mike & Neil as they team up with Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi and yes, even Slippy Toad to talk about one of the greatest N64 games of all time. Star Fox 64 took everything the SNES version had to offer and improved upon it while also creating an in depth world with colourful characters, amazing locales, and simple…

To celebrate the release of Spider-Man 2 (no not the 2004 movie-tie in game for the GameCube), Mike & Neil are talking about Web of Shadows, a 2008 Spider-Man game from the activision era that often gets brought up as one of the best Spidey games ever, and for good reason. The biggest inclusion is of course the ability to switch between red and bla…

Halloween or Christmas movie? Well here on the Unlocking What Was Cool we truly believe that The Nightmare Before Christmas (produced but not directed by Tim Burton) is the quintessential November 1st movie. The perfect tie between halloween and christmas, this classic 76 minute stop motion animated musical dark fantasy film turns 30 this year and …

Hola amigos! This is a tale of crime and corruption in the Land of the Dead and a perfect candidate for our spooky game for the month of October, Grim Fandango remains a classic example of point and click adventure games from LucasArts in the 90s. Filled with amazing characters, unique settings, and some of the best music you'll ever find in a vide…

WE'LL CARRY ON. Welcome to the black parade, an album that defined a genre, a generation, and made My Chemical Romance one of the biggest bands of the 2000s. Gerard Way and Co. went as ambitious as possible in this 2006 masterpiece, paying homage to rock operas of the 70s while creating a unique blend of emo, pop punk, and macabre musical theatre t…

Bop it! Twist it! Pull it! This month's patreon topic has Mike & Neil looking back at none other than the 90s and 2000s as usual but this time for the toys! A time of great toys from Kinder Surprises, McDondalds' Happy Meals, and whatever Burger King's kid's meal was called, it was a great time to be a kid. Join the boys to talk about Furbies, Tama…

Did you hear that? There's some weird sounds coming from the Unlocking What Was Cool's attic in this week's episode covering one of the best horror games ever made - Eternal Darkness. A cult classic that has been stranded on the GameCube since 2002, and developed by Canadian devs Silicon Knights, Eternal Darkness is one of the most frightening game…

From one of the hardest hitting songs ever to open an album to a song known by anyone who grew up in the the 80s 90s or even 2000s to a beautiful ballad and an arena anthem, Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American has it all. Mike & Neil are proud to be finally covering one of their favourite albums of all time and they are joined by good friend of the sh…

It's time to lament the games that never were meant to come to the Nintendo GameCube. Neil and Mike sit down to talk about Donkey Kong Racing, Dead Phoenix and Super Paper Mario (which yes! did eventually come out on the Wii). There were all suitable reasons why these games and many others didn't come to the Cube but it hasn't stopped the boys from…

Super Mario World is consistently ranked as one of the greatest video games of all time and frankly, who could argue that? The map, the cape, the design, the enemies, the accessibility, the secrets, the boos, star road, dinosaurs, yoshi! This game literally has it all, a complete masterpiece of exploration and platforming, Neil and Mike go back 33 …

EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. There've been some classic Will Ferrell movies over the years: Step Brothers, Anchorman, Talledega Nights, The Other Guys. But one movie that often gets overlooked is Semi-Pro, the "semi" true story of the ABA merging with the NBA in the late 70s. Mike & Neil are excited to talk about one of their favourite comedies of all…

The mid 2000s were an interesting time for Nintendo. A failing home console, a slowly to adopt handheld console, and new competition with Sony's PSP. To counter all this, the Nintendo DS is revealed as a "third pillar" in their console arsenal. Well it turns out that the DS was far more than a third pillar and ended up going on to be the highest se…

Mike and Neil have covered 555 GameCube games and this week they are adding to that number by covering five exclusive Japanese GameCube games. Nintendo Puzzle Collection - a colourful set of Yoshi's Cookie, Dr. Mario and Panel De Pon games, Kukurin Smash - a sequel to the GBA game that's currently on Switch Online services, Robocop - That's right, …

Mike is on his way to Japan to research some Japanese GameCube exclusives so Neil is on his own with friend of the show Josh from the Still Loading Podcast to talk some Star Wars. Galactic Battlegrounds is a classic Age of Empires style RTS for the PC that seems to get better and more enjoyable every year. Josh and Neil discuss why this game still …

