Which games should you review on your retro gaming podcast to coincide with the release week of a tent pole summer blockbuster movie starring Superman? The much maligned 'Nintendo Superman 64' or perhaps the bang average 'Superman: Shadow of Apokolips' from 2002?

No, what you do is you play Batman games! Obviously. Metropolis will have to wait, Gotham has thrown up the bat signal...

After a quick discussion about best/worst animal superhero combinations, Rich takes the batmobile for a spin through time to 1990 (it has a flux capacitor right?!) to visit Batman on the Sega Mega Drive which was inspired by the 1989 movie starring Michael Keaton. Michael Keaton looks great 35 years later but how does his video game moniker hold up?

Batclawing his way back to more recent times, Fazz finds himself inside Arkham Asylum (where he probably belongs frankly) taking on Rocksteady's 2009 critical darling. Does it still hit as hard as one of Bane's fists in 2025? And does it even matter if Fazz has decided he just isn't Batman's biggest Batfan?!

All these riddles and more to solve on this week's Living La Vita Loca podcast...

"Always make sure the DEUCE is worth the squeeze". That's the idiom that we assume tennis players must live and die by. We'll LET you mull that one over as you listen to this week's podcast SERVING. Okay, sorry, we'll stop now.

We are joined once again by our friend Haikers who is a marathon runner and 'Monroe Bagger' so he must know all about tennis right?! Probably. He's opted to tell us all about New Star Tennis (2010, PC) which is part of the intriguing indie New Star sport series.

What about the rest of us? Fazz goes on an exciting voyage with his tennis coach around the globe in Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour (2012, PS Vita) although he's not sure he won't end up in jail in a far flung land.

Meanwhile Rich has opted for Gaelco's Squash (1992, Evercade) because, well, why not? You hit a ball with a stick in competition with another player. It's the exact same sport right? Oh, quiet down all of you tennis players out there, stop making a RAQUET...

We're not even sorry. Enjoy the pod.

26 years is a long time...

26 years ago, Manchester United had just won the treble...

26 years ago, Tony Hawk landed THE 900 (and had his first named video game released...

26 years also marks how long it has been since we have set eyes on a new Fatal Fury game and it didn't take long for our resident fighting game aficionado Rich to pick up the latest release in the storied SNK franchise, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (2025, Steam Deck).

After feeling let down by a Tekken 8 update already this year, is there still enough love left in Rich's heart for a modern fighter that weirdly features Christiano Ronaldo on its roster?!?

We're also asking if 26 years is long enough for someone to learn how to 'git gud' at fighting games? Why you ask? Well we're not sure if it is quite enough time for our esteemed guest and good friend Haikers to master Skullgirls (2012, PS3), a well loved but hardcore 2D fighter with a huge fanbase. He may need need a few more... minutes...

Enjoy the pod.

'Hotman' Paris Hutapea is an Indonesian lawyer, presenter, and businessman. He is known for his flamboyant style, high-profile clients, and luxurious lifestyle.

'Hotman' is also a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sho Kitagawa.

None of the above should be confused with 'Hitman' AKA Agent 47, iconic protagonist (according to a recent BAFTA poll) of the storied IOInteractive series. It's not something that anyone who is a huge fan of the entire franchise would ever be confused about... Isn't that right Rich?!

Whilst all of your podcast hosts grapple with the English language this week (Welcome back Fiona), we thankfully struggle less with our collective opinions of Hitman: World of Assassination (2016 -)

We kick things off with Rich's memories of the whole Hitman saga, take a quick diversion to discuss our first (light) impressions of the upcoming IOI developed James Bond game and finally arrive in the World of Assassination, just in time to be hit in the back of the head by a rubber duck. Oh oh.

Sophisticated, sauve, clinical and thrilling... Farcical, hilarious, dumb and barking mad... Either list of adjectives could be used to describe the last 9 years of Agent 47's career perfectly and ultimately we couldn't be much happier about that.

Finally, just before we float away into the sunset on an inflatable crocodile, we offer up our personal favourite Hitman levels. Our opinion on these is final because as Jonny English once said "The word "mistake," sir, is not one that appears in my dictionary".

Enjoy the podcast.

19 years ago, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released to critical acclaim across multiple platforms and it won several Game of the Year awards with its incredible RPG open world.

Uncontent with this achievement, Bethesda and Virtuos studio decided that they would also attempt to nuke this years GOTY elect, Clair Obscure: Expidition 33, by shadow dropping The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (2025, PS5) like an Acme-sized anvil in the indie game's cup of tea.

Whilst we've not got around to playing Expedition 33 yet, our resident special guest Fiona has been blasting her way across the plains of Cyrodill to bring us a review of Oblivion which both Fazz and Rich are thankful for!

Fazz still ultimately fears RPG girth so hes opted for another game that, well, fell onto Xbox Game Pass recently too, Atomfall (2025, Xbox Series). The game has a smattering of RPG elements but not enough to scare him like a Wicker Man in deepest, darkest Cumbria.

With 'The Wicked Isle' DLC dropping last week, we discuss if the core game is good enough to influence Fazz to take the plunge and become 'one with the voice in the soil' or is it easier to agree that 'Oberon must die'?

Enjoy the pod.

Sometimes in a relationship, you have to take stock of where you are heading together and work through some of the 'icky' stuff. Sure, there's been some rough patches between us but we're in it for the long haul. No, dont worry, we're not talking about Fazz and Rich...

We're referencing the relationship between Living La Vita Loca Podcast and the PS Vita.

Fazz has drafted in a marriage counselling tool, Sandeep Rai's (2old4gaming) excellently written 'Top 100 Vita Games' magazine, to help construct a therapy session between the podcast and it's handheld partner.

Both co-hosts take their time to pick through the top 100 community-voted PS Vita games list from the well produced 'Vitazine' to create a PS Vita 'Collection' game all of their own.

Each games list is absolutely personal and subjective so if it's crap (like Fazz's is), just back off already. This isn't Official Playstation magazine over here.

Playstation dropped the PS Vita a long time ago but LLVL is still here... staying together for the kids. To echo the title of Sandeep's book 'Vita means Life' after all.

Enjoy the pod.

The month of May is a great time to be a bounty hunter in the Wild West. Both 'Red Dead Revolver' (PS2, 2004) and 'Red Dead Redemption' (Xbox 360, 2010) share a May birthday along with the North American release of the stellar movie 'Once Upon A Time in the West'.

Now all of those heavyweights get to share May with episode 113 of this here podcast. We're sure they are beyond thrilled...

We spend most of our time this week 'revolving' around each game with an in depth review of both RDR and, erm... RDR... ensuring that we capture all of the 'redeeming' features on show. We promise you there are plenty. Grab your duelling light guns and get your dead eye aim ready. You're gonna need 'em.

We'll let Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play you out...

"Hey buddy, you know you’re never ever coming back;

He’s a ghost, he’s a god, he’s a man, he’s a guru;

They’re whispering his name across this disappearing land;

But hidden in his coat is a red right hand"

Holy shit that song is good...

Enjoy the pod.