Happy 2026 podfans and welcome to #DryveJanuary! We're putting the pedal to the metal this month to provide you with reviews of popular racing video games from throughout the years.

12 months ago, Rich threatened to derail our entire planned month of vehicular mayhem by "just reviewing F Zero games". He's here to make good on that threat starting off with F Zero X (1998, N64). What is it about F Zero that floats Rich's plasma-powered hovercar to such lofty heights? Lets hope hes full of energy in his review.

Fazz, meanwhile, chooses to keep things a little more grounded but only just. Why? Well, he's waging a war against gravity too but on motocross bikes and er, unicorns, in Trials HD (2009, Xbox Live), Trials Fusion (Xbox One, 2014) & Trials Rising (Xbox One, 2019).

Legend has it, he is on attempt #1876 of 'King of the Hill'... his own personal Everest. Trial(s) and Error? More like 'Error, error, error, error, error... controller smash'.

Enjoy week 1 of #DryveJanuary 2026!

Hi there...

Welcome. Come in. Take a seat. Relax. We've come a long way together in 2025...

- 50 episodes (thus far).

- Over 100 video games reviewed.

- Nearly 2 days worth of audio content (if "audio content" means "acoustic bile").

It's all here on an erotic but well maintained spreadsheet and we're about to grade the living shit out of it...

Yes, its back, our annual episode where we retroactively rank all of our video game reviews in each ridiculously, arbitrary score bracket and decide which video game will rule supreme.

Mmm. Glorious.

We bet you've never been so excited to find out which contestant will be crowned 'The best 3/10 video game that Living La Vita Loca podcast reviwed this calendar year'?

Gather your workbook documents of choice, surround yourself with auditing equipment and dive in with us. Conditional formatting has never been so fun!

Thank you for listening this year. Enjoy the pod!

Is there such a thing as a "Christmas Shoot 'em up"? Yes there is. Its called Deathsmiles II. Its very good.

Have we played Deathsmiles II for the festive season because that would be relevant and make sense? No.

Instead, have we picked 10 random shmups and distributed them equally between both co-hosts in an attempt to determine which video game would theoretically top the music charts as the equivalent of Christmas number 1? Yes.

Are we probably insane? Also yes.

Join us in this ridiculous 2 part exercise as we rank some of the best (and most average) shmups we've ever played:

- DoDonPachi DaiOuJou (2002)

- Darius Gaiden (1994)

- Earthion (2025)

- Danmaku Unlimited 3 (2017)

- Raging Blasters (2021)

- Andro Dunos II (2022)

- Raiden V: Directors Cut (2019)

- Crimzon Clover World EXplosion (2020)

- Thunder Force IV (1992)

- Radiant Silvergun (1998)

Merry Shmup-mas one and all!