No one likes you when you're...24? Welp Neil and Mike may have missed their chance to release this on episode 23 of the Unlocking What Was Cool podcast but they still manage to have a great time talking about one of the biggest albums of the late 90s/early 2000s. Much like many other franchises and artists covered on this podcast it did really feel…

There's nothing more iconic to Mike and Neil than seeing Spongebob and Patrick driving out of Bikini Bottom in their pattymobile. Since debuting in 1999 Spongebob has taken the world by storm with everything the yellow sponge had done before serving as a lead up to getting his name on the big screen in 2004. The five year wait proved successful as …

It's hard to imagine that at one point in history Pokémon did not exist, and then one moment it was everywhere. In North America it's now been 25 years since we've been blessed with Pokemon Red and Blue, two of the most iconic games of many peoples childhoods. The music, the sounds, the battles, the characters, the fact that Charizard can't learn f…

We are celebrating the release of Pikmin 4 with a dive back into our GameCube back catalogue and talking about the game that started it all - Pikmin! Released just after The GameCube in late 2001, this game took a love of gardening to a whole new level and represented a huge risk for Nintendo at the time. Neil has been demanding another Pikmin sequ…

Let's go there, let's talk about learning how to play guitar. From a young age, music was introduced to us through our parents, movies, video games and basically every other facet of life. When you find yourself at the age of 11, and you want to be just like Marty McFly at the 1955 Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, or you want to be like Mark Tremon…

I'M OLDDDDDDD. The third iteration of the Disney Freaky Friday franchise stars Lindsay Lohan and icon Jamie Lee Curtis. If you can believe it this movie came out 20 years ago this week so Neil and Mike wanted to make sure everyone felt old. The boys discuss the music, the outfits, the acting (Jamie got nominated for a GG for this!) and much more. T…

Mike & Neil push it to the limit on this patreon elected episode. GTA Vice City has been a staple for years in the video game industry yet Neil has actually never played it! Sit back, relax, put on some vice city radio as Neil interviews Mike on why this game is so great and why it needs a remake now more than ever. The story, the music, the action…

GUH UH! Join Mike and Neil to celebrate 25 years of the bird and the bear with their first ever N64 episode! They are joined by friends of the show Josh from the Still Loading Podcast and Quinn making her Unlocking What Was Cool debut. The boys discuss the iconic music, the colourful graphics, the trademark Rare dialogue and charm, and of course th…

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! it's time to talk about NHL Hitz, one of the most unique, lasting sports game series of all time. With only three entries and existing from 2002-2004 Hitz staying power on the heavily saturated sports video game scene of the early 2000s was not to be but it's legacy has certainly endured. With expertly crafted gameplay, animat…

Neil and Mike explore if this album really is all killer, and no filler and the answer? Yes, Dave's mom should NOT have had an abortion. Some Say (pun intended) that this album is the group's best and it's hard to argue that statement. With killer tracks like the ultimate summer jam 'In Too Deep', a crazy rap rock mix with 'Fat Lip' and an Iron Mai…

A show about nothing and a podcast about...something? Mike & Neil discuss the first season of the seemingly timeless Seinfeld to celebrate 25 years since the finale aired! While it didn't go out on the greatest stride this show has defined so many people's lives and has a had a huge impact and only gotten more relatable to Mike & Neil as they've ag…

It's time to go BANANAS! Neil and Mike are back talking about Super Monkey Ball just as they did back on episode 12 of the GameCube Was Cool Podcast. This time their focus is entirely on the first two entries in the franchise and they bring on friend of the show Cara to discuss her memories playing this game back in the day (and of course who could…

Our May Patreon topic winner is a timely one, Breath of The Wild, the game that completely reinvented both Nintendo and the Zelda franchise. With Tears of the Kingdom out now it's an appropriate time to look back 6 years ago to when the world was young, and we knew very little about this dazzling open world adventure. Mike & Neil look back on the d…

The world's favourite Satirical Science Fiction, Psychological Comedy, Drama Film is celebrating it's 25th anniversary and Mike and Neil are here to watch all the drama unfold live on the air on THE TRUMAN SHOW! An amazingly prescient movie, The Truman Show goes down as Jim Carrey's finest dramatic role and one of the best movies of the 90s. Realit…

This is where the fun begins. May the Fourth be with you all! For the first time Star Wars day falls on a Thursday allowing Mike & Neil to bring you some quality space content in the form of Star Wars Battlefront II. No no, not the 2017 one but the classic 2005 Pandemic Studios outing that set the stage for what shooters could be and how to properl…

