"I hope Jason has a bedpan or something in his car..."

October 2, 2014 6:24 PM

Jeff Gerstmann and Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb infamy (previously) were looking for a more challenging mode in Super Mario 3. How about playing on a roller coaster?
posted by selfnoise (8 comments total)

Giant Bomb caught some flack when they hired Dan (and ... Jason I think it was at the same time?) because they were hiring Even More White Dudes™. I think that criticism is fair...

But at the same time, I've really enjoyed the energy Dan's brought to the podcast and the site's other stuff. I just... His brain works in such incredibly strange (to me) ways, and he (as this thread proves) has a kind of crazy "up for anything" vibe that Ryan Davis had to a certain extent.

Every time I think we've hit Peak Dan Ryckert so far... I have been wrong. Hopefully this will not be the stupidest thing he ever thinks of.

(Also, for subscribers to the site, I really, really enjoyed and recommend the series of videos he did with Drew where they played through MGS1 together. Dan had played it a ton as a kid, Drew had never played a Metal Gear game. Great run through of how the game's aged and Dan and Drew's interactions are quite funny.)
posted by sparkletone at 6:35 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

I run hot and cold on Dan... the whole hiring thing was irksome, and while some of his stories on the podcast are fun, there's other times when he just seems willfully obtuse. "I don't understand why we're worried about the drought, there's always going to be water! If you believe in yourself really hard, anybody can become a games journalist!"
posted by kmz at 7:13 PM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Dan recently mentioned on twitter how his grandfather used to brag about never having read a book. That should tell you a lot about why he seems to have such pride in his ignorance.

Obviously, we'll find out more when Danny O'Dwyer visits goes home with Dan for Thanksgiving.

We'll probably find out too much.
posted by BYiro at 7:19 PM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

I think Dan was a good hire just because he has some energy. Jeff and Brad need to be poked, so they needed a poker. It's worked out well and yes, he is a lovable buffoon.
posted by selfnoise at 7:53 PM on October 2, 2014

Dan literally is Homer Simpson to Brad's Frank Grimes. It's funny (and yet infuriating) how joyfully ignorant he can be.
posted by graventy at 8:18 PM on October 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

This is the dudiest thing I've seen anyone do in a long time.

I am not sure if this is good or bad.
posted by egypturnash at 8:18 PM on October 2, 2014

They missed an opportunity by not doing Spine Tingling Spine Coaster from New Super Mario Bros. Wii U. (On watching the video, try not to cringe too much at the narration, but also don't try not to squee too badly when you see the roller coster's adorable roaring.)
posted by JHarris at 8:37 PM on October 2, 2014

Oh! That's what happened to Dan! I was wondering why he wasn't on Game Informer's most recent Super Replay.

Goes to show how far behind I am on listening to the Bombcast.
posted by rifflesby at 1:36 AM on October 3, 2014