Hear that? It's the sound of you waiting 3 minutes for AOL to connect. That unmistakable sound of pure noise that you'll never get out of your head. But hey there's more to the early internet that popping in that AOL disc and logging on! Mike and Neil talk about their second patreon elected episode, Early Internet Experiences, chronicling the perio…

There's nothing quite like landing your very first kickflip wearing DC shoes, an Element hoodie, and a Circa cap. Well, you may never actually done this in real life but Tony Hawk's Underground, or THUG (turning 20 this year!), gave you the amazing opportunity to create your own character, customize their look, their deck, and even their tricks, an…

It's 2003, your friends just invited you to Warped Tour, you go with you walkman that can't seem to play any of your CDs properly anymore. You take out Big Shiny Tunes 6 and put in your newest purchase from MusicWorld, the follow up the whole world has been waiting for: Meteora. Linkin Park came crashing on the scene with Hybrid Theory, an amazing …

Your angel of death awaits! It's been 30 years since Batman: Mask of The Phantasm first premiered, in Theatres no less, and somehow this movie keeps climbing higher and higher on the critics' charts. Often referred to as one of the best superhero adaptations ever made and possibly the best Batman film around, this traditionally animated feature con…

VictorChatBotGPT3.4 activated. Welcome to Episode 586 of The Unlocking What Was Cool Podcast. The show about all things retro that we loved from the past. New episode every Thursday on the only podcast service: Mickeycast - a division of ‘Disney Media’. - We are now the 9th best Podcast on the Metaverse hosted by 2 guys who were born pre-2020 pande…

Since the beginning of time, humans have been unable to choose one format to rule them all. In the world of physical media there have been many challengers along the way. CDs vs. Casettes, VHS vs. Beta, VHS vs. DVDs, DVDs vs. Blu Rays, Blu Rays vs. HD DVDs. The list is endless but we're excited to talk about some of the best format wars the 20th ce…

Whether you're a true head and picked this up day one, or like Mike, you acquired this in your favourite cereal box, Chris Sawyer's Roller Coaster Tycoon is maybe one of the most perfect games ever made. Beautiful isometric graphics, insane amounts of customization, and with basically no bugs, this is a game that can be played by anyone, anywhere, …

For today The GameCube Was Cool lives on in the form of our first revisited episode, looking back at one of the greatest launch titles ever, Luigi's Mansion. We first talked about this game all the way back in May 2020 in our second ever episode and it's time to do Mario's brother justice now that we've had three years to hone our craft. We reminis…

Thirty years ago Rivers Cuomo wrote the songs along with his fellow bandmates that would become their first self-titled record, later labeled The Blue Album by fans and critics alike because the decided to make about a dozen other coloured self titled albums. Present day Weezer may be a far cry from 90s Weezer and basically have evolved into full m…

Ladies and Gentlemen, WE ARE BACK! After a much needed vacation it's time to dive into some non-GameCube related media, starting with Kirby's best outing on the Wii (which evidently was supposed to be a GameCube game). Going with the "returning" themes of the episode, this game felt right to be our first to cover with the new format, as well as the…

So it's come to this. The final episode. The GameCube is officially cool after hearing Neil read all 555 back of the cases and we couldn't be happier to send this era of the podcast off with a bang with...Madden 08? Yup, the last official release on the cube came in August of 2007 with this NFL title. But this episode is so much more than just a fo…

As the GameCube library dwindles 2006 and 2007 gave us many, many movie tie-ins. Happy Feet, The Ant Bully, Open Season, Barnyard, Surf's Up, Flushed Away, and Meet The Robinsons are the games Neil and Mike have the pleasure (or sometimes displeasure) of talking about on this penultimate episode. The story here is that most of these games are okay,…

It's time for the final AAA release on the Nintendo GameCube. Twilight Princess, the original dual console release for the Zelda franchise, always seems to be the dark horse (or dark wolf) of the series. Through a bundled release with the Wii where the screen got flipped to make Link right handed, to the Wii U remastered version, Twilight Princess …

As the end nears for the GameCube's library Mike and Neil look back on 7 movie tie-in games for the cube. Including the stand out Over The Hedge which has some amazing golf cart vehicular combat that friend of the show Anneka comes on to talk about. Chronicles of Narnia, Robots, Ice Age 2, Madagascar, and Chicken Little round out the list of the ma…